Breath ragged with anticipation, she flipped open the envelope, and could smell it as sweet as a warm summer’s day. It made her nauseous – there was only one person who carried that scent around with them.

Slowly, like it might bite her, she removed the letter, bile at the back of her throat, because she already knew who it was from, and it couldn’t be anything good.

It was brief and to the point, and made all the blood in Lottie’s body turn to ice.

To the princess,

Now you have witnessed what we can do, I’m sure you are eager to avoid any more unpleasantness.

Meet me outside the Conch pool at lunch.

Do not tell anyone. I’ll know if you do, and you certainly won’t want to be the cause of any more problems for your friends.

Any good feeling she’d managed to cling to crumbled to dust inside her. Invisible fingers clasped her throat, choking all the air out of her, and they wouldn’t let go, even when she forced herself to take a deep breath in.

This was Haru’s work, it had to be – and the threat was clear, stealing any plan she had to tell the rest of the group about him. What would he do to anyone if she told them? What was he capable of?

She thought of Dom, the boy who’d been subject to the reporter’s attack, and Marcy, her face cruel and unflinching as she stared at Lottie. She couldn’t let that happen to any more people; their safety came first.

With a bubble of panic building in her chest, Lottie squeezed her eyes shut, visualizing her tiara on top of her head, the delicate weight of it, the cool silver against her skin, and she conjured the words that would calm her: Be kind, be brave, be unstoppable. But even her mantra couldn’t cover up the truth, because this was the most alone she’d ever been in her life.

Vampy greeted Jamie outside the boys’ dorm, yellow eyes materializing out of the shadows as the cat weaved between his legs, still angry with him and mewling at the indignation of being abandoned for two whole days.

‘Hello, you big spoiled brute.’ Jamie picked up the great lump of a cat, letting Vampy rub against his face possessively.