Chapter 114 — Ashbourne Gratitude

Chapter 114: Chapter 114 — Ashbourne Gratitude

~ Raven ~

"Rowan."

Several heads turned before he did.

The students nearest the western doors had watched Raven’s Court Standing change only minutes ago, and apparently the sight of the newly promoted Seventh Seat calling Rowan Ashbourne by his given name was enough to delay wherever they had been going.

The conversations around her lowered almost immediately.

Wonderful. Make sure you all get a good view.

Rowan finally stopped and turned.

His first reaction was the familiar frown Raven had been receiving from him almost since the day she entered Valerius.

Then something shifted behind it.

For a moment, he looked caught between his old instinctive annoyance and the restraint he had been forcing himself to show her since the Hunt.

He did not appear particularly pleased with either option.

"What?"

Really?

Raven kept her expression flat.

"I want to talk to you."

Rowan waited.

Raven glanced toward the students who had stopped several feet away and were doing an impressive job of pretending they had suddenly discovered important business near the doors.

"Alone."

That made everything worse.

A whisper started somewhere behind her. Somebody laughed quietly, and a girl nearby immediately leaned toward her friend with one hand beside her mouth, which might have worked better if she had not kept looking directly at Raven.

Raven ignored all of them.

Rowan studied her for several seconds, looking very much like a man considering whether refusing would be worth the trouble simply because Raven had been the one to ask.

Then he turned and walked away.

Raven stared after him.

Apparently that was a yes.

She nearly rolled her eyes before going after him.

~~~~

She caught up with Rowan beneath one of the covered arcades and adjusted her pace until she was walking beside him rather than behind.

She had not chased a Cardinal heir through the Central Hall just to follow him around Valerius like something attached to a string.

The students they passed noticed them anyway.

Of course they did.

Raven and Rowan Ashbourne had spent enough time publicly disliking one another that nobody could reasonably mistake them for friends. Now Raven had climbed three Court Seats and, almost immediately afterward, disappeared from the Central Hall beside him.

Bellringer would probably have a version of it posted before they reached wherever he was taking her.

Raven stopped caring after the third group stared.

Rowan, meanwhile, had apparently decided that agreeing to a private conversation did not require actually speaking during the journey.

After several turns, the silence began to irritate her.

What was it with these people?

Cassian had practically turned this behaviour into an art form. He would say three or four words, walk away before anybody could answer and apparently expect the rest of the world to reorganise itself around whatever he meant.

Rowan seemed to suffer from the same disease.

Dante talked considerably more, but somehow that did not improve matters because half of what came out of his mouth was designed to irritate her and the other half rarely answered the question she had actually asked.

Then Raven thought about Nikolai.

Nikolai explained things.

During her second week at Valerius, he had stood in a corridor and walked her through all seven Power Classes simply because she had asked. No performance. No irritated stare. No acting as though providing information cost him something.

For perhaps the first time, Raven properly appreciated that.

If she had ended up in Prymont, Blade or Ashbourne Wing, there was a very real possibility she would have been expelled—or committed murder—before the end of her first month.

Rowan eventually left the main path.

The route passed between two older academic buildings before opening into a small courtyard Raven had never visited. Stone paths crossed between low hedges, several old trees shaded the edges, and four empty benches sat far enough apart that anybody using them could reasonably expect privacy.

Raven looked around.

Of course.

Only a short while after being promoted in front of the entire academy, she was following Rowan Ashbourne alone into a secluded garden.

Bellringer was really going to have a wonderful evening.

She kept that complaint to herself.

Unfortunately, she wanted answers more than she wanted to insult his choice of meeting place.

Rowan reached the nearest bench, sat down and leaned back against it. He stretched one arm along the top, closed his eyes and settled into the seat as though Raven had interrupted a perfectly good afternoon nap.

"Speak."

Raven stared at him.

For one satisfying moment, she considered turning around and leaving purely on principle.

Then she remembered why she had followed him.

"What do you know about the Moonless Court?"

Rowan opened his eyes.

Raven continued before he could answer.

"And what happened two years ago?"

That changed him.

He sat upright, planting both feet on the stone as he turned toward her properly. Whatever lazy indifference had been on his face a moment earlier disappeared.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Does it matter?"

"How much do you already know?"

"That isn’t an answer."

"Neither is that."

They stared at each other.

Rowan spoke first.

"You’re asking me about something that happened two years before you walked through these gates. Something Valerius has not discussed publicly since. Yet you won’t even tell me why you’re asking."

"No."

His mouth tightened slightly.

"Then give me one reason I should tell you anything."

Raven had come after him knowing exactly which card she intended to play.

"Your sister walked out of that forest because I didn’t leave her there."

The irritation on Rowan’s face changed.

Raven did not let him interrupt.

"You came to the infirmary afterward. You stood at the end of my bed, told me you had misjudged me and thanked me for saving Seren. I never asked you for an apology. You came there yourself."

Rowan said nothing.

"So this is the least you can do."

He studied her for long enough that Raven wondered whether he intended to start another argument.

Finally, he said, "After I tell you this, we’re even."

Raven’s eyebrows rose.

She came dangerously close to laughing.

"We’re even?"

"That’s what I said."

Raven stared at him.

"They hurt Seren in front of me. I stayed in that clearing when I had a chance to run, went back at people stronger than I was because they were using her against me, and nearly died keeping all of us alive long enough for help to reach us."

Rowan’s jaw tightened.

"And you think one apology and one conversation settles that?"

"I said what I owed you—"

"You said it in about eleven words and walked out of the room."

"Rivers."

Raven scoffed.

"Ashbourne gratitude is cheaper than I thought."

That reached him.

The change was small, but Raven had spent enough time around proud people to recognise when she had found the exact place to press. Rowan’s expression hardened, and for the briefest moment something golden stirred at the edges of his eyes before disappearing again.

"Be careful."

Raven held his gaze. "Why?"

"You’re talking about my House."

"I’m talking about what your House seems to think saving one of its daughters is worth." She remained where she was. "If I’m wrong, prove it."

Rowan went silent.

This time Raven did too.

Usually she would have filled the space simply because his expression annoyed her, but Cassian had unintentionally taught her something useful that afternoon. Sometimes people became much more uncomfortable when you stopped trying to drag an answer out of them.

So Raven waited.

Rowan looked toward the entrance to the courtyard and then back at her.

For several seconds, she was reasonably sure he intended to tell her to leave.

She had already decided she would refuse.

Instead, Rowan exhaled and leaned forward, resting his elbows against his knees.

"Sit down."

"I’m fine standing."

"You’re going to want to sit."

Raven considered arguing simply because he had told her to.

Then she decided she had already wasted enough time fighting Ashbourne pride for one afternoon and sat at the far end of the bench.

Rowan looked down at his hands for a moment before speaking.

"If you want to understand the Moonless Court, you need to understand what Valerius was like before this Founders’ Hunt."

Raven’s attention sharpened.

Rowan lifted his head.

"Not this Hunt," he said. "The one two years ago."

Raven went still.

Whatever irritation she had been holding onto disappeared beneath the sudden weight of those words.

Rowan turned toward her.

"This is what happened two years ago."