Chapter Twenty-One: Fionn
I wasn’t altogether surprised, when I reached my flat, to find it somewhat less empty than expected.
As I let myself in at the front door, I became aware at once of a faint glow of light somewhere within. Someone sat in an armchair by the window, nearly in darkness, save for the small table-lamp she’d switched on.
Silise.
She watched me in silence as I carefully laid my precious sealskin over the back of my sofa.
‘I can’t believe you didn’t change your damned hiding-place,’ she said after a while. ‘Really, how easy could you make it?’
‘Clearly, I should have,’ I agreed, keeping my eyes on her. ‘Somehow I didn’t expect that my erstwhile best friend might still be alive, and planning to enslave me with it.’
‘That wasn’t the plan,’ she countered, sounding anno
