Chapter 156 — I’m Taking Second

Chapter 156: Chapter 156 — I’m Taking Second

~ Raven ~

Petra’s fingers tightened around the edge of the table. For a moment, Raven thought she might simply refuse to answer, but whatever hesitation crossed her face disappeared almost as quickly as it came.

"I already told everyone what happened," Petra said, glancing toward the slates pointed at them before forcing herself to meet Raven’s eyes again. "Someone came to me. They knew I wanted my place back, and they warned me what would happen if I challenged you. What exactly was I supposed to think?"

Raven stared at her for a moment.

"Who?"

Petra frowned. "What?"

"This mysterious person of yours."

A few murmurs moved through the cafeteria.

Raven’s smile returned.

"You’ve told everyone this story twice now, so who were they?"

Petra’s expression shifted. "I don’t know who it was. They had a hood pulled low, and I never got a proper look at their face."

"Of course you didn’t."

"That doesn’t mean they weren’t real."

"I didn’t say they weren’t." Raven leaned lightly against the back of the empty chair beside her. "Did you know them?"

"No, but—"

"Did they show you anything from me?"

Petra stopped.

"They knew about the recording." she said after a moment. "They described what was on it."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "What recording?"

Petra’s irritation returned. "The one they threatened to release if I challenged you."

"I know what you meant. I’m asking if you ever saw it."

Petra hesitated.

Around them, the cafeteria had gone noticeably quieter.

"No."

Raven nodded slowly. "Right. So let me understand this properly. A stranger whose face you never saw approached you, claimed they had some damaging recording you’ve never watched, showed you absolutely nothing that came from me, said my name and disappeared."

Petra’s cheeks flushed. "You’re making it sound ridiculous on purpose."

"No, Petra. I’m repeating your story."

That seemed to catch Petra off guard, and Raven gave a small shrug.

"You being scared proves you were scared, Petra. It doesn’t prove I sent anyone."

The response around them was immediate. Whispers broke out again, louder than before, while Petra’s eyes darted briefly toward the students recording them.

"You could have come to me," Raven continued before she could recover. "You could have asked me. You could have told someone privately if you genuinely thought I was threatening you."

"I didn’t know what you would do."

"But you knew exactly what walking into a crowded cafeteria and saying my name would do."

Petra fell silent, and for the first time since Raven had approached the table, genuine uncertainty slipped through her irritation.

Raven let the silence sit for a moment before her attention shifted across the table, passing over Rosalind, Adelaide and Celeste before settling on Petra again.

"And now you’re sitting here."

Petra followed her gaze, stiffening almost immediately.

"They had nothing to do with what happened."

Raven’s eyebrows lifted.

"I didn’t say they did."

That one landed.

Laughter broke out somewhere behind Raven, followed by a rush of whispers as several students caught exactly what Petra had just done. Even more slates turned toward the table, and Petra’s face tightened as she realized it too late.

Rosalind leaned forward before she could say anything else. "Enough. You know exactly what you’re trying to imply."

Raven looked at her. "I wasn’t talking to you."

"She doesn’t have to sit here while you deliberately twist everything she says—"

"Then let her defend herself."

Adelaide shifted beside Rosalind. "Petra already explained what happened."

"And somehow all of you keep explaining it for her."

That quieted them.

Raven looked around the table, then raised her voice just enough to carry through the cafeteria.

"If none of you have anything to worry about, then sit there and watch. If I’m lying, I’ll make a fool of myself soon enough."

Her gaze moved briefly toward the slates pointed at them before returning to the women in front of her.

"But everyone here can hear the same story I can. They can decide for themselves whether it makes any fucking sense."

This time, the reaction from the cafeteria was louder.

"Fair."

"Let her answer."

Someone farther back laughed and said something Raven couldn’t make out, but several more slates shifted toward Petra.

The effect on Petra was immediate.

She didn’t break down or suddenly confess to anything, but Raven watched the confidence leave her posture. Her shoulders stiffened, and her gaze flicked toward the women around her as though she had only just realized that every time one of them rushed to defend her, they made the entire story look worse.

