Caterina may not know anything of substance—how close Jaya and Grey had come to kissing, for instance. Maybe she, Kiran, and Sri Devi barely talked about Jaya at all. The important thing was for her to not mention Grey; Jaya knew this deep in the roots of her soul, like she knew never to eat the toxic fruit of the othalanga tree. This was a power move on Caterina’s part, that was all. Surely this was just her way of saying, Don’t ever cross me. If I bothered to really dig into your private life, I could crush you like a bug under my boot heel. Message received.

“I should go shower before dinner,” Jaya said, making her way to the door.

“Good idea,” Caterina said. “You never know what kind of dirt might be sticking to you.”

They looked at each other. Jaya nodded, turned the doorknob, and left. She stopped in the hallway for a moment, her breaths coming faster, as if she were caught in a lightning storm no one had seen coming.

CHAPTER 13

Jaya

It was Saturday morning, a day and a half after the Skype ambush, and Jaya paced the length of Daph’s room. They’d arrived at an uneasy truce after their confrontation on the bus in Aspen, both of them at an impasse. Well, it was time to break the impasse.

“What’s going on?” Daph asked, tearing off a piece of fruit leather that was wrapped around her finger. She was dressed in yoga pants and a tunic sweater, ready for the weekend. “You seem really… stressed.”

“I am stressed.” Jaya stopped and looked at her. “Look, I have to tell you something that I should’ve told you a while ago, and you’re probably not going to like it, but things have now come to a head and—”

“Whoa, slow down,” Daph said, her palms outstretched. “Start at the top, darling. Tell me everything.”

Pulling the sleeves of her sweater down, Jaya turned to her. “Okay. You have to tell Caterina about you and Alaric.”

Daph paled. “What? Jaya, you know I can’t. Why are you saying this?”

“Because I’m in her crosshairs now. She talked to me at the mixer, and again at the lodge in Aspen, and now…” Jaya took a deep breath. Caterina could ruin everything if she told Kiran that Jaya and Grey were an item. He’d tell her parents, who’d be furious, of course, with good reason. This could jeopardize everything, and it had to stop. Now. “I haven’t told her anything about you and Alaric, but she knows I know something, and she’s not taking my silence too well. I don’t have to tell you, Caterina’s not someone I want as my enemy.”