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His face contorted, making him unrecognizable.

‘I wish I’d never listened to him. But all the same…’

Before Gia could reach her, Marcellus grasped hold of Claudia, pulling them backwards as he held a knife to her throat.

‘Don’t… move,’ he said.

Everyone froze, on the precipice of the temple.

He dragged Claudia towards the entrance, but Gia and Cassius held out their swords, blocking him.

‘What are you doing, Marcellus?’ said Claudia. ‘You couldn’t kill me before. You won’t do so now.’

‘I have found my courage now. See? I have nothing to lose. I am a man on the edge.’

Gia inched closer, causing Marcellus to retreat further into the temple, his back pushed up against the wall.

‘Back off!’ he yelled.

He pressed the knife in deeper, causing Claudia to cry out.

‘Let her go, right now,’ said Gia.

A rustling noise alerted Claudia to a presence nearby.

They all seized up, awaiting attack – when Princess the lynx skulked out of the shrubbery.

‘Oh. It’s just a cat,’ laughed Marcellus.

Princess leaped gracefully up onto a mounted statue. She eyed her mistress below, struggling in Marcellus’s grip.

And then she pounced.

Claudia wrenched away as Marcellus fell backwards. He gave a wet gasp of a scream, trying to pull the lynx off as her sharp fangs dug into his neck, forcing him to drop the knife. It skittered noisily across the floor towards Gia’s feet.

The lynx sprang away, leaving Marcellus on his knees, clutching at his wound in shock. Princess trotted up to Claudia and wove through her legs, purring, as she and Gia looked to each other in bewilderment.

The prince was captured but his beast was still protecting her.

‘Darius did tell me she was trained to kill with a single bite to the throat,’ said Claudia, passively, as she watched her cousin dying.

Nadira burst in, breathless. ‘I’m so sorry, Empress. She broke free of her leash. I couldn’t stop her,’ she said.

‘It’s all right, Nadira,’ she said. ‘You did well.’

‘This is how it ends for me, isn’t it?’ said Marcellus, ashen.

‘I think so,’ said Claudia. ‘Sorry, dear cousin.’

Marcellus slumped down onto the floor, losing all strength and will as his blood waterfalled down his chest.

‘Save me,’ he begged of Claudia. ‘You could still save me.’

Claudia shook her head. ‘Unfortunately, I can do nothing for you. The palace physician has fled,’ she said. ‘Thanks to your own uprising. Oh, cousin. I still remember you as that little boy I asked to play with me as a child.’ She mirrored his words at their first meeting. ‘You are much changed, of course.’ Claudia paused, for effect. ‘You have grown up to be even more of a parasite.’

He laughed ruefully, half sobbing.

‘I see. That is how you wish for it to be. You won. You won again, Claudia.’