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Ryven takes his hands out of his pockets and holds them where I can see them. “Jade, sit down, stand up, or throw something if you need to, but stop looking at me like we stuffed Onyx into a cargo crate. I’m not going to fight you, and I’m not going to bullshit you. Ask me what you want to know.”
Fury and confusion crash into each other so hard that I can barely get the words out, tears still running down my face. “Did Asher do this?”
“Of course he did. Who the fuck else do you know who solves a problem by rearranging half a flight schedule?”
“Did you help him?”
He waits a fraction too long, then shrugs. “Yeah, I did. Told him that if you’re the man he wants, he should stop fucking around and take you.”
My fist hits his chest before I’ve decided to move. It’s like punching a wall. He doesn’t step back, so I hit him again, harder. Ryven just stands there and lets me. I lift my arm a third time, but there’s nothing left in it, so it falls back to my side.
He glances down at the front of his shirt, then looks at me again. “You done?”
“He can’t travel.” My voice has gone thin. “He can’t. He can’t do stairs. He had a bad night last night; he couldn’t get the air down. I held him up for four hours—”
“I know.” Something shifts on Ryven’s face. “I checked the medical berth myself before they took off. The oxygen, the pressure settings, the doctor, and both nurses. All of it.”
Ryven jerks his chin toward the doorframe. “You left instructions everywhere, by the way.”
“What instructions?”
“Eight, two, ten. Second dose with food. Don’t skip the water.” He recites it without looking. “I copied the whole thing and sent it to the doctor.”
I can only stare at him as he raises an eyebrow. “What?”
“Nothing.”
It is absolutely NOT nothing.
I turn away and brace a hand against the wardrobe. “He didn’t tell me. He didn’t call me. He didn’t—”
Ryven moves around until he can see my face. “He went happy. I’m not saying this to hurt you. He went happy, Jade. He talked the whole way to the pad. Apparently, he wants to see the golden storms, the ones you told him about.”
The storm that night. The cave.
Light.
Light, help me.
“Why?” My eyes burn. “Why would Asher take him? He’s got everything. He’s got the mine, he’s got the block, and every single thing we—” I drag a hand across my face. “Why my brother?”
Ryven watches me for a moment. “Because Ash wants you, and because your brother doesn’t have to die.”
My head jerks up. “What?”
“We can treat him. Properly. Not keep him stable. Not buy him another month and call it a win. Treat him.” Ryven folds his arms. “Eight months, give or take. If his lungs respond as the doctors expect, he gets his life back.”
“That’s the sponsorship.” My voice doesn’t sound like mine. “That’s what I went into the Hunt for.”
“That’s what you went into the Hunt for.” Ryven tips his head. “Ash paid for it.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Five hundred people went out there because we couldn’t buy what we needed. We had to survive for it. We had to fucking bleed for it.”
Ryven holds my gaze. “You had to. He didn’t. There was never a prize, Jade. There was only a signature. The Hunt’s a market. Five hundred people walk in, carrying their desperation, and the Houses decide whose future is worth paying for. Yours happened to be your brother’s lungs.”
It was never a chance. It was a shop window, and we were the display.
And just like that, none of it matters anymore. My brother is already on a transport above me, breathing. If running that forest again tonight was what it took to get him there, I’d do it.
