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I stopped dead in the middle of the path.‘Are you sure?’

He nodded, his face grave.‘As sure as we can be.’

‘Because you were sure last time, and you were wrong.’

A pair of will-o-wisps shivered to light ahead of us, waving with excitement at the prospect of having us for victims.A good thing, since it meant they didn’t know who we were.

‘We’ve better information this time,’ Arun said after a pause.‘This oracle doesn’t hate you.At least, not as much as the last one did.’

I ignored the commentary.‘A human,’ I said slowly, mulling over what this might mean.‘Seems unlikely.Is she at Dreadhold now?’

‘Well...no.’

‘Why?’The word came out sharp as a knife.

A lesser fae would have shrivelled under the weight of my displeasure.Arun remained steady.‘They couldn’t catch her.’

‘They couldn’t catch a human girl,’ I repeated incredulously.

‘Bannock was injured.He’s recovering now.I decided to report to you before we made a second attempt.’

The will-o-wisps slipped a little closer, waving about in wider arcs as they tried to tempt us off the path.We couldn’t continue this conversation for much longer if we wanted it to stay between the two of us.I pinched the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes against the urge to lash out at Arun for the incompetence of his lackeys.

‘Do you want them to try again?’he pressed.

‘No.’My eyes snapped open.‘If they bungled the first attempt, they’re not having a second.I’ll go myself.’

‘Is that wise?The queen—’

‘Will be dealt with if and when it’s necessary.’I began to walk again, and he followed.The will-o-wisps became more frantic in their attempts to catch our attention, flickering and glowing, throwing off waves of magic that would conjure memories of home and safety, of stories by firesides and warm meals and gentle hands.But I had no such memories, so it was an easy thing to spot the fabrication.They drew a little closer, then let out two little shrieks and winked out, leaving nothing but darkness behind.‘I’ll trust you to cover up my absence.’

‘Of course.’

As we approached the fringe of the Shadowmire, a silhouette became visible, rising out of a crouch.Four powerful legs braced to pounce as a pair of enormous wings swept into the air, twitching with awareness as light glinted from eyes fixed on us.

‘Easy, Melaie,’ I crooned, approaching the griffin with my hand outstretched while Arun hung back warily.

‘That thing’ll turn on you one day,’ he warned as Melaie nudged at my palm with her smooth, hooked beak.

‘You only say that because you know she’d eat you if I gave her half a chance.’I ran my fingers through the feathers of her head, rubbing at the spot on her neck that made her close her eyes and lean into me, making a low chirping noise in the back of her throat.Arun had been saying she would turn on me since I’d first found her as a hatchling in a black-market stall, trussed up for spell craft or a goblin stew pot.Griffins inhabited the wild peaks of the Brass Mountains, where they constructed labyrinths of stone and tinder to trap travellers who were too stupid to know better.They liked their meals hot and bleeding.Few tried to domesticate them.No one rode them.

‘I have Wren standing by.I’ll send word for him to meet you on the other side.When will you leave?’he asked, staying well out of range of Melaie’s wicked beak as I moved to her shoulder and found my hold on the soft leather saddle she wore strapped around the base of her wings.

‘Tonight.I can make the Blackpoint waystation in time, and that should be far enough from the palace to keep from drawing attention.’I murmured a command and Melaie knelt before me, allowing me to swing up onto her back.She straightened, flexing her talons and stretching her wings in her eagerness to take to the skies.I wrapped my hands in the ruff at the base of her neck, where feathers became sleek fur.‘Tell as few as you can manage.I’ll be back as soon as I’ve dealt with this.’

‘Fate be with you,’ Arun said, inching away as I tapped my heels lightly against Melaie’s flanks.She crouched low, before leaping into the air, her powerful wings flinging out to catch our weight and haul us above the Shadowmire where a wind current picked us up and sent us soaring high above the Unseelie Court.I watched the sharp spires of the palace recede as we followed the coastline, keeping an ocean slick with starlight to our right and the Shadowmire to our left.

As we flew towards Blackpoint, where the Shadowmire became dense forest, I contemplated what I would find in the human realm.I’d chased plenty of leads that ended in nothing.This surely couldn’t be it.We couldn’t really have found the girl the stars had foretold.If Arun was right, I would finally be able to put an end to a problem that had been tormenting me for decades.

But ahuman?

I’d expected something more sinister, more formidable.A human would be almost too easy.

But fate was rarely straightforward, and the fact that this girl had already escaped one of Arun’s scouts made me wary.Perhaps she was protected by something that would not be so easy to defeat.I couldn’t afford to rush in without assessing the situation properly.I needed to be sure.

As ancient, quivering oaks started to battle for their place with the Shadowmire, Melaie began to dip low until her wings were almost skimming the foliage every time she beat them down.The waystation was visible as a mound of grassy earth that was neither forest nor mire, and Melaie landed with the grace of a cat, prancing about with the thrill of flight for a few moments before she steadied enough for me to dismount.

‘I’ll be back soon.Don’t eat anyone you shouldn’t,’ I said as I patted her flank, and she tossed her head as though to disagree, before nuzzling me goodbye.