‘What?’ Ellie nearly spilled the packet of biscuits she was opening, pulling the packet’s edges with too much force. ‘What about?’

‘I …’ Despite having rehearsed this over and over in her head, now that she was here, talking to Ellie, she felt Claude’s hand on her shoulder again, his and Jamie’s faces staring back at her through Ellie, and she rubbed her eyes to try to get him out. ‘I just need to speak to them,’ she managed at last. ‘Please trust me.’

‘What could you possibly need to speak to them about that you can’t speak to me about?’

It was dark outside from a brewing rainstorm. Lottie looked into Ellie’s confused face and realized this was the first time they’d properly spoken in longer than she could remember. When had they become so distant? How did she let this happen?

‘It’s not like that, Ellie,’ Lottie spluttered. ‘I do want to speak to you about it, but I have to speak to them first.’ Lottie searched in Ellie’s dark eyes, feeling the storm brewing there, the way it fizzed and charged. ‘You’re always my number-one priority,’ she continued, hoping to calm it. ‘You have to believe me that I’d only do this if I truly believed it was for the best. Please, I …’ She knew immediately it was the wrong thing to have said and the words got lost on her tongue as Ellie recoiled.

‘I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something too.’ It was Ellie speaking, but her voice came out harsh. ‘About our situation.’

It was Lottie’s turn to be confused. ‘Excuse me?’

Ellie looked up at her and there was nothing there at all, not even a spark, and then she spoke, and it was the most horrible sound in the world. ‘I want to know what you plan to do when you’re not my Portman any more.’

The words screamed in Lottie’s skull like a banshee. She tried to make sense of what she was feeling, scrabbling for her voice. Everything she’d done, everything she was doing, was so she could stay with Ellie; she had nothing else.

‘I’ll be with you,’ she mumbled, and Ellie cocked her head to the side, like a curious animal seeing how far they could push their prey.

‘Not when I’m queen.’

Lottie felt herself swaying, her head fuzzy and confused. ‘I don’t. I can’t.’ It was all she could get out; it felt like her lips had been sewn shut.