Map of Fates by Maggie Hall Read Free Book Online Page B

all right. You don’t have to pretend the whole thing’s not wildly uncomfortable.” Dev gestured ahead of us. On the floor of the dining room, there was a tile mosaic in the shape of a wheel with twelve spokes. It must be the Rajesh symbol. “My parents are not usually like this. They’re nervous. About the attacks and about . . . well . . . you.”
    I watched Mrs. Rajesh hover anxiously at the dinner table, her eyes darting over the place settings as if a mismatched napkin could ruin their chances at the union.
    â€œThey’re nice,” I said, actually relaxing for the first time. “I appreciate your family going to all this trouble for me.”
    â€œWe appreciate your visit, and I hope
you’ll
appreciate the paneer makhani masala we’re having with supper.” He guided me to a chair near the head of the table. “The tandoori lamb is meant to be the main dish, but the paneer is my favorite. It’s a recipe my mother made as a girl. She insisted on the best for you.”
    I caught Mrs. Rajesh staring at us, then making a show of pretending she hadn’t been. I hid a smile.
    By the third course, I was stuffed, but there was no way I was going to stop. The lamb had more flavor than I realized meat could have. The paneer—which looked like chunks of tofu, but was actually cheese—was savory and sweet and buttery and spicy all at once.
    â€œWhat’s in this?” I said to Dev as I wiped up every last bit of the sauce with a piece of soft flat bread called naan. “How can it possibly taste this good?”
    â€œIt’s a secret.” He winked. “And that secret is a massive spice cupboard and hours of simmering. But let’s pretend it’s magic.”
    â€œIt
is
magic.” I watched the candlelight play on the embroidered tablecloth, the china. Then I glanced at Dev, who still wore a hint of a mischievous smile. I had to ask: “Did you actually wear a banana costume to a UN summit?”
    He shrugged. “I had to sneak it in. It sounds silly, but it made people actually pay attention to what I had to say.” He leaned closer and whispered in my ear, “Besides, it was either a banana or a bunch of grapes, and I figured there’s got to be a meeting on the wine industry at some point. I’m saving my grapes. Don’t tell my father.”
    I laughed loud enough that half the table turned to look at us. Aradiant smile spread across Mrs. Rajesh’s face to see us getting along, and my father seemed to relax a little.
    â€œOur fathers have been friends since childhood,” Dev said. He sat back to let a server take away his empty paneer plate. “But I don’t really know your brother and sister.”
    He glanced down the table, where Lydia and Cole were chatting with the younger Rajesh children.
    â€œI did know Oliver when we were children,” Dev continued. He bowed his head. “Such a tragedy.”
    Oliver?
    A voice chimed in from my other elbow before I could ask Dev what he meant. “How is it that we’ve met your lovely siblings, but we’re only just meeting you now?” Mrs. Rajesh asked.
    â€œI grew up away from the Circle,” I said, giving the polite but vague answer to that inevitable question that we’d practiced, and then moving the conversation in a different direction as quickly as I could.
    After a dessert of cinnamon cake and sweet, milky chai, I let myself glance up at Jack again. He stood stoically inside the door, like he had all through dinner. This whole night had felt like an odd, though pleasant-enough dream, but his presence reminded me it was time to get back to the real world.
    I got ready to say my thank-yous and good nights. Besides the fact that Jack and I had somewhere to be, I actually liked Dev—I’d want to be friends with him. But I didn’t want to
marry
him, and because I did like him, I didn’t want to