“Yes, but I’ve taken care of it, as I’ve said. Appa, Amma, I know the Emersons have done a lot to the Raos over the years, and the Raos have retaliated. But here’s the thing—Grey isn’t an Emerson anymore. He’s renounced his title.”

“So the boy isn’t even an aristocrat anymore?” her father said. It was clear he was reeling from all the news she was throwing at him.

“No, he isn’t,” Jaya said, squeezing Grey’s hand.

“But, Jaya—” her father began.

“Adip, please,” Amma cut in. “Listen to what she’s saying. Listen to her. Doesn’t she sound happy? The one we picked for her, Kiran, has turned out to be…” She could hear all of Amma’s etiquette training pushing against her need to really lay into Kiran. “Well. I don’t think this is a bad thing. Let her be happy. Let her live her life while she’s young.”

Appa grumbled, but didn’t disagree. Jaya plunged on. “Speaking of, I have two other things to tell you: One, Isha will be taking robotics classes while she’s here at St. Rosetta’s. I think it’s a wonderful idea. I think she might just turn out to be the first female Rao engineer. And two: Regarding college, I’m taking a gap year after my senior year of high school. I want to travel.” She took a breath and felt Grey rub his thumb over her knuckles. She gave him a grateful smile. Birds tweeted in the trees above them; mild choking sounds emanated from the phone.

“Well,” Amma said finally. “I think you’ve rendered your father speechless, Jaya. This is… quite a lot of news to digest.”

“I know.” Jaya sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to stress you both out. However, as you know, I’ve been a very dutiful daughter and I’ve been thinking—maybe it’s time I find out what I think about some of these things.”

“Learning lessons on your own gets you hurt,” her father said gruffly. “That’s our job as parents, to teach you those lessons so you don’t have to get hurt.”

Jaya softened. “I know, Appa. And you’ve taught me so well. But now… now I want to see the world through my own eyes. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to come back and help you manage the estate or lead our people. I’m proud of our traditions, of my heritage, of the fact that I’m a Rao heiress. Nothing will ever change that. But I also want to find out who Jaya is besides a Rao princess.” She paused. “Does that make sense?”

In the long silence that followed, Jaya met Grey’s eye and shrugged. Her mouth was dry. What were her parents up to?