"You said you would find out for certain who is responsible for the privateers," Ciel had said coldly when I told him plan.

"This is better. It'll accomplish more."

It hadn't been my words that had swayed the Earl. It had been Sebastian, standing off to the side, who had nodded slightly in assent. Yes. My plan would work. I felt sick at the moment the Earl agreed and wondered how he could grant us leave to do this so easily. Did it not bother him? Perhaps it did not, for he was merely the hand that bid us go, not the hand that would actually carry out the deed.

It was sundown when I asked Ron to help me in the library. I had been there all day, scrutinizing the work that had been sent to us by my detective referral. He had indeed turned up some very blackmail-worthy material. I shifted through it with a dull mind, past caring at how my morality was deteriorating. This seemed a remote evil, a harm done to someone distant from me, while what I would do this evening was far more personal. Far more painful. I considered sabotaging Cruidin in his efforts to obtain the river but I figured I had better not make him any angrier than I already planned. Besides, even if Cruidin obtained the river, there was no guarantee he'd be able to drown anyone. I had Grell up my sleeve for that one.

Ron followed me in, blissfully unaware, as I explained that I needed a book from a shelf just out of my reach. He didn't see Sebastian waiting along the wall, just beside the door so that he would not be seen by anyone entering. The butler stepped neatly behind the selkie and his arm moved, so quick, and Ron's eyes went back in his head and he dropped to the floor. Sebastian caught him as he did and lay him gently on the ground, taking care to not injure him further. I hastily closed the doors behind us and crouched next to the unconscious selkie.

"I've never seen anyone knock someone out with just their fist," I muttered.

"I'm most talented," Sebastian replied demurely, "Best you do this. I shouldn't interfere overly much."

I bit my lip and hesitated. Sebastian's red eyes were focused on me, holding a silent promise that if I did not do this, he would find a way to force me to. With that hanging over my head I was able to gingerly remove the selkie's gloves. They were slick leather and smelled faintly of the ocean.

"A selkie always has his skin on him," I whispered, "and will be in the sway of whoever steals it."

"Yet this one has sworn oaths to Cruidin," Sebastian continued, rising and holding out his hand towards me, "Neither of them will be able to allow this conflict in loyalties to stand. Come, we need to hurry before he wakes."

I slipped the gloves onto my own hands for safekeeping. They fit perfectly and the skin about my wrists prickled. The queasy feeling in my stomach felt like it was burning holes in my gut. I took Sebastian's hand and he hurried us through the halls and outside to the forest's edge. Once there, he snatched me up, one arm under my knees and the other under my shoulders. I gasped and clutched at his shoulders in fear of being dropped, but the devil was strong, and he broke into an inhumanly fast sprint, carrying me along effortlessly. I kept my eyes closed. I could barely process the trees as we passed them and the terror of being run headfirst into something that would not yield was too much to bear.

Finally, the devil set me down again. I was in ankle-deep water. Sebastian gestured for me to stand behind him, his eyes focused on something in the distance. We did not have long to wait. I heard the river flowing about my feet, the sound of my own frightened breathing, and then the sound of hooves in the distance. They grew steadily louder and then a horse broke over the line of the rise and cantered down to us. It stopped about three paces away, tossing its head and snorting. The eyes were red like Sebastian's and its coat was like silver in the light of the rising moon. Cruidin.

"Both the seal skin and the girl belong to you," Sebastian said evenly, "I propose a bargain."

The horse shifted, a beast one moment and a man the next, in the space of time it took me to blink. Cruidin was there in his primal form, his hair silver and loose, his chest bare and a bronze torc around his neck. His eyes shone with qualities I couldn't find names for. Anger? Excitement? It was something else, something alien, that I could not name with mortal words. I realized there was a similar look in Sebastian's eyes.

"Get out of my river," Cruidin growled, "You defile it."

