CHAPTER 11
Jaya
Jaya watched Grey lope off by himself, as she’d known he’d do. Even though she shouldn’t, she felt sure he’d meet her when he said he would. Soon she’d know exactly what was going on with him.
One thing had become clearer: what Grey had said at the mixer before he disappeared—about how he couldn’t date and how he wouldn’t run the Westborough estate because he didn’t speak to his family—was connected to Jaya’s pendant, just as she’d guessed. It had to be. How, Jaya was eager to find out.
“So, I think we need to talk,” Jaya said to Daphne Elizabeth now.
The chaperones had set them loose with instructions to meet back at the bus that night at ten, but for now they were free to go wherever they pleased. She and Daphne Elizabeth had immediately joined up, and Rahul and Leo had gone shopping together at one of the big department stores. She and Daph were taking a shopping break at La Maison du Chocolat, a Parisian chocolate shop. Daphne Elizabeth’s father owned a large portion of stock in the international company because she loved their stuff so much.
Daphne Elizabeth bit into her fudge brownie. “Oh my God. Wow.” She closed her eyes as she chewed. “Mmm, no I’m totally listening. It’s just that I’m also having a foodgasm.”
“Erm… ha. Yes. Of course.” Jaya never knew how to respond to Daphne Elizabeth’s often crass, rarely appropriate jokes. Then she ate a truffle and her taste buds almost exploded on the spot. “Oh my. You’re right. This is absolutely divine.”
“You’re literally the only person our age I know who says ‘oh my’ unironically.”
Jaya frowned. “What do you mean?”
Daphne Elizabeth bit back a laugh. “Nothing. Anyway, back to what you were saying. We need to talk about what?”
Jaya crumpled up the thick paper cup her chocolate had come in. “You have to tell—”
But Daphne Elizabeth’s phone beeped, cutting Jaya off. She pulled it out of her pocket. Studying the screen, Daph muttered, “Great.” She turned her phone around to show Jaya.
Your father and I have to jet to Milan over Christmas. We think you should just go to Nana’s—or maybe just stay at St. Rosetta’s? We’ll pay the extra boarding fees. xxMitzi
Jaya frowned. “Who’s Mitzi?”
“My mother,” Daphne Elizabeth said, snorting. “She thinks ‘Mom’ makes her sound old.”
“But… do you celebrate Christmas?” Jaya asked, and Daphne Elizabeth nodded. “Oh, Daph, I’m sorry.”
Daphne Elizabeth shrugged. “I’m used to it. This has happened before. It’s fine.”
Jaya could not think of a single sadder thing. On impulse, she found herself saying, “Why don’t you come visit my family? If you want to, I mean? We don’t celebrate Christmas, but we do go to a different country every winter break.”
Daphne Elizabeth stared at Jaya. “Seriously? You’d do that for me?”
Jaya smiled. “I bet I could even convince my father to put up a Christmas tree wherever we go and do a gift exchange.”
Daphne Elizabeth shook her head. “That’s so sweet. I mean, I’ll probably just go to my aunt’s in France for most of the break, but maybe I’ll come visit you, too.”
Jaya smiled. “I’d love that.”
When Daph went around the table to give Jaya a hug, Jaya wrapped her arms around her, too, even though she wasn’t at all what they called “a hugger.” She thought again about what she’d been meaning to talk to Daph about—Caterina and Alaric. But maybe now wasn’t the time. It wasn’t as though Caterina had done anything else, after their tête-à-tête at the mixer. Perhaps the whole thing would blow over.
The bell above the door tinkled, and Jaya glanced up to see Sam Wickers walking in, looking cheery as usual in a bright yellow sweater and light pink pants. She was on her way to the counter when she noticed Jaya and Daph and turned on her heel.
“Hey, guys,” she said, waving at them with her free hand. The other one held at least six shopping bags from stores all around Main Street.
Daph walked back around the table and took a seat. “Hey, Sam. What’s up?”
“Hello, Samantha,” Jaya said. “Would you like to pull up a chair?”
“Oh no, I’m just here to grab some brownies,” she answered. “Um.” She switched her bags from her left hand to her right and bit her lip, considering Jaya. “Okay, I have to know: Does Leo really get a dozen pots of jam at breakfast?”
