Caterina looked at him as if he’d just told her he’d bought a knockoff Gucci handbag. “Those are bellinis. Fresh-squeezed peach juice mixed with Armand de Brignac—champagne.”

Rahul’s ears turned a shade of red that Grey had never seen before. “R-right, no, I—I thought it, ah, well, I should…” And then he just walked off.

“Anyway,” Caterina said, turning back to them. “I better go! There’s a reporter here from one of the nationals, and Alaric made me promise I wouldn’t forget about having our picture taken. He tends to get lost without me. Ta!” She turned, shoulder blades like glass shards poking out of her back, and sashayed off.

They watched her go for a moment, then turned to each other again, as if on cue. Jaya raised a hand, as if to touch him, and then dropped it again. Grey gazed into her brown eyes behind the gold carnival half-mask she wore, soft and glowing once again with sadness. “Hi,” he said.

She swallowed and pushed the mask up to the top of her head. “Hi.” She gestured to the suspenders and twenties bowler hat DE had insisted he wear. “You look really nice.”

“I look like a jackass.”

Jaya’s mouth twitched. “No one could ever say you were disingenuous.” He didn’t smile. “How are you?” Jaya asked, her voice just a breath. A soft breeze off the lake wrapped them up in its cold arms.

“Do you really care?” Grey asked roughly.

She looked stricken. “Of course I care.”

He believed her. She cared. She still… cared. “Then… then why?” Grey asked, shaking his head, just as a group of extremely loud couples walked past them, jostling them both, pushing them closer together.

Jaya put a hand on his chest to steady herself and then jerked back, as if he were hot to the touch. She looked at him, her mouth working, no sounds actually escaping it. It seemed to Grey that she wanted to talk but that she couldn’t find the words to say.

He pointed to a far corner of the yacht’s deck. “Do you want to go down there? It’s a bit quieter.”

After a long pause, during which he fully expected her to say no, she nodded.

They walked past all the laughing, chattering people to the northern corner, which was mostly deserted. Grey watched as Jaya walked up to the railing, closing her eyes against the stiff breeze coming off the water. Her wavy hair undulated, kissing her cheeks and collarbone. She’d put something glittery on her eyelids, and they sparkled like twin stars.

As he joined her, he had a sudden aching need to put his arm around her, to feel her lay her head on his chest. She’d fit perfectly there. “So, tell me,” he said, instead of saying the hundred other things he wanted to say. “You still care about me?”