Page 129 of Beautiful Prey

“I don’t know how to believe that yet.”

“Then I’ll keep proving it.”

He doesn’t thank me.

I don’t want him to.

We towel off without saying much. I dress while Jade wanders into the wardrobe, and by the time I find him he’s standing in front of a rail full of clothes, staring at it like I’ve handed him a puzzle.

“You own too many shirts. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“A tragedy. I cope.”

He picks the plainest one anyway. A minute later he’s frowning at the cuffs while I watch from the doorway with far too much satisfaction.

I don’t help.

The rain hasn’t stopped, turning the windows grey and blurring the trees into the river beyond them. Looking out over Tempest, I couldn’t have said whether it was early afternoon or already heading towards evening. Storms have a way of stealing the day.

The old gods are apparently still shaking silver over Tempest.

After last night, I’m starting to think the bastards might have a point.

“Get dressed properly,” I tell him. “I’m taking you out.”

“Out where?”

“You’ll see.” I hold the door open for him. “Let me show you Tempest.”

He follows me into the hall while I catch my slate off the counter and snap the band around my wrist. It chimes before we reach the door, then again, then twice more.

“Is everything okay?” Jade asks.

“Yeah.” I swipe the screen, then stop. Seren doesn’t send four messages unless something has gone badly wrong.

The first is four hours old.

Your father was at Meridian this afternoon.

Ash. Call me.

He was with Onyx for an hour.

Now.

I read them again, my stomach dropping somewhere around the second line.

Jade has gone very still beside me. “What happened?”

I turn the slate towards him.

His face drains of colour before he’s even finished reading. “We’re going. Now.”

We barely speak on the drive, Jade sitting rigid beside me with his hands locked together while the city blurs past the windows.

He’s out of the car before it has properly stopped. I catch up with him at the lift, but he doesn’t look at me once on the way up. He watches every number light as we make our way to the ninth floor, hands opening and closing at his sides. But I keep my mouth shut because anything I could tell him right now would be a guess.

The doors open onto the ward and Jade is already moving, heading straight down the corridor. Ryven is on his feet in the doorway when we reach the room, arms folded against his chest, looking like he’s been waiting for us for a while.