Wraith(50)

‘You were the wraith who sneaked into my room to kill me. You were the one I captured. And you weren’t kidnapped at all. You manipulated me from day one. Who are you really working for, Saiya?’ He glared at me. ‘Is your name even Saiya?’

‘Yes,’ I whispered. ‘Everything about me is true except for the wraith part. I’ve not lied to you. Not much anyway. The only thing you don’t know about me is what I really am. Everything else is the same.’

‘Really.’ His voice was flat.

‘Really!’ Desperation attacked my insides. ‘I wasn’t in your room to kill you, Gabriel. I’m not like that.’

‘I bet you were laughing your head off when you discovered you were my Fior Ghal.’

‘No!’ Alarmed, I shook my head. ‘I didn’t even know what a Fior Ghal was, Gabriel. Believe me.’

‘Don’t call me that,’ he snarled. ‘Don’t call me Gabriel. You haven’t earned the right. You’re a despicable thing. You’re a creature of horror and death and—’

‘Bloody hell!’ My anxiety exploded into anger. ‘It’s your prejudice that brought us to this! You’re the one who hates wraiths. You’re the one who forced me to keep quiet because I knew you’d react like this. I’m not an assassin. I was in your room to eavesdrop. I sell secrets. I don’t kill unless I have to. I’m not part of some murder conglomerate! If I lied to you, I did it because I had to do so to survive.’

‘So you’re a spy, not an assassin?’ he enquired icily. ‘Is that supposed to make me feel better? I suppose you really work for the Gneiss goblins. I heard they employ wraiths to do their bidding but I didn’t think they’d stoop this low.’

I threw up my hands. ‘I’m not a damned spy! I sold secrets to Marrock in return for food, medicine and supplies. I’d like to see you survive in this city without resorting to illegal methods. I don’t work for the goblins. They’re here because your lot wouldn’t do anything about the siege. Not because of me!’

‘They’re here because the law says—’

‘Oh, screw the law,’ I spat. ‘People are starving to death because of your bloody adherence to the law! We’ve been living in terror, with people executed whenever the damned goblins feel like flexing their muscles. I’m not the one at fault here!’

‘No,’ he said sarcastically. ‘How could you be the one at fault? How could you ever make a single mistake? I’ve owned up to the errors we made by not breaching the siege and I’ve apologised. All you’ve done is sneak around and lie.’ He bared his teeth. ‘From the moment we met, you’ve been using me.’

I put my hands on my hips. ‘Like you’ve not been using me? I’m your stupid Fior Ghal and I’ve got no choice in the matter. What if I’d already been with someone? What would you have done then? You bulldozed me into this. It’s not like I wanted to be your damned soul mate! Before you came along, I knew who I was and what I was doing. Since you showed up, I’ve become this over-emotional, stupid person who can’t keep her head straight! I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want this.’

Gabriel shook his head. ‘You lied to me. I knew you were hiding things but I didn’t imagine it was on this kind of level.’

‘Is that’s what bothers you most? We’re trying to save Scotland from being ruled by power-hungry goblins and what upsets you is that you didn’t know the whole truth? Or is your ego so big that you’re pissed off you didn’t work it out for yourself?’

His eyes held mine. ‘I’m not the villain here.’

I stared at him. So obviously I was the evil one; regardless of my intentions or the fact that I couldn’t help being a wraith, I was the bad guy. So much for spending the rest of eternity together. Unable to stay a moment longer, I bent down and swept up the trinket box. Then I twirled round to storm out.

‘I’ve not finished yet,’ Gabriel growled.

‘Well, I have,’ I flung over my shoulder. ‘I’m off to find the Stone of Scone. You can do what the hell you want to.’

‘You’re not doing a damn thing without me.’ He grabbed my arm and spun me round to face him.

‘Why? Because you don’t trust me? Maybe you think that I’ll use the Stone to crown myself ruler of Scotland. I’ll make it a mecca for all things wraith!’ I laughed manically and tried to pull away.