Jaya stared at Sam for a moment, then glanced at Daph—who appeared just as confused as her—wondering if she’d missed something. “…I beg your pardon?”
Sam waved a hand and looked between her and Daph. “Leo. He told me he loves Wickers jam and that he gets, like, several pots of it at breakfast every day. I know you’re new, Jaya, but I don’t know him very well and you hang out with him every day. Is that just a really weird pickup line or what?”
Jaya nodded slowly. She could see Daph grinning in her peripheral vision. “Ah. Jam. Leo. Uh, no, he’s not lying. He really does love his jam.”
Samantha narrowed her eyes. “What’s his favorite flavor?”
“Rhubarb,” Jaya answered without hesitation. “He eats it straight from the pot with a spoon.”
“Can confirm,” Daph said, popping another chocolate truffle in her mouth.
Samantha beamed at them. “Rhubarb is one of my favorites too!” She laughed. “Sorry. Jam’s just kind of my jam.”
Jaya laughed also. “Hey, I understand. Family business and all that.”
“Exactly.” Samantha quirked her lips and ran a hand through her strawberry curls. “Is he a good guy, Leo? Do you like him?”
Jaya felt a swell of happiness for Leo. “Yes, Leo is a very good guy. I’ve come to think of him as a brother in a way. He’s really warm, and he’d do anything for his friends.”
“I’ve known him a long time, and seriously, dude, you can’t do better than him,” Daph said, tipping her chair back.
Samantha nodded, thoughtful. “That’s good to know. Maybe I’ll strike up a conversation with him soon.”
“You should,” Jaya said, smiling, glancing at Daphne Elizabeth. “He’d love that.”
“He’ll be over the fuckin’ moon,” Daph said seriously.
Sam flashed them a grin that she’d probably be wearing all day.
* * *
“So, you and Grey, huh? First Sam and Leo, now you guys… Must be something in the air,” Daphne Elizabeth said, sipping her second hot cocoa (that was really more marshmallow than cocoa).
“That’s ridiculous!” Jaya said immediately, feeling her cheeks getting warm at Daphne Elizabeth’s insinuation. So ridiculous.
It was ten minutes till seven o’clock. She had asked Daph to come to Forest Lakes Lodge with her, just to help the time pass more quickly. They were all done with their shopping and didn’t have to be back at the bus until ten o’clock. Daphne Elizabeth and Jaya were seated in gold velvet armchairs near the giant roaring fire. There was an enormous chandelier hanging right above them, made from what looked like real antlers. Hundreds and hundreds of them. How odd. What designer had thought, I know what’ll give this luxury resort a really classy feel. A grotesque amount of deer’s head outcroppings!
“We’re just meeting up to talk about something important,” Jaya added more calmly, leaning back. She didn’t know why she hadn’t told Daph about finding Grey in her room. He’d looked so… flustered, both in her room and on the bus, that Jaya had felt like protecting his privacy. Her feelings didn’t make sense, however, and she was acutely aware of that. After all, Grey hadn’t really cared about Isha’s privacy when he’d leaked those pictures.
“Mm-hmm.” Daph chuckled, licking the marshmallow off her top lip. “ ‘Important’ like how does he look under his clothes important?”
“Daph!” Jaya said, scandalized.
Daphne Elizabeth laughed and hopped up from her chair. “Okay, dude, I gotta pee. Hot cocoa goes right through my system. And then I guess I’ll take off. He�
�ll be here soon, right?”
Jaya tried not to wince. “All right, then. I’ll see you later, on the bus?”
Daph shot her a mock salute and rushed off toward the restrooms on the far end of the room.
The sky outside was a dark indigo, the pine trees mere shadows against it. Jaya got her cell phone out of her pocket and checked it. Nothing from Grey, and it was 7:01 now. Would he actually show up, then?
Glancing up from her phone, Jaya looked toward the entrance and felt every nerve fiber icing over. Caterina LaValle was gliding through the lodge with her friends, looking celebrity-fabulous in a full-length ivory coat and suede Prada boots. Her deep brown eyes were fixed steadily on Jaya. The warning there was clear: I haven’t forgotten your refusal to help and your continued alliance with the enemy. Not even a bit. As Jaya watched, Caterina leaned in and said something to her friends, who nodded and continued forward, while Caterina pivoted and began striding toward Jaya.
