Haru was busy; he had sports classes to teach and files to organize, and Dame Bolter made sure she was getting the most out of her assistant, which meant they only got to spend about an hour a week together. Since their conversation at the Conch House gym, he hadn’t pushed Jamie on more sensitive topics, the two of them steering clear of any complicated Partizan talk or mention of Haru’s desire for them to become closer. Instead they either trained in silence or worked on quiet tasks like tending the Rose Garden, all the while keeping their relative distance – yet even now, at the sound of his name, it was as if Jamie could feel the phantom warmth of their entwined fingers.

The truth was, if anyone was going to be able to help him find his enemy so he could finally find peace, he was sure that Haru would be more than happy to help. He always was. After all, he was the one who’d suggested Jamie was looking in the wrong places.

‘I think you should speak to him,’ Percy signed with a knowing, caustic gaze. ‘Because if your vocation is to protect your princess, then I’m sure she’d feel safer knowing you’re OK too, wouldn’t she?’

Jamie nearly laughed, impressed at how quickly Percy had turned his argument against him, but more so he was amazed at the absurdity of all this. Protecting his princess was indeed his vocation, except now he had two princesses he needed to protect and they were the most confusing, stubborn girls he’d ever met.

Just then Raphael and Percy looked up. Someone was approaching from behind him. From the heavy step of boots, he knew it was Ellie before he even turned round.

‘Hey, Jamie, can I speak to you?’ Her voice was hard, the kind of hardness she only had when Lottie wasn’t around to soften her.

‘Is something wrong?’

‘I just need to talk to you.’ Her face was bare and her eyes puffy, a sign she still wasn’t sleeping. ‘Come on – it’s important.’

He picked up his bags and shrugged a goodbye to Percy and Raphael. ‘Where’s Lottie? I thought you two had made up.’

‘We did, but …’ She looked over her shoulder, making sure Raphael was out of earshot and Percy couldn’t see her mouth. ‘That’s who I need to talk to you about.’

Seeing him tense, Ellie rolled her eyes. ‘You don’t have to kill anyone just yet.’ She tried to laugh, but the sound was hollow. ‘Come on.’

She led him to a quiet spot on the top floor of Ivy Wood, the two of them nestled in a bay window, looking out over the Rose Wood where the trees writhed in the wind, branches swaying. They sat for a while, Jamie allowing his princess to mull over what she needed to say.