She reached out to take Alice’s hand but Alice flinched back.

‘Alice…’ she pleaded. ‘Please, believe me. In that room, she was manipulating you, manipulating us. What she said about you looking for someone more experienced, someone better than me, that was her way of trying to creep into my mind and release my demons. She wanted you to see my suffering. My fears are built upon how much I couldn’t stand losing you. This,’ she gestured to the two of them, ‘what we’ve built, what we have, it’s real.’

She stepped closer, but Alice couldn’t shake the unease that had settled in the pit of her stomach. She needed time. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Alice dragged open her bedroom door and gestured to Grace to leave.

‘No, no, Ali, please don’t do this.’ Grace was red-faced, her eyes filled with tears that she refused to let fall.

A tear rolled down Alice’s cheek. ‘I’m sorry, I just … I need to be alone for a while. I’ve got a lot to think about.’ She held her head high but she couldn’t look at Grace for fear that she would see how broken she felt inside.

Grace didn’t plead again. She nodded once, wiped a tear on her sleeve and marched from the room without a backward glance.

As soon as the door clicked closed behind her, Alice crumpled to her knees. Sobs wracked her body and she couldn’t breathe from the pain of the spasms.

She dragged herself onto her bed and yanked the covers over her. She didn’t bother undressing – what did it matter now anyway? She grabbed a pillow and clawed it to her chest, hoping it would fill the void that had opened up in place of her heart.

Her hand brushed something that felt odd beneath the pillow. Trying to regulate her breathing, she sat up and felt around until her fingers closed around a torn-off piece of paper.

Alice frowned, sniffling as she unfolded the parchment. She recognised the handwriting immediately as Grace’s, and felt her world collapse in on her.

You’re the strongest, most courageous person I know.

When you’re by my side, I’m home.

Sweet dreams,

Your Grace x

She dropped the note, her hands shaking. How could she have ever doubted the sincerity of Grace’s affections? How could she have turned her out, when all she had ever shown Alice was kindness, patience and … love.

Alice screamed into her pillow, tears flooding down her cheeks.

She had ruined everything.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

‘Morven, you’re in charge of keeping the lamp lit. Maeve, Brenna, I need you to make sure everything stays clean and tidy. Glenn, I’m trusting you to make sure everyone has three square meals a day, and Cass, I need you to be my second in command. Your job is to keep everyone safe until we return. Does everyone understand?’ Jem was regimental, marching up and down the room, allocating duties, pacing, wringing his hands.

Everyone was sitting around the fire, as they always were, but they were facing outwards towards Jem, with the fire warming their backs. Jem and Lily should have left an hour before, when the sun was still yawning. Now it was creeping up over the ocean and Lily was growing increasingly nervous – and from his twitchy behaviour, she could tell that Jem was too.