Jaya sat up straighter, pasting a polite smile on her face as Caterina got closer. “Hello,” she said, gesturing to Daph’s newly vacated seat. “Would you like to sit, Caterina?”
She sat, although it appeared as if she were floating above her seat rather than perched on it like a mere mortal. “Jaya.” She held her eyes for a long moment. “Interesting friends you keep.”
Had she seen Jaya and Daph talking? “I suppose,” Jaya said cautiously.
Leaning back, Caterina pulled off her calfskin gloves, one finger at a time. “Well, it’s only that I saw you and Grey dancing rather close at the mixer. And today you two were the last ones to emerge from the building and climb onto the bus.”
Jaya didn’t break eye contact as she reached for her tea. She let the silence linger, waiting to see what Caterina was playing at.
“I have interesting friends too, you know,” Caterina said, languidly crossing her long, slender legs. “You remember Sri Devi, of course? Being a part of the royal family network in India, she’s well connected with all the royal families there.” Caterina smiled placidly, and Jaya felt her pulse jump in her throat. “She seems to know so much—whose family’s been feuding, which families might be poised for an alliance. It’s all fascinating, I have to say.”
Jaya took a sip of tea to wet her dry mouth. What did Caterina know? The details of the scandal? About Grey’s involvement in it? That news of Jaya cozying up to an Emerson would be a devastating blow to not just her family, but their future alliance with the Hegdes—and therefore to the entire Rao dynasty. “Really?” Jaya said finally. “I didn’t realize you were so well educated in Indian royal family affairs.”
“Oh, I’m not, not usually,” Caterina said, waving a hand. Her brown eyes were sharp, belying her seeming insouciance. “But when I thought about it, I realized I needed to know more. After all, as they say, knowledge is power.” She smiled, showing all her brilliantly white, straight teeth.
“Indeed,” Jaya replied, her heart thudding in her chest.
“Well, I must go,” Caterina said, standing and looking down her nose at Jaya. “I’ll see you soon, Jaya.”
“It was a pleasure, Caterina,” Jaya replied, forcing an easy smile.
With one last, long look, Caterina turned, her coat flying around her, and swept away.
Jaya set her tea down and sank back against her seat as she stared into the fire. That was a threat; anyone could see that. But what, exactly, would Caterina’s next move be? She sat there for five whole minutes, gazing into the flames, looking for answers.
As the adrenaline left her body bit by bit, Jaya took a breath and turned—and then promptly forgot to breathe again, all thoughts of Caterina flying from her mind. It always surprised her, the surety with which Grey Emerson moved through a space, like he was claiming it for himself. People were watching him with a kind of quiet reverence and moving out of his way, but he didn’t seem to notice. His eyes, those tempestuous, wild blue eyes, were locked on her.
“Hi,” Grey said when he was close enough for her to hear him, to smell him. He’d brought in a scent like fresh snow and pine.
Jaya gestured to the empty chair. “Would you like to sit?”
He looked past her, out the enormous panes of glass that made up the far wall and faced the lit-up ski slopes. “Actually,” he said, looking back down at her. “I’d like to ski. It might be easier to—I think it’ll help me to clear my head.” He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets.
She studied his expression. It was haunted and ashamed, but it was also truthful. He really did want to tell her; he was trying to build up the courage to do it.
Any anger she’d been feeling toward Grey dissipated and was replaced by curiosity. Jaya nodded and stood. “All right. I’m game.”
* * *
The ski lift ride up was magical. The air was crisp and clear and cold like a piece of dark crystal. As they rose higher and higher, Jaya’s breath caught at the sight below them—the stone lodge was lit up in a thousand twinkling lights, the giant fountain in the courtyard staggering under a heavy blanket of snow. Ice crystals glittered in all the tree branches, like strands of diamonds.
“Wow,” she breathed, forgetting for a moment who she was with. “Winter here really is enchanting, isn’t it?”
Grey grunted in response.
The ski lift arrived at the top, and they both took their turns stepping off. Grey held his hand out to Jaya so she wouldn’t fall. She looked at it in surprise for a moment, then took it and laughed. “God, this is a lot harder than it looks.”
