Jamie knew he was exhausted, that his mind was playing tricks on him, but when they heard an animal howl in the distance he thought of Lottie crying on the balcony from the pain Ellie had inflicted upon her. Knowing she was still trapped in that small world, the wolf round her neck getting tighter and tighter. It set his skin on fire. He just had to hope she would be OK until he could put his own plans into action. Plans he’d need his father for.

Picking a rock out of the dirt, he threw it across the water where it scattered their shadows and the stars. ‘Let’s go.’ Pulling away, Jamie gestured for Haru to follow. ‘I have something important I need to tell Claude.’ And without looking back he made his way to the cabin.

Haru was the one to knock – a specific sequence that let them know it was him. Locks clicked and turned on the other side, and faster than Jamie was prepared for the door swung open. The cabin looked like an upside-down ship, the dark rafters were the hull, with a great black fireplace protruding from the wall like a flaming rock through the bow. Opposite the door was a grand floor-to-ceiling window that looked over the lake, which from here seemed as vast and wide as the sea.

The woman who greeted them was tall and broad, with silver hair and gunmetal grey eyes, her stare as heavy and threatening as her powerful build. Her harsh appearance was baffling against the homely marigold glow from the fireplace and the calming smell of chicken soup. It only became more baffling when she bowed.

‘My prince,’ she said, her voice as deep as a grave.

It took Haru’s hand at his back, gently pushing him inside, for Jamie to remember what he was doing. So many times in his life he had bowed to Eleanor, to the king and queen and queen mother, to his trainer Nikolay, but never had he had someone bow to him, and it made him feel like there was too much pressure on his shoulders.

‘Now, now, Phi.’ A man’s voice drifted from the corridor to the left, soft and hypnotic like a snake’s hiss. It was one Jamie recognized, and despite being here to meet him it made his skin prickle, a slow, building panic that told him to run far away. ‘I’m sure young Jamie is not particularly comfortable with such displays.’

The floorboards creaked, and from the doorway, with no ceremony or fanfare at all, he appeared.

Someone closed the door behind Jamie, but he couldn’t have said who, too preoccupied was he by the man in front of him. There was no mask this time, no cloaks or shadows. Claude stepped into the light with a warm smile.