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Unfortunately for him, while he’d taken my purse to ensure I couldn’t ring for help, my phone hadn’t been in that purse. Sgott had broken land-speed records to get me out of that situation, and the elf had gotten the book thrown at him. Last I heard, he was doing a couple of years in jail for breaking and entering.

“Use that to send me updates on what you’re doing,” he said.

“I will, just as soon as we get new phones—we smashed our other ones.”

“Deliberately?”

“No. It was a consequence of hitting a wall a little too hard.”

“You’re all right otherwise?”

“We’ve a few minor cuts, but yes, we’re fine.”

He grunted, a disbelieving sound if ever I heard one. “If you’re still in the Cheltenham district, I can give you the name of a retired elf healer who is the soul of discretion. Just in case the minor cuts aren’t.”

I smiled, reached for the pen and paper, and jotted down the nurse’s name and address. “We’ll head there once we hire a car. That way, she can ease your concerns.”

“I’ll let her know to expect you this morning, then. And do please be careful.”

“We will. Thanks.”

He hung up. The smell of bacon and fresh toast hit my nose, and I quickly headed into Lugh’s room. He was just placing the stacked tray onto the table. I filled the kettle and readied the cups for our tea.

“Sgott’s given me the name of a retired healer,” I said. “I think that should be our first stop once we grab a car.”

He nodded. “It’ll be easier to avoid attention if neither of us look like something the cat dragged in.”

“It’d have to be a pretty big cat to drag you anywhere, brother mine.”

He grinned. “Not necessarily. There was this lovely feline in Egypt who—”

“Details arenotnecessary,” I cut in.

“Thatwould have to be a first.”

I grinned, and we got down to the business of breakfast. Once we’d gathered our few meager possessions and paid our bill—giving the owner/manager a good tip for all his additional help—we caught a cab down to the car hire place. After nearly an hour of faffing around with paperwork, we drove to the healer, who was ready and waiting for us. She was a lovely woman who insisted on us staying for tea, cake, and a chat after she’d healed us. I rather suspected she was lonely, as there wasn’t an elf enclave nearby and, according to what she’d said, her family had all moved overseas.

By the time we got to Coleford and purchased phones, clothes, and a computer, it was close to one. We found an out-of-the-way cafe with free WIFI, ordered something to eat and hot drinks, then started plotting.

But fate hadn’t quite finished with us yet.

I’d barely inserted my SIM into my new phone when several messages came through—one from Eljin, and one from Sgott.

I opened the latter and read it with a growing mix of disbelief and regret, then raised my gaze to Lugh’s.

“What?” he immediately said.

“It’s Aunt Riayn. It appears she’s been murdered.”

ChapterEight

“Appears?”Lugh said. “What does he mean by that?”

“They haven’t found her body yet, but there’s evidence of a fight and blood in the kitchen. They’re currently doing a line search through her property.”

Lugh leaned back in the chair and scrubbed a hand across his bristly jaw. “Why on earth would anyone want to kill Aunt Riayn? She has no connection to the search for the Claws—”

“She’s Vincentia’s mother, and probably knew a whole lot more about what her daughter was up to and who she was working for than she ever admitted.”