Princess at Heart (The Rosewood Chronicles)

Haru took Jamie to a remote log cabin situated by a lake in the Bavarian Alps, far away from any form of civilization. They travelled by train and car, using passports Haru had already acquired for them to keep their journey untraceable, until at last they arrived late in the night. A bloated and eager moon followed them up the winding path and deep into the mountains. Blanketed by millions of stars, the planet stretched out forever in front of him, the universe above reflecting in the giant body of water, endless.

‘They will have food ready,’ Haru said. ‘How are you feeling?’

Jamie didn’t answer, staring at where his feet met the blue grass at the edge of the lake, the light from the cabin glowing at his back, casting a shadow in his shape over the starlight mirror. For a moment he felt like the only person alive until Haru moved closer, their shadows melding together.

‘Everything feels bigger,’ Jamie said. ‘It’s a little overwhelming.’

Haru draped an arm round his shoulders. ‘We can wait to go inside.’

Jamie knew he was exhausted, that his mind was playing tricks on him, but when they heard an animal howl in the distance he thought of Lottie crying on the balcony from the pain Ellie had inflicted upon her. Knowing she was still trapped in that small world, the wolf round her neck getting tighter and tighter. It set his skin on fire. He just had to hope she would be OK until he could put his own plans into action. Plans he’d need his father for.

Picking a rock out of the dirt, he threw it across the water where it scattered their shadows and the stars. ‘Let’s go.’ Pulling away, Jamie gestured for Haru to follow. ‘I have something important I need to tell Claude.’ And without looking back he made his way to the cabin.

Haru was the one to knock – a specific sequence that let them know it was him. Locks clicked and turned on the other side, and faster than Jamie was prepared for the door swung open. The cabin looked like an upside-down ship, the dark rafters were the hull, with a great black fireplace protruding from the wall like a flaming rock through the bow. Opposite the door was a grand floor-to-ceiling window that looked over the lake, which from here seemed as vast and wide as the sea.

The woman who greeted them was tall and broad, with silver hair and gunmetal grey eyes, her stare as heavy and threatening as her powerful build. Her harsh appearance was baffling against the homely marigold glow from the fireplace and the calming smell of chicken soup. It only became more baffling when she bowed.

‘My prince,’ she said, her voice as deep as a grave.

It took Haru’s hand at his back, gently pushing him inside, for Jamie to remember what he was doing. So many times in his life he had bowed to Eleanor, to the king and queen and queen mother, to his trainer Nikolay, but never had he had someone bow to him, and it made him feel like there was too much pressure on his shoulders.

‘Now, now, Phi.’ A man’s voice drifted from the corridor to the left, soft and hypnotic like a snake’s hiss. It was one Jamie recognized, and despite being here to meet him it made his skin prickle, a slow, building panic that told him to run far away. ‘I’m sure young Jamie is not particularly comfortable with such displays.’

The floorboards creaked, and from the doorway, with no ceremony or fanfare at all, he appeared.

Someone closed the door behind Jamie, but he couldn’t have said who, too preoccupied was he by the man in front of him. There was no mask this time, no cloaks or shadows. Claude stepped into the light with a warm smile.

Jamie had been brought up to believe that the man in the black-framed painting was something to be afraid of, that the green-eyed monster with his false charm and knowing smile was the very embodiment of betrayal and infidelity, the one thing Jamie must never become. Now he watched the so-called monster as he extended his arms out to Haru, bringing him into his robe where he patted him on the back and ruffled his hair like a father might a son.

A father to the world. That’s what he’d said on the roof in Tokyo, and now he could see it.

‘Welcome home,’ Claude said, voice soothing like incense. ‘You’ve done excellent work.’

Beaming, Haru relaxed, his expression softening in that way it did, where looking at him felt like a refreshing summer breeze, then without warning both Phi and Haru left the room, leaving him alone with the man who was meant to be his enemy.

