It was a Thursday in the first week of October when the weather started to turn. The air was no longer heavy with sweet pollen. Instead a fresh, earthy chill had taken its place. Soon the leaves would turn, the ground would harden and another year would be over.
Jamie had always thought his favourite time of year was winter, when the world was still, calm and orderly. It wasn’t until he’d started to spend more time away from the cold and desolate Maravish landscape that he’d begun to realize that, in fact, summer was his favourite season. He liked how unpredictable it was, the juxtaposition of the storms and heat, the way the days lasted forever, and how the citrine light spread into every dark spot with unstoppable resolve.
Why do you keep looking at me like that?
Jamie glanced up at the phantom sound of Lottie’s voice, his ears playing tricks, to see Raphael staring at him from across their table outdoors. Vampy sat to the side, greedily nibbling at one of the Japanese treats.
‘Jamie,’ Raphael repeated, rubbing the top of the cat’s head. ‘I said, why don’t you look it up? The Milton quote.’
‘Yes, of course,’ he replied, shaking his head clear. ‘One second.’
It was lunchtime at Rosewood and Jamie had promised to help Raphael and Percy with their English coursework, not realizing Raphael wanted to study by the Ivy dorms so he could spend some time with the devil cat. Jamie was starting to wonder if Vampy had put some kind of spell on everyone, because he certainly couldn’t see what everyone loved about the spoiled little beast. As if he could hear his thoughts, the cat turned to him, big yellow eyes like moons dipping in and out of view when he slow-blinked.
‘You OK?’ Percy signed, raising an eyebrow. ‘You still haven’t really talked about the run-in with …’ He paused to make pretend horns with his fingers, his pale skin and black hair making a surprisingly convincing image of a demon.
‘I’m fine,’ Jamie signed, swatting the conversation away. ‘Nothing I’m not trained to deal with.’
The truth was, he hadn’t really thought about what happened in Tokyo since they’d found out his attacker had been Claude. The image had become warped, like the whole event had taken place underwater. Claude’s face was so familiar, always watching you when you entered the palace, that he’d become as grounding as gazing at his reflection. To think that emerald-eyed friend was the man behind that Goat Mask didn’t make sense.
‘Whatever you say,’ Percy signed, scoffing. He and Raphael shared a glance.
‘I can see that there’s something bothering you two,’ Jamie signed and said at the same time. ‘Just say what you need to, so we can move on.’
Percy and Raphael gave each other one more look, before Raphael cracked.
‘We’re worried about you.’ He ran a hand through his coiffed hair. ‘Ever since you got back from Tokyo you’ve been so intense. Even more than usual, as though you’re constantly on the lookout for an enemy, or someone to fight.’
‘And it’s not just that,’ Percy continued, his sharp features contorting into a scowl. ‘We don’t think you’re processing what happened properly. We just want to know you have someone you can talk about it with. Lottie, maybe?’
‘No!’ His protestation erupted too fast, and they shared a look of exasperation, not even bothering to hide it from him.
‘She has far too much on her mind right now after the discovery about her uncle, don’t you think?’ Jamie posed the question with sincerity, watching their faces cloud with shame, which he refused to feel bad for inflicting. This was a promise he’d made to himself – that this year he was going to protect Lottie from everything and not be the cause of her problems.
Why do you keep looking at me like that? He heard her words again, and a well of disappointment opened up in his stomach.
‘Then what about Haru?’ Raphael offered. ‘Didn’t you two get close while you were out there?’
‘Perhaps,’ Jamie said.
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.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ she said at last, her voice as fragile as a lullaby. ‘About our conversation in the woods in Japan, and everything that’s happened with Claude and Leviathan and my family, how it’s hurting everyone and …’ She paused to take a breath. ‘I don’t want to do this any more. Especially not to Lottie.’
Jamie could see how hard it was for her to get this all out. ‘What are you saying?’ he asked, wanting to make sure he really understood before weighing in – only he didn’t expect her answer to nearly knock him over.
‘I think we need to accept that we can’t act on what we feel for her. I know you like her too, in the same way I do, as more than a friend.’ The words hit him like a freight train. The fiery pit in his stomach that raged constantly with a thirst for revenge, a desire to hide Lottie away from the world and keep her safe began to hurt, burning his heart and searing his skin. But he put the fire out, closing his mind off until he felt nothing.
Ellie has to come first, he told himself.
‘I understand, but … where has this come from?’ He steadied his voice, choosing his words carefully.
‘One day I’m going to be queen, Jamie. I have to accept that, and when that happens she’s not going to be there any more for either of us.’ Ellie looked down, her face disappearing into the shadows. ‘She doesn’t realize it, but you were right all along. I’ve been bad for her; this whole Portman agreement has been bad for her.’
It was so strange to hear Ellie saying what he’d wanted her to realize when Lottie had first come into their lives. But now all he felt was senseless.
‘I will always support you and your decisions, Ellie, you know that. Seeing you finally take this seriously is excellent.’ Each syllable felt like being flayed alive; he was disgusted at himself for failing so fantastically at his job. He shouldn’t care how he felt; he should only be pleased that Ellie had come to this conclusion on her own.
‘I want to make a pact.’ Ellie spoke firmly, her mind already made up. ‘A royal bond to make sure neither of us go back on our word.’
With only one final fleeting ache of hesitation, Jamie nodded.
They both knew nothing would ever be the same after this.
As he got on his knees in front of his princess, Jamie felt the world sink down with him, every experience and moment they’d shared with Lottie plummeting into depths they would not recover.
Ellie took her place in front of him. Bathed in the light from the window, she was only a black silhouette, the sky behind her rolling too fast and grey, the sun vanishing.
‘As your princess and your master,’ she began, placing her middle and index finger over his forehead, ‘I hereby command you, Partizan Jamie Volk, are not permitted to act on your romantic feelings towards the Portman Charlotte Edith Pumpkin – and nor shall I, Eleanor Prudence Wolfson, Princess of Maradova – and that we shall commit to only a professional relationship from here on until the end of time. Bound by the blood of Alexis Wolfson, this is an order that will never be disobeyed.’
And so it was done.
Instead of heading back outside to join the others, Jamie found himself wandering to his bedroom, a siren’s call pulling him towards a box hidden away in his wardrobe that he hadn’t touched for longer than he cared to admit.
The door let out a long, moaning creak as he eased it open, the box sitting at the bottom, still locked away in his bag. He reached for it and the blue velvet brought back painful memories. The small box made a popping sound as he opened it, the wolf pendant still sitting there untouched, still sleeping, waiting for him to feel ready to wear it again. The only problem was that he’d lost all sense of what exactly he was waiting for. He didn’t think of Ellie and the Wolfsons and what he owed them any more when he saw the winking silver of the snarling wolf. He only thought of that same chain round Lottie’s throat, binding her to the Maravish royal family.
He quickly shut the box, his gaze drifting to the back of the wardrobe, thinking about the spiderweb of clues hidden behind it.
‘Where is my enemy hiding?’ he muttered.
Haru was right. He’d been looking in all the wrong places. All this time the greatest threat to Lottie had been sitting under his nose.
It was the Wolfsons.
He put the box out of sight again and wondered if he trusted Princess Eleanor Wolfson to keep her promise.
