But before he could say anything, Caterina was upon them. Grey frowned. Her skin was too pale, her face too thin. Grey wasn’t one to care about such things, but Caterina’s appearance was gossip fuel at St. R’s. If things were going well with her and Alaric, she was pink-cheeked and bright-eyed. When they fought (which, let’s be honest, was pretty frequently), she became gaunter and gaunter until they got back together.

Grey had always wondered what Caterina saw in Alaric. The dude was kind of a loser. The way he openly stared at other girls even when he and Caterina were walking together always set Grey’s teeth on edge.

“Hi, Caterina,” Jaya said, and the girls air-kissed.

Caterina turned a cold smile on them both. “Thank you for coming.”

“Thank you for inviting me.” Jaya was obviously very good at playing Caterina’s game. “This is such a wonderful thing you’re doing for charity,” she added warmly.

Caterina’s smile turned ostentatious. “Well, I am set to raise more money tonight than any single person has ever done for One World. It’s going to be wonderful PR for my father’s company.” Grey thought there was something stilted about the way she said it, as if it were vital that they got that she was doing this only for the publicity. Which was strange. In Grey’s experience, it was the opposite: most wealthy people wanted to show what great philanthropists they were and pretended not to care about the publicity, even though they secretly craved it.

Jaya nodded seriously. “Of course. I understand.” She looked around, smiling. “This yacht is so splendid!”

Caterina’s smile was back, a complacent thing that barely touched her lips. “It is, isn’t it? All the decor, down to the tablecloths, was my idea. The event planner wanted to go with plain black, but I told her she was ridiculous.”

Jaya glanced at Grey and bit the inside of her cheek, as if she was trying not to laugh. Grey covered his answering smile with a hand, pretending he had an itch on his chin. For a moment it was like they were… them again. “That’s… yes, absolutely ridiculous,” Jaya said finally.

“Stay for the fireworks,” Caterina said airily. “They start at nine and they’re going to be absolutely magnificent.”

Rahul came walking up, looking like he was wearing a much bigger guy’s suit, although Grey knew for a fact that he’d had it tailor-made. Somehow it seemed to swallow him. His gaze lingered on Caterina. “Hello, Caterina.”

Caterina barely spared him a glance. “Hello, Rahul. Enjoying the party so far?”

“Absolutely. Although I feel I must tell you, there’s something wrong with the peach juice. It’s a little bitter. And carbonated. I’m not sure how that happened.”