Before Ellie could utter another word, Haru effortlessly dipped under her blade, twisting with the slick movement of a shadow until he was out of the way. He shot his leg out, tripping Ellie, before grabbing her with his free hand and pinning her against the wall with such force that the air flew out of her lungs.

Haru blinked at her, confused, before quickly righting himself. ‘I am so sorry.’ He bowed low, and the moment he let go Ellie rolled forward, desperately gulping in air. ‘It is my Partizan instinct to attack intruders.’

Ellie watched the Partizan-trained member of Leviathan raise his head, and this time she couldn’t breathe for completely different reasons. There was something behind his mask, the illusion broken, and for the first time she saw what was hiding there and it was terrifying.

Is this what Lottie had been dealing with? The thought was so awful it made her feel sick.

‘Your little princess should have made it clear to you not to interfere with me.’ He spoke calmly, more like an adult affectionately telling off a naughty child, and it was so disarming that she nearly didn’t register how sinister his words were. ‘Unless you are intentionally trying to make things difficult for her?’

Ellie tried to hold her ground. ‘What are you doing skulking around?’ Her lungs still ached from being winded. ‘You said we’d be safe if we behaved.’ She was about to ask what he had in his hand when she saw the Christmas-pudding wrapping paper.

It was a Christmas present.

‘I was going to leave a present for Jamie-kun. I wanted it to be an anonymous surprise. Something to take home with him when term ends.’ He cocked his head to the side in faux innocence. ‘Has your little princess got him anything yet?’

‘She … What?’ Ellie was thrown by the question, and she tried to move to the side where there was a clearer chance of escape, but Haru’s hand shot out, holding her in place.

‘Of course she hasn’t – probably hasn’t even crossed her mind.’ The mask slipped further and his face tilted upward as if he were about to take a bite out of her. ‘Jamie has told me about you and his princess.’

Ellie froze, shocked that Jamie would talk about her and Lottie at all, let alone with Haru … except Jamie didn’t know anything about Haru, thanks to her. If she’d just let Lottie tell her parents when they had the chance, but her stupid obsession with having one up on her parents had ended up hurting everyone. She always ended up hurting everyone.

‘You are a troublemaker,’ Haru continued, squeezing her shoulder so hard that she winced.

‘What are you talking about?’