Raven didn’t need to push any further.

Petra could tell whatever version of the story she wanted. Everyone had heard enough to decide what they thought of it.

Raven straightened.

"Thanks, Petra."

Petra blinked. "For what?"

But Raven had already turned away.

Her gaze settled on Celeste.

Now that was much more interesting.

Celeste had spent most of the exchange simmering in silence, which was almost impressive considering Raven had publicly told her to shut up a few minutes ago.

Her jaw was tight, her fingers curled against the table, and from the look in her eyes, Raven suspected she would happily have crossed the space between them if half the academy wasn’t watching.

That was the interesting thing about doing it here to women like her. They could say almost anything behind a smile, manipulate a situation until somebody else looked guilty and hide cruelty beneath perfect manners, but there were limits to what they could do while half the academy watched.

Especially now that everyone was recording.

Raven found herself enjoying that far more than she probably should have.

She smiled.

Celeste’s eyes narrowed. "What now?"

"Now you."

Celeste leaned back slightly. "I was starting to think you were avoiding me."

The implication was obvious, and Raven nearly smiled wider. Celeste really did think intimidation was going to save her here.

Instead, Raven glanced toward the students surrounding them before looking back at Celeste.

"There’s something everyone’s probably been wondering since I started sitting with your little circle."

Around the table, several of the Court women visibly stiffened. Celeste’s mouth tightened, Adelaide shifted in her seat, and even Rosalind’s expression cooled slightly as Raven’s attention moved across them.

Raven remembered those days far too clearly. The looks in the corridors, the whispers, the way students who had once seemed almost pleased that an outsider had forced her way into the Top Ten suddenly started looking at her as though she had sold herself to the very women they despised.

"I never wanted to join the First Circle."

Adelaide scoffed. "Nobody forced you to sit with us."

"I know."

"Then don’t stand there acting like—"

"I needed to speak to Isolde Marchmont."

Adelaide fell quiet.

The reaction from the cafeteria came immediately.

Raven heard Isolde’s name repeated from several tables, followed by a new wave of whispers.

Even Celeste’s expression shifted.

Raven continued before any of them could interrupt again.

"I had business with Isolde. Private business. I needed a way to speak with her, and these girls knew that."

"That is not what happened," Adelaide said quickly.

Raven spoke over her.

"They told me they could arrange it."

Adelaide’s face hardened.

"That doesn’t mean—"

"So I sat with them because I thought it was the easiest way to get what I needed." Raven looked around the table. "Then I found out Isolde wasn’t part of their little group at all."

This time, the cafeteria really reacted.

A few people laughed.

Someone said, "Obviously," loud enough that several students around them snorted.

Raven nearly smiled.

Adelaide didn’t.

"We never said Isolde belonged to the Circle."

"No. You were cleverer than that."

"What exactly are you accusing us of?"

Raven looked at her.

"Using her name to get me close."

"That’s your interpretation."

"Sure."

Raven shrugged.

The anger she had walked into the cafeteria with had been light enough to enjoy. Petty, almost. She had wanted to irritate them because they thought they had won.

Saying everything aloud was changing that.

Because when she put it all together like this, it sounded worse.

"They knew I wanted access to Isolde, so they used it. I started sitting with them. Everyone saw it, and suddenly the same people who had been happy when I entered the Top Ten started wondering whether I’d gotten my Seat and immediately joined the women who spent their time protecting theirs."

Rosalind’s expression barely moved.

"That sounds like a problem with your reputation, not ours."

Raven looked at her.

"Then Petra happened."

Petra stiffened behind them.

Raven kept going.

"And when that didn’t finish the job, they put something in my drink."

The cafeteria changed so quickly Raven felt it before the first person spoke.

"What?"

The amused murmurs disappeared.

Several students who had been smiling stopped.

A slate lowered slightly, only to rise again.

"They drugged her?"

"Is that why she was in the infirmary?"

Raven turned toward Celeste.

For the first time that morning, Celeste’s anger gave way to something else.

