I rolled my eyes. But of course it did. Spending my days running around in the dark seemed to be becoming a bad habit.

“So,” I said, “we need to find a way to get into Dorchadas without setting off any magical alarm system. And we need to do it fast.”

“And when you get in there, how exactly do you plan on killing the apparently unkillable necromancer?” Corrigan’s eyes were shadowed, but the taut muscles in his face belied his unhappiness.

I sighed. “I’m working on that. We had it from Balud that he would be vulnerable to palladium.” I nodded to the Lord Alpha. “Now we know that’s wrong. I sent Alex off to find out what the problem had been. We didn’t have much palladium to work with in the first place so it’s possible that’s why it failed.”

“Why didn’t you have much of it?”

I could not believe the Arch-Mage had asked that question. Because we were trying not to make you and your bloody organisation look bad in front of the others, I thought sourly.

“We didn’t have much time to get any more together,” I said.

Thankfully he didn’t pass further comment. “I will talk to Mage Florides as soon as possible to ascertain what he’s discovered,” he said.

I looked over at the Summer Queen. “Can you begin to look into ways to get into Dorchadas?”

She inclined her head. “That is not a problem. It may go quicker, however, if we can work with some mages. That way we can be sure we haven’t missed anything. Any traps or warning systems and such like.”

I almost fell off my chair. She was volunteering the Fae to work with the Ministry? Fucking hell.

“It’s a good idea,” the Arch-Mage agreed. “It would probably also be worthwhile if we can have some shifters and mages work on research for other ways to bring down Endor. Their two different approaches and areas of expertise will complement each other.”

I wondered whether I was still back in the in-between world, having some kind of bizarre dream.

“Agreed,” said Corrigan, although his eyes were on me.

“Excellent.” I stood up, with everyone else following suit. “We don’t know when he’s planning to strike next, so we need to work quickly. Let’s meet back here in twenty-four hours.”

“At four o’clock in the morning?”

My body clock was completely out of whack. It must be some kind of heaven-hell jetlag thing. “You’re right. Make it ten o’clock tonight instead.”

I dismissed the lot of them, and began to head out. Corrigan caught my arm.

“We still need to talk.”

His citrus-spicy aftershave made me momentarily weak at the knees. I opened my mouth to answer him, but the Summer Queen interrupted.

“Miss Smith, I have a message to pass on to you.”

Corrigan’s body stiffened, and he dropped his hand.

“It’s really rather important, I believe,” she said smoothly, as if she’d not noticed his reaction. “Atlanteia wants to talk to you.”

Atlanteia. Oh shit. I stared at her.

“Do you know why?”

“She wouldn’t tell me. Only that she would appreciate you paying her a visit at your earliest convenience.”

She glided off smoothly. I felt faintly sick. I’d been avoiding even thinking of the dryad since I’d returned from Haughmond Hill. Part of me had hoped that she didn’t want anything to ever do with me again because I’d promised her I’d keep her flock safe. Instead their entire species had almost become entirely extinct. And one of them had died at my own hands.

Corrigan had obviously noted my reaction. “I did it too,” he said quietly.

I looked at him.

“I killed one of them too. It wasn’t your fault, Mack.”

Yeah, he could say that as many times as he wished. It wouldn’t make me feel any better about it.

“I need to go and see her,” I muttered.

“We have to talk,” he insisted.

The thought of facing the tree nymph felt like a heavy weight around my neck. “I have to go and see her first,” I said. I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else until I did.

“Then I’ll come with you.”

I blinked. He sighed, and gazed down at me. I could feel myself drowning inside the green pools of his eyes, unable to look away.

“We really do need to talk, kitten.”

I swallowed. “Okay then. Let’s go.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

I had no idea what it was Corrigan wanted to say. It was possible that he was so horribly embarrassed that he’d given so much of himself away on the shore of Loch Ness, he wanted to make it very clear to me it had been an aberration which wouldn’t be repeated. I had no doubt a very large part of him still hated me for what I’d done to him.

