Lottie snapped out of the bizarre thought and emptied the rest of the envelope’s contents on to the low table.

The card that landed in front of them was much the same as the one she’d received before, only this did not depict a majestic and regal creature. Instead of a stag, a snarling wolf was drawn in gold ink wearing the same crown as the stag. It’s what she’d wanted, to see the wolf in the crown – yet there was something grotesque about the image, as if this wolf had been feasting on the deer from the other card.

‘What are you trying to tell me, Claude?’ Lottie whispered at the wolf.

‘Is there any way you could tell Sayuri or the rest of Banshee? Maybe they’d have some more information?’ asked Binah. Lottie had filled Binah in about Banshee, Sayuri’s secret biker gang who had sworn to get revenge against Leviathan, and how they’d come to be allies. It was clear that Binah was itching to meet them. ‘What about that girl Emelia you told me about?’

Lottie cringed. Although she’d never met the girl, Emelia had become something of an idol in her mind, and part of Lottie desperately wanted to meet her. After having been kidnapped by Leviathan a year ago and deemed useless, Emelia had taken it upon herself to get to the bottom of the kidnapping, figuring out completely on her own that the princess of Maradova was at the centre of Leviathan’s plot. Emelia and Sayuri had practically handed her everything she’d needed to figure out that Claude was the Master of Leviathan, and all she’d done was walk them right into a trap. If Lottie was ever going to pay Emelia back or get her respect, she had to bring her something useful and prove to her that she wasn’t simply the bratty princess that had inflicted Claude upon them all. Finding out what Claude’s goal was; that was the only way she could help anyone.

Lottie sighed, already packing up the letter and clue. ‘I’m sure that Haru will find a way to intercept any letters I send. It would ruin their cover and they’ve been through enough.’

Watching Lottie with narrow eyes, Binah began to stir her tea in an almost hypnotic way, like she was trying to extract something from Lottie’s head with the pull of the hot water. ‘Well, why don’t you open your other letter?’

Lottie stared at the other post she’d thrown on the table.

‘It looks like Ollie’s handwriting,’ Binah said casually, and Lottie paused, wondering how she could know such a thing, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it.