“Traveling? So we’ll go to each family’s city?” That was the first spark of good news I’d heard. I glanced up at Jack and remembered the conversation we’d had last night. Napoleon would have hidden clues in places important to the Circle.
My father nodded. “If we start tomorrow, visiting all ten families should take somewhere around—”
“Two weeks,” I said. The same amount of time the Order had given us.
“Around two weeks,” my father agreed. He’d been ignoring his dinner, but now he dug in. “That sounds about right. During that time, you’re welcome to keep researching your bracelet. I would be thrilled if your theory were true, so feel free to use our databases, our history books, whatever you need.” Like an afterthought, he added, “And I’ll assign troops to search any leads you have in the field.”
“Wait,” I said. “No. I have to look myself—”
He stopped me. “The Order may claim they’re leaving you to find the tomb, but I will never believe they’re not dangerous to any Circle member, let alone a very important one.”
I looked down at my untouched food. That was inconvenient. I wondered whether he cared about my safety because I was his daughter or because I was a new possession. The thought stung more than I wanted it to.
“While you’re under our protection,” my father went on, “you’ll stay under guard, and we’ll do the searching. If we find the tomb before we’ve decided on a family to unite with, we can reevaluate the union. But in the absence of that, you’ll agree that it makes the most sense for our family, for the Circle, and for your mother, for you to marry.”
I pressed my lips together. It did make sense, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, but I was sure it wouldn’t come to that. “Okay. But you have to promise me you’ll make saving my mom a first priority.”
My father inclined his head in agreement.
“She has demands.” Lydia smiled at me, almost proudly. “Sister’s learning to be one of us.”
I glanced up at Jack, who studiously avoided my eyes. “Where are we going first?” I said, like it was a vacation and not an arranged marriage.
My father looked pleased. “How would you like to visit India?”
Now Jack did look up, catching my eye ever so briefly. “I’ve always wanted to go there,” I said, and the smile that spread across my father’s face was so genuine, I felt guilty again.
? ? ?
After dinner, my father had Jack escort me to my room. No doubt the family wanted to be alone to discuss my future. Jack walked a little farther than a respectable distance ahead of me as we padded down the hall. He glanced up at a camera on the ceiling, its little red light following our progress. We continued past it, and suddenly, Jack grabbed my hand and squeezed.
“Are you really going to let them do all the work while you’re wined and dined by a bunch of Circle suitors?” he whispered.
I looked back down the hall toward the dining room, where the door was firmly shut. “Of course not,” I whispered back.
The camera down the hall was swinging toward us. We sprang apart and continued walking, like we’d never stopped.
CHAPTER 4
The next afternoon, I was in another massive house, on the other side of the world.
The Rajesh family lived near the center of Kolkata. Their compound’s high walls sheltered a secret garden of palms and orange trees and overgrown ivy and moss-covered fountains that looked like they’d been running for centuries. The home itself was white marble, with columns all across its front, grand enough that I would call it more palace than house. We’d been ushered straight to our suites, and I was perched on a tall stool, with Lydia and two Rajesh servant girls flitting around me.
“There,” Lydia said, putting the finishing touches on my eyes. My sister had done my makeup while telling me about the Rajesh family—the names and ages of all their kids, even how far their territory stretched, making it seem like us sitting here in a bedroom in India was the most normal thing in the world.
She had hardly left my side since the moment I woke up this morning back in London. I’d thought there might be a little tension after I didn’t immediately agree to their plans last night, but Lydia just seemed excited for the adventure, and it was making me feel a little better about it, too.
One of the servant girls hovered in front of me, squinted at my face, and frowned. She took the eyeliner out of Lydia’s hand and nudged her out of the way—the girls didn’t seem to speak English, and neither of us spoke Bengali, so the girl gestured for me to look up and went at my eyes with small strokes of the pencil. Lydia gave a bemused smile and sat on the edge of the bed. “Like I was saying—”