His painting hung in a black frame, a dark reminder of the fate that would befall any royal who turned away from their responsibilities. In his exile he’d waited, plotting, building an army. Now they knew that the mysterious goat-masked man who’d tormented Lottie and her friends for the past two years had been him. But why?

‘Hello, Goat Man.’ She found a strange satisfaction in using his nickname when he looked so proud. Perhaps this was how Ellie felt whenever she defied authority.

‘You can say his name, you know.’ Ellie’s voice drifted down the corridor, dark and bitter like coffee. ‘Everyone’s acting like it’s some terrible curse word.’

Turning slowly to face her princess, Lottie braced herself, remembering that it wasn’t just her image that had changed. Even so, it made her mouth go dry.

In the glow of the moonlight Ellie was dressed in a long black robe fit for a funeral, her face floating in the dark. She looked utterly exhausted. A sheen on her pale skin made her complexion look like alabaster, and the darkness beneath her eyes looked stained with ink. Lottie wondered if she’d slept at all since they’d learned about her uncle being the Master of Leviathan.

Taking a sweeping step forward, there was something dangerous in her eyes.

‘Claude Wolfson, Claude Wolfson, Claude Wolfson,’ Ellie repeated as if she were calling on the bogeyman, looking around with her hands outstretched. ‘See? Nothing happened.’

Lottie flinched at her tone. Ellie was obviously angry.

‘You’re late,’ she said, ignoring Ellie’s teasing. ‘What’s wrong?’

Ellie’s face dropped, and Lottie felt guilty as she took in her smudged eyes and chewed lips. She had to believe she’d done the right thing in telling Ellie about her uncle, but seeing her like this it was hard to feel like she was helping anyone.

‘I had to steal this from the post room; it could have got us in serious trouble.’

From an inside pocket, Ellie pulled out a postcard, passing it to Lottie so she could see the elegant painting of a bamboo forest on the front. She could smell it, like a scorching-hot summer and the fizzy tang in the air after fireworks.

Flipping it over, Lottie stared at the six lines of simple text.

Dear Princess,

Please keep an eye on Haru for us.

His sabbatical is still regrettably a mystery.

Stay safe, and remember our fates are linked by the sword.

Sayuri, Miko, Rio and Wei

‘She sent it here, to the palace, for you.’ There was an edge to Ellie’s voice that sounded like fear, the kind of low-frequency sound you expect from a cornered dog. ‘It’s dangerous, Lottie. What if someone had seen it?’ Ellie groaned, putting her head in her hands. ‘No one knows Haru is part of Leviathan except for us and Ani and Saskia.’