Claude turned to him now, their eyes meeting like magnets. Framed by the fire that burned behind him, shadows danced at his feet, his long robe dusting the floor, while rich crimson ate up the light. His black hair was tied back, a few strands escaping, reminding Jamie of his own untameable mane. There was nothing threatening in the way he stood or smiled, and yet there was a wildness to him. It mirrored the feeling Jamie had always had deep inside him, the one he had always been told to dampen and push down. It was fire, and it was ferocious.

Even though he’d come here to find Claude, he couldn’t shake how peculiar it was to see him – the Goat Man, the Master of Leviathan, the scourge of the Wolfsons. This was the stuff of nightmares, but it felt like a strange dream.

Claude was the first to speak. ‘I am sorry, please sit down,’ he said with a sigh filled with regret. ‘I’m sure this is all very unpleasant for you. I will get you something warm to eat.’

He swept out of the room again, leaving Jamie alone with the fire. He sat on one of the large grey sofas, his body melting into the cushions, and he had the strangest feeling he was swaying, the fire sending flickers across the exposed brick and wood, the ship cabin come to life, rocking him across the imaginary sea. He thought it curious that they trusted him enough to leave him alone, wondering also if perhaps they were spying on him, waiting to see what he’d do, but he had no plans to snoop; his only mission was to protect Lottie, and he needed Claude for that.

‘Here we are,’ Claude said, coming back in. ‘Ingrid has prepared this for us tonight.’ He placed a large bowl of soup and a plate of bread with cheese on the table. ‘She wanted to do something special for you, a peace offering, if you will.’

‘Are you sure it’s not poisoned?’ Jamie said.

For a second Claude blinked at him, and then he laughed. It was a big, booming laugh, his glance narrowing over Jamie as if it were their personal private joke. ‘I see she’s made a good impression on you.’ Claude stole a piece of cheese off Jamie’s plate and strolled over to a large armchair by the window, where he took his place.

Jamie could have killed him, and he must have known that; he was alone and exposed with no one nearby to stop him. They hadn’t checked him for weapons or a hidden mic, so he could very well be there to slit his throat.

‘Why are you trusting me?’ he asked outright, not having time for any games.

Claude turned to him, a smile playing on his lips.

Jamie couldn’t look away. I am this man’s son.

It was that same caressing awakening he’d experienced when he’d found the letters, slow, methodical hands reaching inside him and putting pieces in place that he never knew he was missing. Something stirred in the man sat in the throne, his features warping, the shadows digging deep into the bones of his face.

‘I am easing you in.’ Claude spoke frankly now. ‘You have been unleashed, freed from a sentence you did not know you were serving. I know the experience well. Eat.’ He gestured to the food on the table, and without question Jamie followed the order. ‘It is likely you are feeling lost, uncertain, the world stretching out larger than you remember it having the right to. Is that so?’

Jamie nodded.

‘You are my son.’ The fire ignited his eyes, the emeralds sparking with the power of the statement. ‘You are the child of the woman I loved, and we have both been punished for it. All these years they kept you hidden from me. I only hope that now we are together we can make things right. Does that sound reasonable for now?’

Swallowing, Jamie felt burning in his stomach again, because that’s exactly what he wanted: to right something that had been wrong, to free Lottie from a position she should never have been forced into, but first he had to be sure.

‘Last time I saw you, you had me cornered on a roof. Why not tell me then?’

Claude answered immediately. ‘I wanted to give them a chance to put it right themselves.’ He shook his head, disappointment clear in his glum expression. ‘I’ve only ever wanted to give them the opportunity to do the right thing. I never wanted to hurt anyone.’

‘So what are you using the Hamelin Formula for?’

Jamie kept his questions short and quick, a lesson every Partizan learned, because it was the best way to make sure your subject had no time to consider their answer.

‘It is our last resort. If they will not admit what they did themselves, forcing you to become a Partizan as punishment, banishing me, all for falling in love with the wrong woman, then we have the means to make them confess. I think the world deserves to know who really runs the world, what these people are really like and what they are capable of. Then the people can choose how they wish to be governed. If you had known all this, if the people working in the palace had known, I’m sure they wouldn’t have taken these jobs of servitude. Do you agree?’

It felt like he was talking specifically about Lottie, that he’d reached inside his mind and located the very reason he’d come here.

