Ash is already shaking his head. “Aarya wouldn’t do that in a million years,” he says. “Believe me, if I thought there was any way she would cooperate, I would have asked her by now.”

“But you can’t know that for sure until you try,” I insist. “I didn’t think there was any way Matteo would talk to me, and I managed it.”

“Matteo and Aarya are fundamentally different people. Matteo has a temper and is too emotional, but he’s a good person. I wouldn’t have let you go to his room alone if I thought otherwise. But in my two and a half years at the Academy, I’ve never once seen Aarya do anything for anyone but herself. She would take whatever opportunity you give her and flip it on you,” Ash says, and all at once I’m reminded of the knights and the sultan.

“The inflexible one…,” I say under my breath.

“The inflexible what?” Ash asks, but I’m already on my feet.

Of all the people who could appear immovable, stubborn, and ready to fight to the death, Aarya is the most fitting. I don’t know why I didn’t think of her as a possibility earlier.

“I know this sounds crazy, but my gut is telling me that getting Aarya on our side is important,” I say, and take a deep breath. My voice has gone from frustrated to excited. “I can’t put my finger on what she might contribute; I just know I need to convince her to tell me what she knows.”

Ash groans. “I don’t know how else to make this clear: Aarya will not help you. She’ll only find a way to hurt you,” he says with a serious tone. But of course he would be serious. If Ash weren’t completely convinced that she was inflexible, Aarya wouldn’t be a contender for being able to act differently. It’s like Kartal said: a fresh perspective is needed.

I stop pacing and look at Ash. “Would you say that Aarya cares about Ines more than she does about Felix?”

“November…,” Ash says, and stands. I can see it written all over him that he’s going to try to talk me down.

“You told me once that Felix was in love with Aarya but that it was never going to happen. So answer the question. Does she care about Ines more?”

“If I had to guess, I would say she does,” Ash says.

“Okay. Good,” I say, and run into my bedroom. I pull a piece of paper out of my bedside table drawer. On it I write:

Ines is in danger. Meet me in the trees right after curfew and I’ll explain.

Ember

I figure if I sign that ridiculous name she’ll know it’s really me who wrote the note. I hand it to Ash. “Can you slip this to her? I know you’re good at this sort of thing because of that game you and Layla played when I first got here.”

He looks at the paper and glances up at me. “You’re not seriously going to do this, are you? If someone’s going to talk to Aarya, I should be the one to do it.”