Last Wish (Highland Magic #4)

He knitted his fingers together. ‘We shall see.’

I ran my eyes across them, seeking potential allies but their expressions were masked. Even May’s expression was studiously blank. These guys would be fantastic at poker. I swallowed and began. ‘Across the Veil, we have a fixed view of what you are like. It is a given that you are evil, that you are monsters who have no qualms about who you murder. Recent evidence bears this out. Your demons attacked one of our northern cities and there were several deaths. You have encroached onto our land and it rarely ends well.’

A couple of the demons stirred. The robed leader held up his hand to still them. ‘We might say the same of your kind,’ he replied mildly. ‘You have made incursions into our territory. You have threatened us. We have nothing and yet you still seem to want to take that away.’

I nodded. ‘You’re referring to me? I’ve been here a few times.’ I thought of the magical harp I’d used in the Games. ‘On the first occasion I did steal something but I could argue that it didn’t belong to you any more that it belonged to me. If it helps, I have stolen far more from the Sidhe than from you.’

‘We do not just refer to you.’

I considered this. I didn’t know of anyone else who’d been beyond the Veil who hadn’t been with me. Then I frowned. ‘Matthew MacBain.’ It was a long time ago now but memories were long and grudges extended beyond mere lifetimes.

The Fomori demon turned to one of his companions. They nodded and he looked back at me. ‘That was the name we were given by one of your kind who dared to come to us. He said he was a treasure hunter. We do not like hunters.’

I kept my voice calm and level. ‘What happened to him?’

‘You see where we live, Adair. We do not have sun. Very little grows without light. We struggle to feed our people.’ For a brief moment, I recognised sadness in his eyes then the mask fell again.

I considered the pixie and what she said she’d done. I was fairly certain I understood what had happened to Matthew MacBain and nausea churned in my stomach.

‘I am not condoning what happened to him or to others who thought they could come here at will,’ he continued. ‘But understand that hunger will drive even the sanest person to depths they would never previously have considered.’

I inclined my head. ‘It would be easy for me to stand here in judgment of those actions,’ I told him. ‘But I have never starved.’

‘Do you have children?’ he asked.

I shook my head.

‘Then,’ he said, ‘you cannot understand what it is like to see your baby, your flesh and blood, wither in front of your eyes and to be unable to help them. That is the reality we live with here, every single day. Understand, Adair, we are a violent people but in this land, only the strong survive.’

‘Why don’t you leave?’

His answer was simple. ‘We have nowhere else to go.’

‘The one thing Scotland has,’ I said, ‘is land. If you had come to us…’ Even as I said the words, I realised they were stupid.

The demon knew this too and he laughed harshly. ‘Do you think we haven’t done that? We tried every method possible of asking for aid. For a long time we were too proud then we were too desperate.’

My voice was quiet. ‘Tell me.’

He sighed. ‘We began with threats: help us or we will hurt you. More often than not we were beaten back by the Sidhe. Or we hurt the wrong people. You might think we are brutal but your people are brutal also.’

I knew what he meant. To the Sidhe, with their Clan Lands and magic and wealth, the rest of the country was disposable. However, from the departure of the trolls to the effect of the freed Foinse, that was changing. I knew it in my bones.

‘We tried other tacks. We appealed to your leader and, initially, he appeared amenable. He told us we could barter, that he would provide aid. He also warned us that our entire race was in great peril.’

Byron didn’t understand what was going on so I risked a glance in his direction. I gave him a reassuring smile but he remained on edge. ‘That peril was me,’ I said.

The demon nodded. ‘Your Clan. He told us he would rid us of this immediate threat if we agreed to stay away and contact only him. He was,’ he licked his lips, ‘very persuasive.’

‘Yeah.’ My jaw clenched. ‘He has that skill.’

Aifric could have done something; he could have helped them. He’d been in a position to change Scotland for the better and, because he wanted to remain the strongest leader in the land, he hadn’t. Other Sidhe wouldn’t have appreciated his actions and might have challenged him; equally, he might have been worried that uniting Scotland would make his position less meaningful and more diluted. And yet he had kept the Fomori sweet. He wanted to have them ready for his own sinister purposes.

‘We sent delegations. Your Clan killed them.’

‘Is that what he told you?’

The demon looked at me. ‘Are you suggesting he was lying? It would be in your interests to suggest that was the case.’

‘I spent most of my life believing my father was a genocidal maniac. I have no problem with believing that there were those in my Clan who were … less than noble.’ I told him about the three dead demons Byron and I had discovered. ‘You can get your Truth Teller. My story will not change.’ I pointed at Byron. ‘He will tell you the same.’

‘We do not test our friends.’

I was taken aback. ‘Am I a friend?’

He smiled toothlessly. ‘Not yet.’

I considered this and hope flared through me. We were getting somewhere, we were really getting somewhere, but there was still a great to be said. I drew in a breath. ‘What happened in Aberdeen…’

‘Ah yes. A tragedy for all concerned.’ He glanced down. ‘Our situation is dire. We went to see if there were others we could negotiate with. As soon as your kind saw us, however…’ His voice trailed off.

‘They attacked,’ I whispered. Byron himself had done so; he’d casually tossed a fireball into the back of a Fomori demon who’d pitched up in Perth. Fight first, ask questions later. We were all guilty of something.

‘Yes. We tried other methods of communication but they were misunderstood.’ He looked at me archly. ‘Including by you.’

I frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘We knew that sooner or later someone would come looking for, what was his name? MacBan?’

‘MacBain.’

‘Ah, yes. We left a message for anyone who came.’

I closed my eyes. Save us. It was written in blood above his bones. I’d assumed it was a message from the Fomori’s slaves but I was wrong. ‘I’m sorry.’

He shrugged a bony shoulder. ‘We should have been more explicit. We know our ancestors did your kind wrong when they first came here. They were afraid and they believed they needed to fight in order to stay. Our fathers sinned and we have been paying the price ever since. We know what you think of us; telling you the truth about our desperate situation would have invited disbelief. We were hoping for … investigation.’

‘Because that way lies the truth,’ I said.