He didn’t speak, however. We travelled the entire way to Hampstead Heath in the back of his ostentatiously gleaming limousine in silence. I was excruciatingly aware of his proximity. Every time his body moved even slightly, I held my breath, wondering whether he was going to start speaking. But he still didn’t. And nothing had really changed anyway – Endor was still out there, threateningly at large, and I was still the head of the council and beholden to the promise I’d made to stay impartial by maintaining only a platonic business relationship with him.

The car pulled up outside the entrance to the sprawling park. My legs felt like dead weights, but I forced myself to get out. The pair of us began walking towards the copse of trees where Atlanteia’s habitat was located. An owl hooted overhead, and the skitterings of potential prey could be heard rustling in the bushes which lined the path. Other than that, there were no sounds.

“I was so angry at you,” he said, suddenly.

I closed my eyes briefly. “I know. I didn’t want it to happen like that. I wanted to explain it to you first. I just didn’t get the chance.”

“All you’ve ever done is fight against authority and be independent. You don’t do what other people tell you to. All I could believe was that the idea to drop me had come from you.” He scowled. “So you could put yourself in the position of council head. Leader of every Otherworld group.”

“That’s not how it happened. And that’s not what my job is.”

I stopped and turned to look at him, inwardly pleading with him to understand.

“Yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time saying fuck off to anyone who’s tried to tell me what to do. And look where it’s gotten me. I’ve got no-one. I’m not part of a pack, or the Ministry, or anything.”

He scoffed. “You’re kidding, right? You’re best friends with a faerie, a shifter, a mage, a Scottish bookshop owner and a fucking ex-vampire. I’m the Brethren Lord, Mack, I don’t get to have friends.”

“I’m not friends with an ex-vampire any more,” I said, fresh pain twisting inside me.

Corrigan’s face filled with empathy. It hurt too much to think about so I returned to the previous topic.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Why not what?”

“Why don’t you get to have friends?”

“Well, I’m hardly going to be best mates with a faerie or a mage, am I? You know things don’t work like that. And I can’t be friends with the shifters because I’m their fucking boss. I can’t tell them all my worries and troubles one minute, then tell them off the next.”

I smiled faintly. “So what you’re saying is that in order to be a responsible leader, you need to keep your distance.” I threw my arms out in a gesture of exasperation. “What do you think I’ve been doing?”

He blinked at me, then nodded slowly with the light of final comprehension.

“And the three groups are working together in a way that I don’t think has ever happened before.” His voice was soft. He reached out and gently caressed my cheek with his thumb. “I’m sorry for what I said to you before about never wanting to see you again. I was hurting.”

I knew how much it cost him to say that, but I pulled away. “Nothing’s changed, Corrigan. We still can’t be together. I made a promise.”

He watched me carefully. “If we defeat Endor…”

I thought of the bloodsuckers, and the looming threat of Bolux’s descendants, and swallowed.

“What about the girl?”

He looked confused. ‘What girl?”

“You know. The blonde. The one who called you Corr.” I struggled to keep the jealousy out of my voice, but didn’t quite succeed.

“I was hoping that if I was seen publicly with other women, it would get back to you. The one time that being in this position and being photographed constantly seemed like a good thing.” He appeared momentarily shamefaced. “It was petty. But nothing happened, kitten.”

I stared into his eyes. He was telling the truth. And, let’s face it, I was guilty of my own petty actions too.

“You’re in my head and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get you out no matter how hard I try, no matter what stupid shit you pull.” He ran a hand through his hair, then shrugged. “I’m in love with you. I think a part of me has been from that very first time when I saw you sparring with Tom on the beach in Cornwall. I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. Because of you and who you are, Mack. Not for any other reason.” There was an odd expression on his face. “It’s important you know that.”

I could hear my heart beating and I had to squeeze my fingers together into fists to stop them from shaking.

“I love you too,” I said simply.

We both stood there, just looking at each other, neither of us touching. A light breeze picked up and floated past; a night bird screeched off in the distance, and the moon hung heavily in the sky, watching everything. Time stopped.

Eventually I broke the reverie.

“Come on,” I said, “let’s find out what Atlanteia wants.”