‘Yes, I agree.’ Jamie already knew what he had to do next, all he needed was everyone else. ‘Can you call in the other members of Leviathan?’

Claude tilted his head. ‘Haru says you have something to tell me.’

‘I do, but I need the rest of you here first, to make sure you understand how important it is. All of you.’ He paused. ‘Especially Ingrid.’

A smile crawled back over Claude’s lips.

How had he been so afraid of this man, shivering at the idea of Lottie getting near him? The thought of Lottie reminded him why he was here.

Claude left the room again without a word. After a few minutes, the rest of Leviathan began filtering in. The first ones to come through after Claude were Phi, who prowled the room as if she expected a fight, and Haru, holding a plate of food. They were followed by two mousy teenagers Jamie had never seen. From their similar height and build he imagined they must be twins. Both of them stared at him in unison, giggling to each other, noses crinkling identically.

The last to enter the room was Ingrid, who stood in the furthest corner of the room from Jamie and crossed her arms, sulking.

So, this was the Leviathan. The monsters he and his friends had been fighting for so long. Their stance made it clear they were all Partizan trained.

‘Where’s Julius?’ Jamie asked, looking over his shoulder, trying not to react to how the name tasted in his mouth.

‘He’s on an important errand,’ Claude said quickly.

‘I understand your plan involves bringing in the Maravish princess?’ asked Jamie, looking straight into Claude’s eyes.

They looked among each other, except for Claude who continued to stare at him.

‘Is that a problem?’ Claude’s voice stayed level.

‘Yes,’ Jamie said, and all eyes trained on him. ‘You can’t go after her.’ He paused, thinking of Lottie, the way she’d been betrayed by Ellie – the way both of them had been betrayed by the Wolfsons. He swallowed. ‘You can’t go after her. She’s not the real princess.’

In the silence that followed only the fire continued to crackle, one of the logs snapping and spitting, and Jamie could feel it deep in his stomach, a furious blaze. There was no going back now. ‘Lottie Pumpkin,’ Jamie began. ‘It’s not a pseudonym the princess is using. It’s her real name. She’s Eleanor’s Portman.’

The faces staring at him were almost comical. Like melting wax, their expressions couldn’t seem to settle, mouths parting and jaws going slack, as if they were not able to contain the millions of mixed feelings. Haru looked particularly adrift, his gaze resting in the middle distance while he tried to make sense of his folly. Ingrid and Claude were the only ones who seemed to know exactly how they felt about this information. Ingrid’s eyes went wide at the cold hard slap of humiliation, while Claude showed no hint of shock or embarrassment. For him it seemed as if everything were falling into place. Fingers swirling in his beard, he looked at Jamie once more, a hungry smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

‘So who is the real princess?’

Jamie’s glance flicked over to Haru and he watched as his eyes widened in understanding.

Haru laughed, although the sound was more shocked than amused. ‘Ellie. The bad influence.’

‘You mean this whole time, some common little urchin has been causing me all this trouble?’ Ingrid looked ready to rip out the throat of the girl she’d been continually bested by.

This was exactly why Jamie had come here. He turned to Claude. ‘Lottie is a good person who has been dragged into all this. The real princess, Ellie Wolf, has brought nothing but trouble on her shoulders since the day they met.’ Jamie couldn’t believe he was saying these words, that it had taken him so long to see the truth. He felt a twinge of guilt. But he’d been denied his identity for his whole life; it was time for Ellie’s identity to be revealed.

Something passed over Claude’s face then, a spark in his emerald eyes that felt like, for a split second, he’d looked right inside him, down into the very depths of his most private thoughts until he was lying exposed. It made him shudder, but not from fear, but because he knew there was nothing he could hide from this man. They were the same.

‘What do you need from us, Jamie?’ Claude asked, but Jamie could tell his father had already guessed.

Looking around the room, he focused on each of them individually. They were his pack now.

‘My conditions for joining you are simple.’ He leaned back into his seat, mirroring his father. ‘You are going to help me save Lottie from the Maravish royal family.’