Ash goes to his bag and digs out his atlas, clearing a spot on the coffee table. “Have you ever been to that hotel?” he asks Aarya and Ines as he flips through the pages, landing on a detailed page of central London. “Layla and I stayed there once with our parents, but it was ages ago and I only vaguely remember the layout.”

“I went there for high tea with my mom two years ago,” Aarya says, and I take a closer look at her. I can’t imagine a world where Aarya goes to high tea. Or has a mother, for that matter.

We crowd around the map, and Ines adds a log to the fire. But I’m still hung up on the why of it all. It’s different than anything my dad has ever done, and I hate that I can’t rationalize his motives. It feels…wrong.

Chapter Seventeen

AARYA, INES, ASH, and I sit around a rustic dining room table covered in Indian food that Aarya made from scratch. Not only is it delicious, but she wore an apron while cooking and used all kinds of culinary jargon that I’ve never heard before as she bossed Ines around the kitchen. I’ve been side-eyeing her ever since. I really don’t know what to make of her and her deeply layered personality. Even Ash seemed impressed.

“You guys are completely useless,” Aarya says, and pushes her plate away from her, which I’m assuming means she’s done eating and someone else should clear.

“Ah yes, we’re the problem,” Ash retorts. “Meanwhile you’ve been spouting utter brilliance all morning.”

“I know,” Aarya says, and sighs theatrically. “The burdens I must bear.”

We’re all feeling the pressure of time. We went to bed last night at four a.m. after talking in delirious circles for hours with the hope that everything would make more sense if we slept on it. But here we are at lunch without a complete plan and only one day before the ball.

The only person who looks relaxed is Ines, who’s eaten twice as much as the rest of us and is smiling faintly at Aarya’s drama.

“Even if we can sneak onto the property, the only way this is going to work,” Ash says, leaning forward, “is if we have a way to distract or disorient a couple of guards. Knocking them unconscious is out of the question. Their absence would immediately be noticed and it would be a clear indicator that there were uninvited guests. And imitating them is also out of the question. We run too much risk of being recognized.”