Page 59 of Beautiful Prey

“Finally.” The nurse raises one hand. “Thank you. I’ve been saying that. He isn’t fit to travel.”

The captain’s jaw tightens. “Candidate Seven was eliminated. Whatever protection or sponsorship came with the Hunt ended there. Your father was very clear. They leave on the first Calder shuttle.”

Ryven lets out a short breath. “You’re seriously putting him on a shuttle like that?”

Onyx’s fingers tighten weakly around his brother’s sleeve. “We don’t mind,” he says, almost apologetically. “Please, just let us go.”

A chime cuts through the corridor, and one of the guards glances at the multislate on his wrist. “Boarding call.”

The captain doesn’t hesitate. “Move.”

The guards exchange a look. They’re Seren’s men, and it shows in that half-second when none of them wants to be first. But the order came from Dad, and there isn’t a person here stupid enough to pretend mine outranks his.

They obey.

One guard catches Onyx’s other arm as his knees buckle while another clears the corridor ahead. Jade keeps his chin up, tightening his hold on his brother as they steer them toward the exit.

I want to kill them all. I want to shred them to pieces.

My hands clench into fists until the leather creaks around my fingers.

The captain looks at me again, almost apologetic. “One more thing, sir. Your father asked me to remind you that the Veyra Imperial delegation arrives tomorrow evening.”

They take Jade through the doors, his brother hanging off his arm, and he doesn’t look back. I stand there with a name I finally have, and Dad’s fucking leash tightening around my throat from three floors away.

Of course, the old man beat me to it.

Fine.

If he thinks shipping Jade off means I’ll go home, smile for some imperial prince, and climb obediently into whatever bed he picked for me, he’s forgotten who he raised.

Maybe I’ve lost my fucking mind. I met Jade days ago. I don’t know what this is, and I don’t particularly care. I only know he walked into that intake hall, caught my attention before he’d even opened his mouth, and every time I should have let him go since then, I didn’t.

I still can’t.

Let Dad have his signing. Let Veyra send their prince.

I’m going to Calder.

And I happen to be very good at paperwork.

10

JADE

Onyx is asleep against my shoulder before we clear Tempest’s atmosphere.

I should sleep too, but every time I close my eyes, I see Asher standing in that hospital corridor, two men behind him, looking half dead and furious that I was leaving. I pulled him out of that hole. Kept him alive. Lost the Hunt anyway. That should have been the end of it.

So why did he come after me?

What did he want?

Instead of sleeping, I count Onyx’s breaths the way I’ve counted them my whole life, listening for the wet catch at the bottom of each one. The oxygen line loops beneath his nose. The clinic topped his tank before they put us on the shuttle, and I keep checking the gauge even though I already know exactly what it reads.

In three days, we’ll be back on Calder. Until then, I just need him breathing beside me.

“You’re staring at the gauge,” he says without opening his eyes.