Alarm.

"You," Raven said.

Celeste shoved her chair back so hard it scraped across the floor.

"You lying bitch."

The cafeteria erupted.

"I did not drug you."

Raven didn’t even pause.

"Celeste was there. Adelaide was there. Rosalind was there, and they knew exactly what was happening."

"That is a lie!" Celeste snapped, her voice rising. "You’re standing here making things up because everybody is watching you."

"You drank from the glass yourself," Adelaide cut in. "Nobody forced anything down your throat."

Raven turned toward her.

Adelaide stopped.

The silence that followed was almost beautiful.

Rosalind looked sharply at Adelaide.

Celeste’s face changed.

Several students around the cafeteria reacted at once.

Raven raised her eyebrows.

"Well."

Adelaide recovered quickly. "That is not what I meant."

"Sounded pretty clear to me."

"You’re twisting her words," Rosalind said.

Raven laughed softly.

"And all of you are terrible at shutting up."

Celeste slammed her hand against the table.

"You have no proof."

Raven looked at her.

"Maybe I don’t."

That answer seemed to confuse her.

Raven turned toward everyone watching.

"Believe me or don’t. I honestly don’t care anymore."

A few students exchanged looks.

Raven gestured toward the raised slates.

"That’s why I told you to record. Watch it later. Listen to me, listen to them, decide whatever you want. I’m not begging anybody to believe me."

Her blood was running hotter now, but strangely, she felt calmer than she had during the last cafeteria disaster.

Maybe because she had finally stopped trying to control what everyone thought.

Celeste looked furious.

Adelaide had gone very still, while Rosalind was clearly measuring every word before she spoke again.

Raven looked across the table and shook her head.

"Honestly, shame on you."

Celeste stared at her.

A laugh broke out somewhere behind Raven.

Then another.

Raven smiled.

That one had landed.

"All that pride about being Court women, all that talk about standards and Seats and who belongs where, and this is what you do?"

Rosalind’s eyes hardened.

"Do not lecture us about the Court."

And there it was.

The Court.

Raven thought about the number she had seen that morning.

Ninth.

She had spent hours telling herself she didn’t care, and maybe part of her truly didn’t.

But these women did.

They cared enough to smile when she fell.

Raven turned away from them and faced the cafeteria.

"If Seventh Seat means that much to them, they can keep it."

A pause followed.

Somebody near the back said, "What?"

Raven smiled.

"Fuck Seventh."

The cafeteria exploded.

Students started talking over each other almost immediately.

"What the hell?"

"She’s Ninth!"

"Did she just say—"

Raven raised her voice over them.

"I want Second."

For one heartbeat, the room went almost completely quiet.

Then the reaction doubled.

"Second?!"

"She’s insane."

"No fucking way."

A girl somewhere to Raven’s left laughed. "I’m sorry, that’s actually so cool."

"She’s Ninth!"

"I know! That’s why it’s cool!"

Raven heard Brielle make a startled sound behind her and finally glanced back. Brielle was staring at her as though she had only just realized exactly what kind of person she had agreed to follow into the cafeteria, while Tessa looked genuinely stunned and Thalia seemed caught somewhere between laughing and yelling at her.

Apparently, none of them had expected that declaration.

Neither had Raven, if she was being completely honest.

But now that the words were out, they felt strangely right.

She turned back toward the rest of the cafeteria, where dozens of slates were still pointed in her direction, recording every second of this disaster she had willingly created.

Good.

They could record this part too.

Raven lifted her chin and looked straight across the room.

"I’m taking Second Seat."

The cafeteria lost its mind.

Raven let the noise wash over her for another second before turning away from the Court table.

She didn’t bother looking at Celeste again or waiting for Rosalind to answer. She simply walked away from them while the room behind her filled with arguments, laughter and people repeating Second Seat as though Raven had just announced she intended to grow wings.

Her blood was still hot beneath her skin.

And, strangely enough, she was smiling.

Second Seat.

Well.

Now she had to figure out how the hell she was going to take it.