Hugo started forward, raising his hands in preparation for a magical attack, but I thrust my arm out to stop him. Athair smirked. ‘I did wonder if the boy put you up to this,’ he said. ‘It occurred to me that you might be weak enough to let him control your actions but I can see that is not true. You command him, not the other way around.’
Hugo and I worked together. Sometimes Hugo erred on the side of caution, and sometimes it was me, but we were a team and neither of us dominated the other. I doubted Athair could conceive of a relationship that involved such mutual respect, but I wasn’t going to try to persuade him that such equality existed. If he believed that Hugo only did what I told him, it would keep him safer. And I knew that Hugo was too intelligent to let Athair’s words goad him into any futile attack.
‘What’s your problem?’ Hugo asked in a deceptively casual tone that confirmed my thoughts. ‘Why would you care that we’re here?’
Athair’s red eyes flashed. ‘Why would I care?’ he growled. ‘Why would I fuckingcare?’ He took a threatening step towards him and my stomach lurched. ‘I have spent thirty years preparing for my daughter. She wanted you, so I let you live. Shewanted to be a treasure hunter, so I found treasure for her to hunt.’ He looked at me. ‘And yet all she has done is thrown my hard work in my face.’
Athair’s ego was astonishing, but I was starting to understand what had pre-empted this showdown – and that there might be a way out of this situation.
‘There is no reason for you to be upset,’ I said in a far calmer voice than the situation warranted. ‘We went looking for your treasure – we went to Hammerwich. Our investigations there are ongoing.’ I waved what I hoped looked like an airy hand. ‘This is merely a side venture unrelated to the Staffordshire Hoard.’ Essentially, that was true.
‘Except the remaining Staffordshire treasure has now been found,’ Athair snapped. ‘And not by you.’ His thin golden lips curled. ‘You handed the search over to a teenage girl. Achild! And now she has found the gold that I carefully placed for you!’
Every word vibrated with fury but it was my sudden fear for Amy that made me shiver.
‘You have spat on my gift and thrown it away with no thought or care for my feelings!’
I didn’t give a flying fuck about Athair’s damned hurt feelings.
‘If you’ve hurt Amy,’ Hester shouted, ‘if you’ve done anything to that girl?—’
‘Then what?’ Athair asked. ‘What couldyoupossibly do tome?’ Unfortunately, he had a point.
‘Didyou hurt her?’ I asked fearfully, trying to draw his attention back to me and away from Hester.
‘Not yet,’ Athair snarled. ‘But be assured she is on my list. Eloise has been watching the events in Staffordshire and she has reported back to me. Once I am done with you all, I shall take care of the girl.’
Hester stiffened and turned to glare at Otis. ‘I told you we couldn’t trust that blonde brownie nincompoop!’
Athair ignored her. ‘Do you think I am stupid, daughter?’
I didn’t say anything but I didn’t look away from his fury-filled gaze; I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.
‘Did you think I wouldn’t have my creatures tracking your associates in case you tried something like this?’ He waved his hand towards the Fachan with a derisive sneer.
My knees suddenly felt strangely weak. Cumbubbling bollocks. He’d had somebody – or something – watching Gordon. That was how he knew we were here.
‘Do you think,’ he continued, ‘I don’t know why you have come to this place?’
My stomach dropped into my shoes. Oh no. Things were even worse than I’d thought. We’d only just learned of the sceptre’s existence and Athair would do everything he could to stop us finding it. We’d failed before we’d even started.
Athair pointed to Gladys, who was on the cave floor beside my feet, then at the Fachan and the huge sword he was still holding. ‘You thought this troglodyte could teach you the skills necessary to attack me.’
Huh? My mouth dropped open. Athair laughed coldly at my astonishment. ‘You underestimate my intelligence, daughter. You underestimate everything about me.’
Actually, all of a sudden I was starting to think that I’doverestimated him.
He wasn’t finished. ‘He is skilled with a sword, that much is true. But he could never teach you enough to beat me.’ He thumped his chest. ‘I am Athair.’ He yelled the last three words, injecting so much drama that I was surprised not to hear an accompanying clash of cymbals.
To be fair, he’d drawn a logical conclusion. The Fachan was better with a sword than any other creature I’d met and he’dgifted Gladys to me; it made sense that I might have come here to learn from him. But no matter how good the Fachan was, or how impressive a teacher he might be, I agreed with Athair. I’d never learn enough to engage successfully with my father in a sword fight. In fact, it hadn’t even occurred to me to try.
The Fachan, who still hadn’t moved an inch and who had been watching Athair with little more than mild interest, hefted his sword and spun it in the air. ‘I am told,’ he said, directing his words towards the golden-skinned fiend, ‘that the best teaching starts with a demonstration. Let us do battle and prove that.’
I started forward: that was the last thing I wanted. It was a horrific idea.
Athair, however, was already a step in front of me. He bared his teeth and answered the Fachan with grim delight. ‘I thought you’d never ask.’
Chapter