He glanced away, his face a cloud of turmoil at the conversation that lay ahead.
They moved out of the way of the other skiers on the lift, and Jaya realized they were still holding hands. They both wore thick gloves, but she swore she could feel his body heat seeping through. Grey seemed to realize what they were doing at the same time she did, and he pulled his hand from hers as if it were on fire.
“So,” Jaya said, attempting to lighten the mood a bit. Maybe if she seemed approachable, it’d be easier for him to tell her what, exactly, was going on with him. “Are you a fellow bunny-slope skier, or do you like the black diamond stuff?”
“Bunny slope’s fine.” He turned to her, his ski goggles pushed up on his head, his expression a smidgeon more open. “Thanks for doing this. Skiing, giving me time.” He paused. “Not getting me expelled.”
“It’s obvious there’s something really bothering you, Grey,” Jaya said. “And no, it’s not okay that you were going through my things, looking for my pendant. But right now I’m more interested in what you’re hiding. Because whatever it is, it looks like it’s making you ill.” She stopped, a little amazed at this burst of honesty from herself. There was something about the way he was looking at her, though, that called for it. As if he was so tired of hiding whatever it was he was hiding. As if he was on the precipice of telling the truth, if simply to unburden himself. It was a sentiment Jaya found herself identifying with. Subterfuge hadn’t been nearly as easy on her conscience as she’d hoped.
Grey paled slightly at her words, then slid his ski goggles on. “Let’s ski,” he said quietly.
Jaya nodded and slid her own goggles on. She was so close to answers, she could taste them on the air like snow.
* * *
They made their way past the other skiers, all of their faces red beneath their ski goggles. The pathway was lit up brightly with overhead lights, and the slope was gentle and easy.
“There are quite a few young children here,” Jaya commented, adjusting her ski pole. “That’s a bit embarrassing.”
Grey kept his voice light as he said, “You don’t care what people think of you, do you?”
Jaya studied him under the night lighting. Shadows fell under his blue eyes but didn’t dim their shine. His full mouth was set in a hard line despite the levity of his tone. “Actually, I do. I care very much.”
“Why?”
“I’m a royal,” Jaya said. “Reputation is half—if not more—of
what we do. If people don’t feel they can trust us, that we’re… better than them, in some way, they’re not happy. And if they’re not happy, we can’t lead the way we’re meant to. Surely you know what I mean, being a duke’s son.”
Grey itched the side of his jaw, hard, with the back of his gloved hand, but didn’t look at her. “I’m not better than anyone.”
Jaya decided not to comment on the harsh, self-flagellating way he spoke the words. “Well, it’s not that we’re better, exactly,” she said. “It’s that they must think we are. They have to feel that we were born more able to cope with dilemmas and problems on a large scale. It makes them feel safe, taken care of.”
“So it’s all an illusion?” Grey asked, his grip on his ski poles tightening. Jaya was aware of people laughing and talking loudly on the slope all around them, but all the bustle felt distant, like it was happening on a TV screen instead of in real life. “And you’re okay playing into that?”
“It’s for the greater good. So yes, I am okay with it.” For the most part. The parts where she was allowed to do only a very narrow scope of things and play the role of nursemaid to Isha, she wasn’t so sure about, though she’d never admit that out loud. Jaya paused and adjusted her ski pole. “But you’re not, I’m assuming?”
“Sometimes I get very tired of being who other people think I am,” Grey said, a muscle in his jaw jumping. More quietly, he added, “But other times, I think maybe I’m exactly what they think I am.”
Jaya noticed the switch from “who” to “what,” but didn’t call attention to it. “Who do other people think you are, Grey?”
He looked at her, blinking, as if he’d forgotten she was there. Shoving his ski poles into the snow with much more force than the action strictly required, he said, “It doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”
He flew down the slope, and after a pause, Jaya followed.
They skied for the better part of an hour, Grey pushing himself to go, go, go, not stopping for a moment to speak with her, riding the ski lift up before she was done skiing down. On about the eighth round, Jaya held up her hand a quarter of the way down the slope. “I think I’m done for now,” she said, wincing. “My legs feel like jelly.”
Of Curses and Kisses Page 16
