For a moment I don’t respond. I look from Layla to Matteo and back again. “Wait, you know this? We risked our necks multiple times to find it out and you…” I laugh, even though it’s absolutely not funny. “Of course you know this. You’re Layla.”

Layla smiles slightly. “While I appreciate your confidence in me, it’s Matteo who deserves the credit.”

I wait a beat for someone to explain, but Matteo is silent.

Layla sighs. “Matteo?”

He stares a moment longer like he’s resigning himself to once again sharing secrets with me. “In the innermost circle of my Family,” Matteo says, his voice reserved, “it’s been suggested that it was not actually your father who killed the Regent.”

“Of course he didn’t, but how do they—” I start, but Matteo gives me a look that makes me swallow the rest of my sentence.

“I do not know the exact details, but something about the assassin’s style implied that it might have been…Jo,” Matteo says.

For a second I sit very still, blinking at him, positive I must have misheard. My aunt Jo?

“Which is a possible explanation for her recent demise,” Matteo continues, his voice more sympathetic than I would expect.

I try to swallow, but my throat is too dry. “Wait,” I manage, trying desperately to unstick myself from this awful moment in time. “You’re saying my aunt Jo killed the Lion Regent? Is that even possible?”

“You would know better than we would,” Layla says, and they both give me a minute to collect my thoughts.

But I don’t need a minute. When Logan told me my dad was suspected of the murder, I knew there was something wrong, that it didn’t fit. I don’t have the same doubts this time. Despite the fact that I’ve only recently started thinking of my family as being Strategia, I can more easily picture my aunt taking out the Lion Regent, especially if she had a strong motive.

“We know you weren’t previously aware of your family’s politics,” Layla says, slowly easing me back into the conversation. “But do you have any idea why your aunt may have made such a bold move?”

I look up at Layla, realizing my gaze had drifted to my hands. There is only one answer that feels right. “My mom,” I say. “Aunt Jo’s been furious about her death for the past eleven years, wouldn’t let it go. My dad said it was a car accident, but now that I know what I know…it’s obvious they didn’t tell me the whole truth.”

“And so you think the Regent was the one who assassinated her?” Layla asks.