I shrug. “Couldn’t sleep,” I say because it’s part of the truth, “and I wanted to get an early start.” I grab one of the hot chocolates out of the carrier, take a sip, and step around her.

“Hungry?” I say to Ash as Aarya puts the goodies down on the coffee table.

I plop onto the couch with my drink and the paper in hand, momentarily reminded of Sunday mornings with my dad. When I was little he would give me the funnies, but in recent years we would just trade sections back and forth, reading from one end to the other. Of course the news app on my phone is more comprehensive than the paper, but there was something about the ritual of it that we both enjoyed.

Ash rubs his face and reaches for a coffee, but Aarya eyes me warily.

“So what have you come up with?” she asks.

“Huh?” I say, not sure what she’s getting at.

“You couldn’t sleep and you wanted to get an early start, so you must have been cycling through new ideas. What are they?” she asks, and I can only hope the aggression is a holdover from our conversation last night and that she doesn’t suspect more.

Ash looks from me to Aarya and frowns, but when he looks back in my direction there’s a glimmer of curiosity in his eyes. I’m one lie away from them knowing I’m hiding something.

I take a sip of my warm drink, buying myself a few seconds. “Well,” I say, frantically searching for something I can tell them that will both be believable and distract from whatever signals of deception I’m unconsciously giving off. “I was thinking…the Lions accused my dad of killing the Regent, right? And while I know that’s untrue, I do wonder if he was involved.”

Aarya tilts her head and I can tell that at the very least I’ve caught her interest. “Go on.”

“See, not long before my dad sent me to the Academy, he was making frequent trips to see my aunt Jo—my mother’s sister—the one the Lion Family killed shortly after I arrived at the Academy,” I say. “I never really questioned it before—well, not in this way, anyway—but now I’m wondering, what if my dad didn’t commit the act himself but was still involved in the planning?” And now that I’ve said it, I wonder how I could have previously missed this.

Ash joins me on the couch with his coffee. “Are you suggesting that it was your aunt who assassinated the Regent?”