I look at Ash, coming to terms with what I suspect is the truth. “I am. And I think her death was retaliation.” I swallow. “The thing is…all this time I’ve been assuming that the Lions were hunting my family and that’s what prompted my dad to send me to the Academy. But I don’t think that’s exactly accurate. If my dad and my aunt were somehow responsible for taking out the Regent, then it had to have been planned. Which means that my trip to the Academy was also planned. Maybe for years.” What I don’t say is that it’s just one more item in a long list of lies from my dad.

“This helps,” Ash says. “This is a piece of the puzzle that we were missing—the event that started the whole chain reaction. Now we have some context.”

“What are you thinking?” I ask.

“Well, for starters it tells us that the clues he left for you aren’t the trail of bread crumbs left by a man in hiding; they’ve been carefully planned and executed,” Ash says, and I can almost see the gears in his head turning. “It explains why he knew Logan’s sign was there, and also gave him time to make a negotiation that would have Angus point you to it.”

“That makes sense,” I say, and while I’m happy to have more information, I’m not thrilled with the revelation that my dad had always planned to leave me behind at the Academy and then make it nearly impossible to follow him.

“If he and your aunt had planned to take out the Regent, there is still the question of why now?” Ash says. “Something must have prompted the timing.”

Aarya nods, wiping a smear of melted chocolate from her croissant off the corner of her mouth.

“While we don’t know why he acted now, we do know your father must have had an alliance within the Lion Family,” Ines says as she enters the living room and grabs a coffee. “He would have needed inside information to successfully plan the Regent assassination.”

We all sit there for a few seconds, considering the new development.

“Well, one thing is for sure,” Aarya says. “We need to get to work. If your dad planned this for what I’m assuming is years, and part of his plan is for us to go to the Lion ball, then we damn well better deliver.” She stands. “I’m going to make us a frittata, and then we’ll get to it.”