Angels’ Dream—no wonder she reacted when she saw it. My heart breaks for her. I know too well the pain of losing family members to the Lions, but I cannot imagine the terror she must have gone through that morning.

“My Family didn’t disown me, but they might as well have,” Ines says. “They wanted me to go away so they wouldn’t have to act, claiming there was no evidence the attack came from the Lions. And I wanted to go away, too; I couldn’t stand the sight of them and their cowardly avoidance. But instead of me living with second cousins on the coast like they planned, I left Spain altogether. And a year later I was lucky enough to find another family that suited me better. I haven’t been back since.”

“By another family, she means my family,” Aarya says. “Ines came to live with me and my terrible siblings and my lackluster parents.”

I can see the shock in Ash’s eyes.

Aarya stares at him. “Now are you satisfied, Ashai? Or do you want us to sign a pact in blood?”

Suddenly it all makes sense, Aarya and Ines’s closeness, and the way that Aarya is always trying to protect her, even though Ines is the better fighter.

Ash looks at Ines. “I am truly sorry,” he says.

I never would have suspected that might be the reason Aarya was here, to right a wrong done to Ines, but now I’m looking at her in a new light.

“I’m sorry I doubted you, Aarya,” Ash says, and I can tell he means it.

Aarya looks surprised by Ash’s admission and maybe a little embarrassed that we now know she’s not as unfeeling as she wants everyone to believe. “Well…right. Fine. I mean, you should be. Let’s just get back to searching for this door.”

And we do. Ash and I return to opposite ends of the bookshelf. We spend the next fifteen minutes going over every inch of the wall—twice. I even use the little step stool to look on top of the shelves, but I don’t find anything, not a suspicious crack or a hollow-sounding part of the plaster.

“Nothing,” I say.

“Nothing over here, either,” Aarya replies, and Ines, too, walks away from the fireplace.

“Let’s switch spots,” I suggest. “Maybe fresh eyes will help.”

“If I didn’t find anything over here, you’re not going to, either,” Aarya says, and even though Ash and Ines don’t say it out loud, it’s obvious they are thinking the same thing.

“Then what would you suggest, Aarya?” I say, frustrated by the dead end.

“That the bouncer is freaking magical,” she says, frowning.