Page 105 of The Falconer

Protect each other, because I won’t be here to do it myself.

Derrick flies to Gavin’s shoulder and perches there, but he’s far from happy about it. ‘Fine. But this is against my better judgement.’

Before I get inside the locomotive, Gavin squeezes my wrist. I meet his eyes and am shocked by the fear I find there. ‘Aileana,’ he begins, but he doesn’t continue.

I know what he means to tell me. When Cassandra foresaw the destruction of Troy, I imagine she felt similarly: ineffectual, terrified and desperate to prevent her vision from becoming reality.

‘You’ve seen the whole vision now, haven’t you?’ I say. ‘Everything that Kiaran saw.’

Gavin nods. Before I can say anything, he pulls me into a hard embrace, crushing me against him. ‘I couldn’t see it clearly before, what makes it happen. Last night I did.’

I bury my face into his shoulder, remembering Kiaran’s words.Every conscious decision you make would only help the vision come to pass. ‘Don’t tell me.’

‘I won’t,’ he whispers. He holds me so tightly, I can feel the shape of him through my armour. ‘You can change it,’ he tells me. ‘If anyone can, it’s you.’

When I speak, my voice almost breaks. ‘I wish I had never brought you into this. If anything happens to you—’

Gavin gathers me even closer. ‘Don’t.’ He presses his cheek against mine. ‘Don’t think, for one moment, that any of this is your fault.’ He pulls back, eyes searching mine. ‘I made my choice that night in my study. I’d make the same choice again.’

Tears mist my vision and I fight to keep them from falling. ‘I still maintain that was a foolish decision.’

He smiles slightly. ‘Yet infinitely preferable to another damn dance, don’t you think?’

I return his smile. ‘Infinitely.’

‘Kam.’ Kiaran says my name quietly from inside the locomotive, as if he doesn’t want to interrupt but knows he must. If we don’t leave now, we won’t make it to the Queen’s Park in time.

‘Gavin, promise me you won’t do anything stupid.’

‘Only if you promise me you won’t die.’

I can’t reassure him that I’ll see him again, that I’ll survive this battle. I can’t tell him that I wish he had come home sooner so we could have spent more than a few days together. I can’t tell him that I regret the two years we were apart, because now they feel like seven hundred and thirty days’ worth of wasted opportunities. I can’t make promises to him that I’m unable to keep.

‘Stay safe,’ I tell him.

‘And you.’

I step into the locomotive and settle next to Kiaran, then flip the switches to start the engine. It comes to life with a mechanical whir and steam rises from the stack at the front.

I shove the lever forward and we drive out of Charlotte Square.

The Queen’s Park is very different seen through the filter of Kiaran’s power. My senses are enhanced, my vision and hearing more acute. Every blade of grass is a thousand times sharper, and I can clearly see every branch on every tree, right down to the smallest twig. And the colours . . . It’s a different spectrum from the one I’m used to, more beautiful and vivid. This is what it must be like for someone to use their eyes for the first time. I’m not certain what to focus on: the colours, or the grass, or the trees, or each individual falling raindrop. It’s utterly overwhelming.

I glance at the clouds as I drive, and the moon shines through them again, almost completely red now except for the tiniest sliver of white at the bottom.

I stop the vehicle in the meadow, near where the fae will pour from the mound. I examine the cliff face below Arthur’s Seat, the calm trees resting against the rock. The park is quiet, everything still. Not even a breeze to stir the branches.

Now we wait.

I look at Kiaran and find him watching me, those strange and lovely eyes more vivid than ever. I see him the way I did when we were in theSìth-bhrùth, uncanny and magnificent. ‘You’re stoic as always, MacKay.’

‘I’ve had years of practice,’ he says.

‘What should we do about your sister?’ I ask him. ‘Should we get her out first?’

He shakes his head. ‘She’ll know to leave before the seal is reactivated. Focus on the battle, not her.’

I laugh once, low and forced. ‘Be honest with me – do you think we’ll win?’

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