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Trying to calm my nerves I opened the door and peered out. Two men stood outside, and the first, a young man with dark hair eyed me suspiciously.
‘What’s your name?’
I bristled. ‘What’s it got to do with you?’
‘Why are you here?’ he demanded. ‘State your business.’
‘Not until you tell me who’s asking and why,’ I said. ‘We’re just sitting here, eating our supper—’
‘Don’t give us that old flannel!’ The older man pushed his way to the front, and I frowned. He looked familiar. ‘We see you! We know this stone hut wasn’t here when we passed this way earlier today, so don’t try to pretend you’re innocent locals cos we know you’re not.’
To my shock he barged past me and strode into the hut, the younger man following close behind.
‘Hey!’ I cried. ‘You can’t just walk in!’
‘I can do what I like,’ he said crossly. ‘I want to know what you’re up to, because if you’re who I think you are…’
His voice trailed off and he stared at Phoenix in amazement. Phoenix got to his feet, and I saw the look of horror on his face.
‘You!’ the man gasped.
Phoenix swallowed. ‘Hello, Uncle Titus. Fancy seeing you here.’
***
Titus St Clair! Oh no. Things had just got very complicated.
‘You’d better sit down, Uncle,’ Phoenix said gently, seeing the poor man sway, as if overcome with shock.
Immediately the hut transformed itself back into the lodge we’d been sitting in just moments before. Titus looked around him and shook his head, clearly stunned.
‘Would you like some soup, Mr St Clair?’ Wren asked politely. She glanced at the younger man, who looked completely dumbfounded by these events. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.’
Titus seemed to recover some of his faculties. ‘This is my servant, Robert. He’s been travelling with me.’
‘What are you doing all the way up in Scotland, Uncle?’ Phoenix asked, sounding genuinely curious.
His uncle gaped at him. ‘What amIdoing in Scotland? What the hell areyoudoing here? That’s what I want to know. Have you any idea what you’ve put us through? The trouble you’ve caused? I don’t understand. The daoine sidhe said—’
‘The daoine sidhe?’ I asked sharply. ‘When have you spoken to them?’
He turned to look at me. ‘Are you Phoenix Tremayne?’ he demanded.
I wasn’t quite sure how to answer that. What did he know of Phoenix Tremayne?
‘No,’ Phoenix said quietly. ‘I am.’
‘You are?’ Titus rubbed the back of his head. ‘I’m completely lost here. I don’t understand what’s going on. I was summoned up here to explain…’ He leaned forward suddenly. ‘Where the hell have you been? Do you know what’s happened to your brother? Poor Bevil. He’s—he’s—’
‘I know,’ Phoenix said softly. ‘I know. I was sorry to hear it.’
‘Sorry to hear it? Then why didn’t you come back, eh? Why didn’t you go home to Castle Clair and take your rightful place there? You know he married? His young widow, she was expecting. You have a nephew. They need you, and you’re up here doing—’ He threw up his hands in frustration. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Trying to right a great wrong,’ Phoenix explained. ‘It’s a long story. But what are you doing all the way up here? Where are you going?’
‘Home,’ Titus said bitterly. ‘And I never want to come up here again. I was summoned to the Seelie Court, can you believe?’
‘You were?’ Phoenix gasped. ‘But why?’
