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“Yes, but she was under the red knife. She couldn’t have talked to us—and wouldn’t have, given she severed all ties with us.”

“The Looisearch wouldn’t have known that.”

“The pixie council would have informed Deva’s council. A red-knifed pixie can’t receive any visits without permission aside from those supplying vital goods or services. If the Looisearchdohave council connections, they’ll have known she was no threat.”

“They’re not exactly the type to take any sort of risks. Vincentia was protecting their asses until the very end, and look where it got her.”

“The manner of her death suggests fury rather than intent. She must have said or done something to trigger the attack.”

“Or maybe she did nothing more than refuse to give them the Codex.”

“Her connection to it was more than likely severed when you performed the blood ceremony,” Lugh said. “She probably boasted shewouldfind the Claws once the Codex was back in her hands, and when she couldn’t even findthat, found herself on the wrong end of a sharp knife.”

“Except shedidlead them to the loft—”

“The two of you spent plenty of time up there as youngsters,” he cut in. “She’d have known you wouldn’t risk hiding anythingthatimportant in the beam storage cavities, so the loft was the next likely location.”

All of which was not only logical, but probably the truth. Yet there remained a bit of me that couldn’t help thinking Vincentia had—when it was all too late—seen the true danger of the situation and tried to do the right thing.

“None of which explains the attack on Riayn,” I said. “And why kill her, then hide her body? That makes no sense at all.”

“We’re dealing with people who’d risk wrecking our world in order to gain revenge. I’m thinking sense isn’t playing a major part in their thinking right now.”

“I guess not.” I took a sip of tea. “Still, if they want to use the Eye to find the ring without the hassle of going through me, why kill the only other person who can assist them?”

“Perhaps they think the Eye can be used by anyone. Either that, or they’re simply not intending to kill you off.”

Which, if true, only accelerated the danger I was in.

“Hopefully, once we find and destroy the ring, they’ll stop coming after me.”

“Or maybe,” he grumbled, “they’ll just decide to erase you out of spite.”

Maybe, but there wasn’t a lot we could do about that, and I already had enough to worry about. “Are we staying in Coleford for the night, or holing up elsewhere?”

Lugh hesitated. “I think it would be better to head up to Gloucester. It’s easier to hide in a large city than a village or town.”

I nodded and sent a message to Sgott, telling him where we were going and asking if he’d keep us updated. Then I opened Eljin’s message and read it with a growing smile. I mischievously answered in kind, although I was far less cryptic about whatIintended to do tohimthe next time we were together.

Text sex—who knew that could be so much fun?

Not me, but then, Mathi had always been a man of action rather than words when it came to sex, and I’d certainly never been left wanting during our time together.

Once we’d finished our meal, we climbed back into our hire car and headed into Gloucester, opting to spend the night in a two-bedroom apartment with parking and free Wi-Fi near the Cathedral. Once we’d dumped our new clothing purchases into the bedrooms and transferred the files from our old phones to our new, I headed out to get some essential groceries—tea, coffee, milk, chocolate—while Lugh booted up the new laptop and started going through his various search results, looking for mines that matched the one I’d seen in my dreams.

On the way back, I spotted a witch’s spell shop and, on impulse, headed in. A wiry, ginger-haired woman with brown skin and fierce blue eyes came out from behind a curtained doorway.

“Afternoon,” she said, in a voice that was warm and welcoming, “how can I help you today, young lady?”

I smiled. “I have what I believe is called an Eve token. I was just wondering if you could tell me a bit about it, or perhaps even who might have made it?”

Her pale eyebrows rose. “And why would you be needing to know that? Was it used on you, or perhaps someone you care about?”

“My brother. He’s a little too embarrassed to come here himself because he was a little too chatty with the woman when it came to bank details.”

Which was an embellishment of Lugh’s story but held enough of the truth to ring true. It wasn’t unusual for a witch running this sort of shop to have a nose for falsehoods, even if they weren’t psychic.

The woman laughed, the sound bawdy. “Hope he at least had a good time before he was scammed.”