I sighed. Of course. I should have realized this the moment Sebastian set me down. The devil wasn't just trying to force Cruidin into a bargain – he was also trying to make him too angry to think straight. Either that or Sebastian just felt like antagonizing the kelpie for the sake of being cruel. It was equally likely.

"Not until you agree to a bargain," the devil persisted, "I return what is yours and you turn over to the Crown the extent of your privateer operation."

Cruidin smiled and bowed his head.

"I think not," he said demurely, "I am an Irish demon, after all. I take what I want."

The two immortals darted forwards at the same time. I bolted. I did not want to be near the two of them clashing. I could hear the sound of bodies colliding behind me and there was only a grunt from Cruidin to indicate that a struggle was going on. I risked a glance back. Cruidin had Sebastian's arm locked with his own and the devil's eyes were like live coals. In his hands was... what appeared to be knives. Cutlery, the sort you'd find on a dinner table. I was too surprised by this to keep running. The devil ducked back, then bounded into the air in the same move, and silver flashed from his hand. Cruidin snapped a hand out and then returned the movement, neatly snatching the weapons out of the air and throwing them back at the devil. They went over Sebastian's head as he hit the ground into a low crouch, then darted forwards and slammed a shoulder into Cruidin's stomach. The kelpie went down, but seized Sebastian's wrist as he did so and threw him up over his head. The devil landed against a boulder that was embedded into the ground and the rock shattered, spraying shards in every direction. I remembered that perhaps I was too close.

"Bridget!"

I turned at the hiss of my name. Ron stood nearby, gesturing for me to follow him. I hesitated.

"It's okay," he said, "I'm not angry. I think I understand what you're doing. Please, come with me. I can't hurt you – it is not in my nature."

I followed him. He guided me towards the river, watching his lord battle the devil over the top of my head. The two were darting towards each other again and again, so quick I could only track their movements by the flash of silver as weapons caught the moonlight.

"I stole your skin though," I said, "You have to hate me."

"Are you going to keep it?" His tone was mild and unconcerned. My silence was his answer and he knew it for what it was. No, I wouldn't keep the skin. It wasn't in my nature to hurt him more than I already had.

He directed me to kneel by the bank of the river and then he knelt too, keeping his body close to mine so that he could shield me in an instant if he needed to.

"I can protect us," he explained, "The water is... where I am strongest... I suppose that's the best way I can explain it. But hopefully the two won't get too far out of hand."

"This is them under control?" I asked.

"When my master is angry -" His voice dropped to an urgent whisper. "- the skies turn black as night; lightning splits the white-topped waves apart and scatters the foam onto the hulls of ships wrecked long ago, dredged up from the bottom of the ocean by his fury."

I sternly reminded myself that the Irish were prone to exageration. Surely Cruidin wasn't capable of defeating Sebastian. The two were darting closer, like two birds locked in combat, each harrying the other here and there as they are tossed on the currents of the air. I saw Cruidin duck low to the ground, place one palm on the ground just as Sebastian leapt for him. He did not dodge the knives and I saw them stick home, the silver lengths suddenly darkened by the blood that burst free from the force of the impact. Sebastian did not seem to expect this and his landing put him too close to the kelpie – which seemed to be exactly what Cruidin aimed for. The Irish lord moved, pulling his hand off the ground and something silver followed it and then the two were frozen in place, both of Cruidin's hands poised around Sebastian's lower chest, and the devil looked past him with his red eyes wide in surprise. He saw me, for just a moment, and then Cruidin kicked his feet out from under him and followed his fall, pinioning the devil with the sword he had pulled from the ground. Then he stood and stepped back. Sebastian did not move. The sword was driven to its hilt through his body and in the silence that followed I could hear the devil's soft gasps of pain.

"We are always armed," Ron said calmly, "Our weapons are always there for when we call them. They are named, they have power, and they are forged by immortal hands to wound and kill other immortals – including devils. Go to Cruidin. He has rightfully won you."

And I stood, as if in a trance, and walked towards the kelpie.