Gabriel’s face was inches from mine. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he hissed. ‘There are goblins all over the place. You can’t just wander out there.’

‘I can do whatever I please. I can look after myself. I’m a stone-cold killer, remember?’

He moved his head down, his lips hovering over mine. ‘You…’ He ground his teeth in frustration then pulled back. ‘Give me the box.’

I thrust it into his hands. He glared at it as if it were causing great offence. ‘How do you open it?’

‘I don’t know.’ I forced myself to calm down and drew a deep breath. ‘Tell you what, you work it out. I’m going to find out what the goblins are up to. They’re not looking for us and I want to know why. They might be close to the Stone even without the clue from that box.’

‘You’re not going alone.’

That was what I’d been planning to do but I could hardly stop him from coming with me. I shrugged in irritation. ‘Whatever.’

‘We’ll take a look at what they’re doing and I’ll figure out how to open this box. As soon as we have it unlocked, we’ll know where to find the Stone of Scone. Maybe I should just break it open.’

‘That might work.’ I avoided looking at him directly. Focus on the Stone, I told myself. That was what was important.

‘Saiya,’ he sighed. He hesitated. He was obviously thinking the same as I was. ‘You brought back this box here. You obviously don’t want the goblins to find the Stone any more than I do. Let’s deal with it and then we’ll sort out this thing between us later. Okay?’

I glared at him. ‘Okay.’ I yanked myself away from him. ‘Come on then. Let’s see if you’re good enough to keep up.’ I turned round and scuttled out through the small exit. I shouldn’t have felt relieved when I heard him start to follow. I did though.





Chapter Twenty-Two




Dawn was already breaking. The faintest golden glow was visible and, instead of simply being a looming dark shape, Stirling Castle was silhouetted against the sky in all her majesty. Fronds of pink were emerging and, here and there, bird call sounded across the city.

Neither of us paid any attention. The expression on Gabriel’s face was as steely grey as the lump of stone that was lodged deep in my heart. We might be slipping through the streets together and working towards the same goal but we couldn’t have been further apart. He could barely look at me; he kept his attention trained on the box, continuing to fiddle with it as if it were miraculously going to open because he willed it.

My mind drifted back to what we were like in the cave, before he’d discovered the truth. My earlier rage had vanished – in truth it had been born out of fear and hurt more than anything else. Now I was simply filled with sadness and pain. So much for a life of happiness with my soul mate. Gabriel obviously believed me to be a monster.

He broke the silence, muttering a frustrated curse.

I glanced at him. ‘You should just break it open like you said. Smash it against the cobbles or something.’

For a moment, I wasn’t sure he was going to answer. ‘I could do that,’ he said finally. ‘But there might be a mechanism inside to guard against that sort of action. Breaking the box might destroy the contents. That would be a good thing of course…’

‘…if it weren’t for the fact that the Filits might still find the Stone on their own,’ I finished for him.

We exchanged a grim look. If I thought that Gabriel was starting to ease up, I was sadly mistaken. He tore his gaze away from mine. ‘You’re right about one thing,’ he said grudgingly.

‘What’s that?’

‘Something’s not right. It’s too quiet here. Where are all the goblins? Is it normally this deserted in the centre of the city at this time in the morning?’

I was about to answer him when, up ahead, there was the sound of a brief yelp, followed by a door slamming. The sound reverberated up the street. Oh shit.

‘Gabriel,’ I said in warning. ‘We…’

I didn’t have time to finish my sentence. There was a brief guttural yell followed by the sound of heavy clomping boots. A moment later, Filit goblins marched up around us, appearing from every street and alleyway. There were hundreds of them and there was no doubting their target. They encircled Gabriel and me impassively, leaving us barely a few metres of space. This was a well-practised manoeuvre. There wasn’t a gap through which we could hope to escape and the goblins had to be twelve deep; they were taking no chances.

Gabriel, in what was probably a reflex action rather than anything else, began to raise his hands and mutter even though Ange’s trinket box was still in his fist.