Page 14 of Sacrifice

“Enjoy your breakfast, Aisling,” Inari insists, gesturing to the spread before us. “We’ll delve into the nitty-gritty soon enough.”

I nod, reaching for a delicate pastry. We eat in relative silence, the clinking of cutlery punctuating the stillness.

“Did you see the latest installation at Mercer Park?” Isla asks casually, breaking the silence. Her question is light, a thread of normalcy amidst the tension. I have seen it—a memorial to the omega revolution in Solstice Bay a few years back, put up with Inari’s funding.

“Art and revolution often go hand in hand,” I reply, playing along. “It’s…provocative.”

“Art reflects life,” Inari adds, her eyes never leaving mine. “And life in Oasis is nothing if not provocative.”

Crumbs tumble from my fork as I place it down, the last bite of breakfast settling uneasily in my stomach. The finality of the moment sits heavy in the air, and then Inari clears her throat, a sharp, calculated sound that wipes all pretense of leisure from the table.

“Business, then,” she announces, and with a subtle flick of her wrist, the guards who have been standing at a respectful distance vanish, melting into the recesses of the rooftop like phantoms at daybreak. My pulse ticks up a notch, the sudden privacy both intimate and unnerving.

“Right.” I swallow hard, licking remnants of sweetness from my lips. “Business.”

Inari leans forward, elbows on the table, dark eyes locking onto mine. They’re sharp, those eyes, like the edge of a knife—beautiful but dangerous. “Aisling, darling,” she begins, her tone deceptively soft, “it’s no secret you’ve mended fences with Gunnar. You’ve been seen together, looking rather…cozy.”

I stiffen, my back straight as a rod. “Yes,” I concede, because there’s no use denying what’s plain for everyone to see. “We’re doing better.”

“Good,” she says, nodding slowly. “Good for you. But that brings us to the heart of the matter.” Her fingers tap-dance across the tabletop, a silent drumming that seems to echo in my chest. “Do you and Gunnar intend to challenge Vance’s authority?”

My mouth goes dry. Trust Inari to cut straight to the chase. “That’s…” I pause, weighing each word like it’s gold. “That’s not something I’m comfortable discussing.”

From the corner of my eye, I catch Isla’s reaction. Her snort is a sharp, derisive punctuation to my evasion—a verbal eyeroll that leaves no room for doubt about her interpretation. “We can take that as a yes,” she says, and there’s a smirk tugging at her lips.

Inari’s nod is slow, calculated. “That’s good.” The morning sun catches in her hair, making it look like spun silk. She leans back in her chair, appraising me with an unreadable expression. “But have you thought about how this might affect your standing with the Eclipse? If you and Gunnar step up to lead the Angels, you won’t just be challenging Vance. You’ll be painting targets on your backs.”

I blink at the sudden shift in topic. “The Eclipse isn’t part of the plan,” I reply, my voice steady despite the churning in my stomach. “This isn’t about power grabs or territory wars.”

“Isn’t it?” Inari’s smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes. It’s more of a baring of teeth—predatory, even in its subtlety. “If you do manage to unseat Vance, whether you like it or not, you’ll become a beacon for all kinds of attention. Some will want to join you. Others…” She lets the word hang, heavy with implication.

“Will want to stop us,” I finish for her, the weight of her words settling like lead in my belly. It’s one thing to know it intellectually; it’s another to hear it spoken aloud, turned into an undeniable truth by the sharp tongue of Oasis’ omega crimelord.

“Exactly.” Inari’s gaze never falters, locking onto mine with the force of a vise. “You need to be prepared for that. And that means considering alliances you may not have considered before.”

Alliances. Just another word for bonds, for ties that could either lift us up or drag us down. The game of power is a precarious one, and Inari plays it like a maestro. I’m suddenly very aware that I’m just a novice here, trying to find my footing on a board where every move could be fatal.

“Like what?” I ask, though I’m not sure I want to hear the answer. But ignorance isn’t bliss; it’s a death sentence in this new world we’ve been thrown into.

Inari leans back, her fingers lightly tapping on the edge of the glass table. “Nero Rossi,” she drops casually, as if discussing the weather rather than proposing an alliance that could shift the very foundations of our precarious existence.

I stiffen at the mention of his name. Nero, with his dark hair and even darker reputation, a man whose allegiance shifts like sand beneath the tides. Gunnar might be working something out with him, but that doesn’t mean I trust him. It certainly doesn’t mean I want him in my pack—in my life—any more than he already is.

He hasn’t been shy about his interest in me, going all the way back to when I was still trapped in Dreamland—but that interest hasn’t exactly been welcome.

“He’s…complicated,” I respond after a moment, my words careful, measured.

“Complicated can be good,” Inari counters smoothly. “It means he’s adaptable. And having Nero Rossi in your pack could unify the Angels and the Eclipse around you.”

I shake my head, a flicker of irritation sparking within me. “I barely know him, Inari. And from what I do know, he’s always had this…sketchy vibe. Plus, I’m not exactly in the habit of taking on mates for strategic reasons.”

“Strategic mating has been a cornerstone of omega survival since the Mutation,” Inari says, her voice taking on the lecturing tone of a mentor schooling a pupil. “People do it all the time in Solstice Bay, Europe, across the globe…and it’s always to the omega’s detriment. Why not turn the table? Use their game to your advantage?”

Her words hang heavy between us. In the silence that follows, I feel the gravity of what she proposes. It’s tempting—aligning with Nero could solidify my position, give me real power.

But at what cost?

“Maybe,” I admit, the word slipping out like a betrayal to my own convictions. “But this isn’t something I can decide on a whim. I need to talk to Gunnar first.”

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