Ellie’s hand stretched out and Lottie took it without looking, focused on Marcy who was now rubbing her forehead, her gaze glossy and unfocused. It was then she noticed Percy, his sunken eyes wide, calculating everything he’d witnessed. She knew they were both thinking the same thing. That this was more than a simple case of angry hormones. This smelled sickly sweet and dangerous, just like the Hamelin Formula.

In one swift movement Ellie had pulled her up, bringing her into the safety of her arms.

‘Are you OK?’ the princess and her Partizan asked in unison.

Opening her lips to reply an automatic yes, Lottie found herself staring out at the dining hall instead. The long tables were lined with faces all staring at her, all waiting to see what she’d do next.

With as much dignity as she could muster, Lottie let go of Ellie’s hand and marched over to serve herself another bowl. ‘I think I’m going to go and change and eat my breakfast upstairs,’ Lottie replied, using every ounce of her princess training to save face, the edges of her smile ready to crack.

A princess would not waver in the face of adversity, she told herself; one hint of weakness and they’d pounce on it. At her side she sensed Jamie and Ellie daring anyone to say anything. Safely behind the dining-hall doors, they waved Percy off and he signed to Jamie that he’d see him soon.

‘You’re not going to finish your breakfast?’ Lottie asked, and Jamie shook his head.

‘I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to hang around in there. I don’t want to cause any more of a scene.’

Ellie nodded in agreement, but the words made Lottie shiver. It was unlike him to be so volatile, and it transported her back to the day she’d cut her hair away, sitting on the bench in the sun, the way his hand had brushed her cheek. The first time she’d seen that fire in his eyes.

Internally she shivered at the memory, a part of her desperate to know what he’d been thinking, or if he thought of the moment at all, but she pushed the feeling down, waving Jamie goodbye with a lingering look, and followed Ellie to their dorm with her sad-looking bowl of plain porridge and banana.

The moment the door shut, Ellie’s face curled into a furious snarl. ‘I cannot believe she did that to you,’ she growled, pacing the wooden floor like an animal prowling the corners of her cage. ‘I won’t have anyone talk to you like that, Lottie. No one.’

Ellie was practically blowing steam out of her ears, but Lottie wasn’t worried about Marcy. She was worried about what had made Marcy behave like that, and she had to admit she was also starting to worry about Jamie.