Chapter 106 — Forgiven

Chapter 106: Chapter 106 — Forgiven

~ Raven ~

Alaric said nothing.

Neither did Raven.

Behind her, the Ashbourne third-years who had been enjoying themselves a moment ago suddenly lost interest. A chair scraped back, someone snatched a bag off the table, and within seconds all four were drifting toward the other end of the library without another word.

Alaric’s gaze never left hers.

Raven frowned, turned and started walking.

"Raven."

She stopped.

What did I do?

What did I possibly do to deserve an entire afternoon of people standing between me and my destination?

She turned back.

"What?"

It came out flat and rude, and she made no effort to soften it.

Alaric’s expression didn’t change.

"We need to talk."

"I’m listening."

His gaze shifted briefly past her toward the nearby tables, where two girls had stopped pretending very convincingly that they were reading.

"Alone."

Raven scoffed and walked away.

She headed deeper into the library, past the catalogue cabinets and along the far side of the main floor without looking back.

There were no footsteps behind her.

That should have meant he wasn’t following.

Except the students ahead of her kept reacting before she reached them.

A boy carrying an armful of books looked up, hesitated and stepped aside. He stayed there even after Raven passed him. Two girls at the end of an aisle glanced past Raven and moved completely out of the way, taking their books with them.

They weren’t moving for her.

Fine.

Raven sighed and quickened her pace.

The shelves grew taller toward the back of the library, narrowing the aisles until the noise of the main floor faded behind them. There were fewer students this far in, and the few Raven passed barely looked up from their books.

She finally stopped between two rows, turned and folded her arms.

Alaric came to a halt a few paces away.

She waited.

He seemed perfectly content to do the same.

"Well?"

"House Blackthorn wants you back under its protection."

Raven blinked.

"...What?"

"Under its protection," Alaric repeated. "Formally."

He continued before she could decide whether she’d heard him correctly.

"Somebody dangerous entered a sealed forest for you. Whatever Valerius says publicly, that is what happened. The academy had every Ward it could put around that ground, and it still failed."

"I know," Raven said dryly. "I was there."

"Then you know it can happen again."

Alaric’s voice stayed perfectly even, as though there were nothing left to argue about.

Raven’s mouth tightened.

"Blackthorn has guards, territory and influence outside these walls. We can give you protection Valerius clearly couldn’t."

Raven stared at him, but Alaric wasn’t finished.

"The House is willing to overlook the way you left."

Her arms slowly dropped.

"It’s prepared to forgive what happened," he said, "and take you back."

For a moment, Raven wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly.

Forgive me?

Of every possible thing Raven had imagined Alaric stopping her to say, this had not been one of them.

She looked at him properly.

No smirk. No mockery. Nothing in his face suggested he understood how ridiculous the offer sounded.

He actually meant it.

"You would stay at Valerius," Alaric added. "This isn’t about removing you from the academy. You would remain here while being formally placed under Blackthorn protection again."

Raven stared at him.

And then it clicked.

He expected her to say yes.

Not happily. Alaric wasn’t stupid enough to expect gratitude.

But Alaric had clearly worked all of this out before coming to her.

Valerius had failed. Blackthorn had resources. Raven had enemies. And now Blackthorn was gracious enough to forgive her.

In his head, the answer probably made perfect sense.

She would resist because she was Raven.

Then eventually, she would see sense.

Raven took a slow breath, held it for a moment, then let it out through her nose.

After that, she walked toward him.

Alaric’s brows drew together.

She kept going, closing the space between them until she passed the point where he had clearly expected her to stop.

His weight shifted back.

Barely.

Raven caught it anyway.

For the first time since he had called her name across the library, uncertainty crossed his face.

Raven smiled sweetly.

"Fuck you."

Then she stepped back.

The change in him took a second.

His expression hardened, the calm finally cracking, and Raven enjoyed that far more than she should have.

"My answer is no," she said. "It’ll always be no."

"Raven—"

"I’m not going back under that House. Not for guards. Not for anything."

Alaric’s jaw tightened.

For several seconds, he simply looked at her. Raven could almost see him deciding whether there was still something left to say, some final argument that might make her understand what he believed he was offering.

Apparently, there wasn’t.

"I hope you don’t come to regret that."

Raven said nothing.

He held her gaze for another moment before turning and walking away.

She watched him go. Alaric never looked back, and Raven remained where she was until the shelves swallowed him from sight.

Only then did she let out a breath.

Right.

That had happened.

Raven turned back toward the library.

Finally.

She adjusted the strap of her bag and started walking again.

After Cassian, the Ashbourne students and now Alaric, she was beginning to wonder whether reaching the research section had somehow become another academy trial.

At least this one did not award points.

The passage behind the main reading floor narrowed as Raven went, the noise of the library fading until it was little more than a murmur behind her. The tall shelves eventually gave way to stone walls and a line of closed doors.

Raven followed the signs toward the research section.

Second turning.

Several closed doors lined the passage ahead.

She kept walking.

One had a small metal plate fixed beside it.

ARCHIVE PREPARATION ROOM.

Raven barely glanced at the words as she passed.

The door suddenly opened.

A hand closed around her arm.

Raven was yanked sideways before she could react.

Her foot caught against the threshold, throwing her off balance as the corridor disappeared from sight. The door shut behind her before she could recover.

Darkness swallowed the room.

Raven twisted immediately.

Whoever had grabbed her shifted with the movement, taking her balance before she could find it again. Her weight landed on the wrong foot, and an arm locked across her body before pulling her hard against a solid chest.

Raven jerked forward.

The hold didn’t loosen.

She tried to wrench herself free, twisting hard enough that pain pulled across her shoulder, but whoever stood behind her moved with her again. Every attempt to turn only seemed to put her farther off balance.

Raven planted one foot and tried again.

Something cold slid beneath her jaw.

Steel.

She went still.

The edge rested against the soft skin beneath her chin.

For one horrible second, the dark room disappeared.

Trees.

Masked figures moving through the clearing toward her no matter how many times they were put down.

People screaming.

And that terrible certainty that every one of them had come there for her.

Her breath caught.

No.

This was not the Hunt.

Her pulse hammered beneath the blade. Her fingers had gone cold, and every muscle across her shoulders tightened before she could stop it.

The arm around her tightened, keeping her firmly against the body behind her.

The blade pressed a fraction closer beneath her throat.

Raven froze again.

Whoever held her said nothing.

No demand.

No threat.

Nothing.

The silence made the darkness around her feel even smaller.