Chapter 130 — Did You?

Chapter 130: Chapter 130 — Did You?

~ Raven ~

Raven stared up at Cassian, her face still hot.

Then she turned toward Dante.

"Did you know he was there?"

Dante looked at her. "What?"

"You brought me here."

"And?"

She glanced up at Cassian, then back at him.

"Was this supposed to prove something?"

Dante stared at her in disbelief.

"You think I—"

He stopped and looked toward the branch again.

Raven watched his expression change. His jaw tightened, and the confusion gave way to something much less pleasant.

Cassian might have heard everything.

Dante admitting he was jealous. Telling her that her eyes were beautiful. Saying she had scared him.

Oh.

Whatever suspicion she had disappeared. Dante looked as though he was considering setting fire to the tree.

He hadn’t planned this.

Cassian swung his legs off the branch and dropped, landing with barely a sound. He straightened and immediately turned toward the path.

"Blade."

He stopped.

"How long have you been up there?" Dante asked.

Cassian looked back at them.

"I don’t give a single fuck what either of you does. I’d just prefer not to hear it."

"How long?"

"Find another tree next time."

Dante’s expression darkened.

Raven spoke before he could ask again.

"What were you doing up there?"

Cassian frowned at her.

"Resting."

She looked him over, noticing his rumpled sleeve and the leaf caught near his collar, before her gaze caught on a rectangular shape pressing against the front of his coat.

Her eyes widened.

Cassian followed her gaze, and a flicker of alarm crossed his face before he pulled his coat straight.

Raven slowly looked back up at him, unable to stop the corner of her mouth from lifting.

"What the fuck are you smiling at?"

"Nothing."

"Then stop looking at me like that."

Raven tried to stop smiling, but Cassian’s glare only made it harder.

"Comfortable up there?"

His eyes narrowed.

"While you were... resting," she added.

"Rivers."

Dante looked between them. "What am I missing?"

Raven pressed her lips together. Cassian offered no explanation either, though the look he gave her suggested she would regret providing one.

"Nothing," she managed.

Dante raised an eyebrow.

"Then why does he look like he wants to kill you?"

Cassian ignored him, keeping his glare on Raven.

"Do you have nothing better to do than nearly kill yourself on a horse, then come here to fornicate beneath a fucking tree?"

Her smile vanished.

"Fornicate?"

"Technically," Dante said, "we hadn’t got that far."

Raven turned on him, her cheeks warming. "Shut the fuck up."

He lifted a hand. "I’m only correcting him."

"If you had any sense," Cassian told her, "you’d—"

"Don’t talk to her like that."

The amusement had left Dante’s voice. Cassian turned toward him, his jaw tightening.

"I’ll talk to whoever the fuck I want, however the fuck I want."

Dante straightened, and Cassian shifted to face him fully.

Raven frowned. What the hell had got him so worked up? He was swearing enough for all three of them, and apparently it was catching, given what had just come out of her own mouth.

She looked between them as the silence stretched. Neither seemed willing to back down, and the longer they stood there glaring at each other, the harder she found it to take them seriously.

A laugh escaped her.

Both men turned, wearing such similar expressions that she had to rest a hand on the mare’s neck and catch her breath.

"Two Cardinal heirs," she said, gesturing between them, "about to fight under a tree because neither of you knows when to shut up. Very reassuring for the future of the kingdom."

Dante’s mouth twitched before he looked away.

Cassian kept glaring at her.

"You’re insufferable."

"And you were hiding in a tree."

"I was here first."

"Oh, sorry. Have we trespassed on your tree?"

"He did seem very protective of it," Dante said.

"Shut the fuck up, Prymont."

Raven pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh again.

Then Dante lifted a hand to his temple.

It was a small, absent movement, but Raven noticed immediately. Dante pressed his fingers to his temple, then frowned.

"That’s strange."

"What is?"

"My headache’s gone."

Her amusement faded as he lowered his hand.

"I had it earlier," he said thoughtfully. "Actually, this keeps happening around you."

Raven stayed quiet, waiting for him to explain.

"I’ll spend some time with you and realise it’s stopped. It’s happened before, but I thought it was a coincidence."

Cassian frowned, and Raven glanced toward him before she could stop herself. She remembered his hand going to his temple during Advanced Sigil Writing, the brief pause before he forced himself back to work.

He was already watching her.

"What?" Dante asked.

Raven turned back.

His gaze moved between them, and his eyes narrowed.

"What was that look?"

"Nothing."

"Try again."

"Dante—"

"What are you two hiding?"

"There’s nothing you need to know."

She regretted the wording immediately.

"Nothing I need to know," he repeated.

Raven said nothing.

"But he knows?"

His eyes shifted toward Cassian.

She couldn’t answer that without making it worse, and apparently her silence was enough.

Dante gave a short laugh.

"Of course he does."

Cassian exhaled and turned toward the path.

"Blade."

He paused without looking back.

"What is this about?"

"Ask her."

"Blade—"

Cassian kept walking.

Raven watched him disappear beyond the hedge, wishing he had chosen almost any other answer.

Then she looked at Dante.

The easy amusement from before Cassian appeared was gone. Dante stood with his horse’s reins in one hand, studying her.

"What are you hiding?"

"Admitting you were jealous doesn’t give you access to every part of my life."

His jaw tightened.

Raven waited for him to argue.

"I know."

That caught her off guard.

He looked unhappy, but he didn’t demand an explanation or ask why Cassian apparently deserved one when he didn’t.

After a moment, Raven loosened her grip on the reins.

Dante glanced toward the stables.

"Come on."

They began walking the horses back along the avenue. Raven stayed beside him, listening to the hooves and the rustle of leaves while she tried to make sense of what he had said.

His headaches stopped around her.

She wanted to ask when he had first noticed, how often it happened and whether the pain returned after she left. But each question would make it harder to claim there was nothing to discuss, and she still didn’t know what she could safely tell him.

"Does it have something to do with my headaches?"

Raven looked at him.

"Whatever you and Blade know."

She hesitated.

"I don’t know enough to answer that."

It was true. She had suspicions, but nothing that explained why being near her would make the pain disappear.

Dante studied her as they walked.

She could see that he wanted more, and she waited for another question.

Instead, he looked ahead.

Raven let out a quiet breath.

"You can behave occasionally, then."

"Don’t spread that around. I have a reputation."

"It’s not a particularly good one."

"I’ve worked hard on it."

She almost smiled.

They continued past the old stonework, keeping the horses at an easy walk. The silence was less uncomfortable now, though Raven couldn’t quite forget how close he had been before Cassian spoke.

She wondered whether he would mention it.

Dante glanced at her, then returned his attention to the path. A little farther on, she caught him looking again.

"What?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"I won the race."

"I remember."

"So you don’t get an honest answer."

"This isn’t about the wager."

Something in his voice made her look at him properly.

"During the Hunt—"

"Dante."

"When your wolf called Blade your mate."

Her fingers tightened around the reins.

"Don’t."

"I’m not asking whether he is," Dante said. "Everyone heard what she called him."

Raven looked ahead, wishing the stables were closer.

"That isn’t what I want to know."

He stopped walking.

She took another step before stopping too, and the mare nudged her hand as she turned toward him.

Dante wasn’t smiling. There was none of the earlier irritation in his face either, and Raven found herself less prepared for that than she would have been for another argument.

He held her gaze.

"Your wolf chose him."

Raven said nothing.

"Did you?"