Page 75 of Beautiful Prey

Everything in me goes cold. “Who brought you where? Onyx? Onyx, who⁠—”

The line changes hands, and Asher Clement’s smooth voice slips into my ear. “He’s perfectly safe. Which is more than I can say for the evening you’ve been giving me. You’ve got twenty minutes, stormbird. I’ll send a car. Come and get your brother, or I’ll assume you’d rather I entertain him without you.”

The line goes dead, and for one stupid heartbeat I just stand there, slate still pressed to my ear.

Then I run.

By the time I hit the street, the car is already waiting at the museum steps, black and silent because of course he knows where I am. He owns the slate at my wrist now, same as everything else.

The door opens before I touch it.

The car takes me up. Off the streets, off the black grid of the eastern block, past the levels where the towers begin, through a city I’ve lived in my whole life and never once been allowed into. That’s the part I can’t get past, even furious, even sick with it. Below me, the mining districts spread out in their grey squares, and above them, closer every second, the glass.

The place he’s chosen has no name. I guess places like this don’t need one. It sits near the top of the tallest tower in the centre, its outer wall nothing but glass. Beyond it the air is clear as planets hang close and bright while aircraft drift between the towers. Locusts, we call them down on the ground. Up here they look like stars that decided to move.

I’ve never seen this far across my own sky.

I hate that it’s beautiful. I hate that my first thought, before the fury catches up, is that Onyx would love this.

Then I step through the doors and find my brother already there.

He’s at a low table by the glass, wrapped in a blanket that isn’t ours, his oxygen line neat beneath his nose. He’s laughing, actually laughing. My brother is laughing at something Ryven has just said while Seren refills his cup with something warm, watching until he drinks. There’s a plate in front of him with real food, and he’s eating it.

“Jade.” The moment he sees me, his whole face opens, his eyes already wet. “Jade, look. Look at all of it.”

“I tried to call you. I wanted you to see it with me. I’ve never—” His voice catches, and he laughs at himself, wiping his face with the back of his hand. “I’ve never been up here. I didn’t know it looked like this. Did you know it looked like this?”

I can only shake my head, something hurting deep in my chest at how happy he looks.

Onyx looks between me and the three men. “You never told me you met such... influential friends during the Hunt.”

The two men rise together, their dark suits perfectly cut, crisp white shirts tucked beneath black jackets. Silver cufflinks catch the light. Like they’d stepped out of a magazine instead of onto Calder.

The blond inclines his head first, his grin just as shameless as earlier today in the boss’s office. “Ryven Clement. We’ve technically met already, but introductions seemed terribly unfair at the time.”

The dark-haired one smiles, all Cheshire Cat. “Seren Clement.” He offers Onyx a slight bow before looking at me. “A pleasure to meet you properly.”

“They’re not...” I glance between them. “We’re not friends.”

Onyx pats the empty chair beside him. “Come and sit with us, JaJa. They said this was an early birthday dinner for both of us.” His eyes shine as he looks around the room. “I didn’t even know people celebrated birthdays like this.”

“Your brother,” a familiar voice says behind me, “is having dinner with me first.”

I turn to find Asher standing by another table set for two, tucked into the curve of the glass where the dark is deepest and the planets hang closest. The table is small enough that our knees will touch beneath it. He’s changed since the office. Still dressed in black, but this time his collar is open, sleeves rolled back. He looks at me the way he looked across the forest, like I’m the only moving thing in a still world.

“He’ll be right there,” he assures Onyx. “I just need to borrow your brother for an hour. That was the arrangement.”

“There was no arrangement,” I protest.

“Go, JaJa.” Onyx waves me away with a grin. “I’m being thoroughly spoiled. Seren says there’s more of the pastry thing.”

Seren inclines his head. “There is a great deal more of the pastry thing.”

Reluctantly, I cross to the table and sit beside the man who owns my entire life. Our knees nearly touch. Beyond the glass, planets burn over his shoulder.

“You look like you want to throw me through the window,” Asher observes. “Sit properly. You’ll enjoy this more if you’re not braced to run.”

“I’m not going to enjoy any of it.”