They were waiting, several with scowls on their faces. It clearly galled a lot of them that they’d had to come to an Adair for help– and that they’d been forced to delay the trip because of me. For my part, I waved happily at them. Lily and Aifric smiled back. Byron glared at me suspiciously for a moment before relaxing into a small smile. The others simply glowered.
‘Chieftain! You honour me with your request,’ Lily sang.
‘I can’t believe the Macquarries let her come,’ the younger of the two Kincaids muttered.
‘That’s because they’re all crazy,’ I heard the Darroch Chieftain reply. Even though she was agreeing with Kincaid, she still received a nasty look for butting in on the conversation. Interesting. Maybe they all hated each other as much as they hated me.
One by one, they mounted their horses. Even Lily sprang up onto a pretty white mare. ‘No bells,’ she said sadly. ‘I like bells. Ding a ling a ling a ling!’
Byron leaned over to me. ‘She wanted them tied into the mane,’ he informed me. ‘Along with multi-coloured ribbons.’
I shrugged. ‘What’s wrong with that?’ If I could get a nice docile horse with hot-pink fripperies attached to its mane, maybe this riding business wouldn’t be so bad.
Byron frowned. ‘You haven’t forgotten how serious this mission is, have you?’
‘Hey,’ I said lightly, ‘I chose to accept it. It would have been a shame if you chose to self-destruct ten seconds after delivering it, though.’
‘Huh?’
‘Mission Impossible?’
Aifric and his horse trotted over. ‘This mission is far from impossible, Ms. Taylor. Don’t be so anxious.’
Good grief. Pop culture references were clearly going to be lost on this lot.
‘Mount up, Integrity,’ Byron said. ‘We don’t want to waste time.’
He pointed at a red-faced man who was struggling to keep hold the reins of a massive black stallion. It bucked and snorted. Even the other horses seemed terrified of getting too near to it.
My mouth dropped open. ‘You have to be kidding me.’
He smirked. ‘Psych,’ he whispered. ‘He’s mine. That one’s yours.’ He pointed at a chubby mare. It had a vacant expression in its eyes and what appeared to be the chewed remnants of a straw hat hanging out of its mouth. ‘Ethan Hawke might not agree but I thought Barbie would be a better fit.’
I raised my eyebrows. ‘Barbie?’ And Ethan Hawke? Byron wasn’t that removed from the rest of the world after all.
His amusement increased. ‘She likes hot pink too.’
I gazed doubtfully at Barbie. Judging by her expression and her lack of interest in the world around her, I was going to have a hard time getting her to keep up with the others. I wondered if Byron had deliberately picked her to make me look like a fool. Then I dismissed the idea. He was conniving, sure, but generally he was a decent guy.
I walked over and patted Barbie’s neck nervously. She ignored me. Maybe that was a good thing. I stepped back and eyed her saddle. I could climb up tall buildings without a rope; surely, I could get on top of a horse. I put one foot into the stirrup and pulled myself over. Barbie didn’t so much as twitch.
‘Yee-ha!’ I yelled, lifting a hand in the air as if I were on a bucking bronco.
The Kincaid wanker sniggered, throwing me such a derisive look that I stiffened. I formed my fingers into a gun and mimed shooting him. His amusement was immediately replaced by stark fear. I smiled coldly. Yeah, buster; it was probably not the best move in the world to piss off the mass murderer’s daughter.
As I adjusted my weight, out of the corner of my eye I spotted Byron approaching the black beast. The stallion visibly relaxed, allowing him to stroke his mane. With one lithe movement, Byron sprung up. I eyed his thigh muscles as they tightened round the horse’s girth then coughed slightly when he glanced round, grinning as he caught me staring. Oops. I willed the horse to buck him off but although it had appeared to be a deranged beast, now it stood as docile than Barbie.
Aifric moved to the front of the pack and turned to address us. From my position, I had to crane my neck to look up at him although his aura, a vivid scarlet, remained visible. ‘You should all be proud of yourselves,’ he intoned. ‘What we do will secure the Clans for generations to come. Your children’s children will thank you.’
My shoulders tightened. I wasn’t doing this to ‘secure’ the damn Clans. Aifric seemed to sense my thoughts and continued. ‘By ensuring the safety of the Foinse, we will save countless lives, both Clan and Clan-less.’
That was better. I noticed the two Darroch reps nudge each other at the mention of the Clan-less. I narrowed my eyes at them. Unfortunately they didn’t notice.
‘We will return victorious,’ Aifric boomed. ‘Because for the Sidhe, there is no other way.’ He gazed at us meaningfully then, with a flourish, turned his horse round and took off.