THE SUN IS setting as I stare out the window of my cab at the quiet London streets, dripping with white lights. And it dawns on me—today is Christmas. I missed all the cheer and peppermint hot chocolate. I missed the decorated tree in Pembrook town square, the carolers and the god-awful holiday play our local theater puts on. And I missed Lucille’s menorah lighting, where Emily and I routinely eat freshly baked donuts until we feel sick. And most of all I miss Dad.

The cab stops at the corner next to Aarya’s apartment. I hand the driver some cash and step out onto the street.

I enter the code on the keypad outside her door and make my way up the stairs, my mind spinning with everything that’s happened. I knock twice on the apartment door, and before I even pull my hand away, it opens. Ash stands on the other side.

“November,” he says, and some tension leaves his shoulders. It’s obvious that he’s been doing the Ash equivalent of pacing since I left.

I take my coat off, hang it up on the hook, and pull out the bottles and pouch. When I make eye contact with him again, it seems like he wants to say something and isn’t sure how to phrase it. But before he gets a word out, Aarya barges into the hall.

Her eyes light up when she sees the bottles. “Well, just look at that! It’s a holly jolly Christmas,” she says with an enthusiasm that seems out of place with my nerve-racking evening.

Ash gives her a look like he doesn’t quite agree as we head into the living room.

Ines sits on the couch, surrounded by masquerade masks and piles of gauze, lace, and various trimmings. “I’m trying to adjust these so that they cover more of our faces,” she says, and I’m reminded of all the time she spent with her sketchpad at the Academy.

“Yes, yes, Ines is impressive. Always has been,” Aarya says. “But what I want to hear is how in the hell you got that necklace. I never thought you would pull that off in a million years. And what exactly is in those bottles in your hand?” She’s practically falling over herself to get to them. It’s amazing how Aarya can be both nice and awful all at once.

“Two darts of lightning poison,” I say, laying the burlap pouch down on the coffee table.

Aarya snatches it up, clearly delighted. “You must really have done something right.”

“ ‘Doing something right’ is not the way I would describe my evening,” I say.

“Well, you’re wrong. This stuff is exceptionally rare and nearly impossible to procure,” Aarya says, and her voice has more pep to it than it’s had all day.

I frown at her.

She turns the small vials around, examining them. “Most poisons take a while to go into effect and most have antidotes. Lightning poison is instantaneous and has no antidote. It’s a well-kept secret of Strategia apothecaries.” When I don’t join in on her excitement, she huffs. “Jag is exactly the type of person who probably keeps antidotes on his person just in case. But this is something he can’t prepare for.”

“Oh,” I say, still deeply uncomfortable with the killing talk. I place a small jar on the table. “Also, Drunken Confessions.”

Ash picks it up and opens the lid, smelling the oily paste inside.

Aarya stares over Ash’s shoulder. “Never heard of it,” she says. “Does it need to be ingested?”

“It gets rubbed on the skin,” I say. “It disorients you, makes your legs go completely weak, and makes you spout just about anything that comes to mind. It’s kind of terrible.”

Ash looks up at me, his interest shifting from the ointment to me. “How do you know it’s terrible?”

“She used it on me,” I say. “First thing when I walked through the door. I honestly didn’t think I was going to get out of there alive.”

Aarya whistles in surprise.

Ash frowns. “I’ve heard rumors of apothecaries testing their products on unsuspecting customers, but I’ve never actually known anyone it happened to. Are you all right? Why didn’t you call us?”

But before I can answer, Aarya starts talking.

“She’s fine; look at her,” she says, brushing off Ash’s concern. “The bigger issue is, if she was spouting all her thoughts, what did November tell her?”

“She took my phone,” I say, answering Ash’s question. “And I said nothing about our plan other than that we intend to remove Jag from power.”

Aarya lets out a chuckle. “You’re telling me you got an unwilling apothecary to change her mind by telling her you were going to take out Jag?” She shakes her head.

“Turns out I’m convincing,” I say.

“I’ll say,” she replies.

“And, well, it helped that I actually meant it. I think that ointment is part truth serum,” I say.

Aarya stares at the oily paste like it’s chocolate cake. “Fascinating stuff.”

“Also, Angels’ Dream,” I say, putting down the glass bottle. “It’s a sedative of some kind.”

“A powerful one. It’s made with belladonna,” Aarya says, and I can hear Hisakawa’s voice in my head: Atropa belladonna, or deadly nightshade. The Gothic siren of any good apothecary. But instead of bubbling over it like she did with the poison, Aarya looks at Ines, who has visibly stiffened.

Ash picks up the bottle of Angels’ Dream. “We’ll need some darts for this.”

Ines quietly exits the room. Ash notices Ines’s reaction, too. We look at Aarya to explain, but she just shrugs.

“Okay, so tell us,” Aarya says, changing the subject. “How did you get that necklace?”

“Matteo,” I say without a lead-up, because I fear the more details I give, the more likely I am to betray him with my body language.

“What?” Ash and Aarya say at the same time.

“Believe me, I was more surprised than you. He stopped me on the street in front of the restaurant. I actually punched him before I realized who he was.”

Aarya lets out a belly laugh. “How did I miss this? And why do you get to have all the fun while I have to babysit Ash?”

“Why is Matteo here?” Ash asks, ignoring Aarya. “In London, of all places?”

I shake my head. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that Matteo’s in enemy territory; I was too caught up in the necklace trade and the Layla conversation. No wonder Matteo was so adamant that I not tell Ash about the restaurant; a Bear property in Lion territory is something to guard.

“Probably planning some revenge for Stefano’s death,” Aarya says, and I wonder if she’s right, and if that’s how Layla convinced him to come.

“Or doing Family business,” Ash says. “Considering his mother is also here.”

“Or that,” Aarya concedes. “But you still haven’t explained how you got the necklace.”

“That’s because you’ve been talking,” I say, which makes Ash smile.

Aarya slashes her fingers at me like they’re claws and purrs.

“I told Matteo about the apothecary and it turns out that all the head Bears wear the same necklace. He gave me his,” I say, “in exchange for me keeping silent about the restaurant and staying away from him and his Family.”

Aarya grins. “He must really despise you.”

Ash gives Aarya a hard look. “I’m sure they just have important negotiations going on that they can’t risk having disrupted.”

Aarya looks like she’s not convinced, and I don’t blame her. I’m not convinced, either.