Chapter 62 — Tired of the Four of You

Chapter 62: Chapter 62 — Tired of the Four of You

~ Raven ~

"How long are you planning to let this stupidity continue?"

The voice came from the cafeteria entrance.

Every head turned.

Nikolai stood in the doorway.

He wasn’t smiling.

That was the first thing Raven noticed for the second time.

In the short time she had known him, there had always been something amused about Nikolai. A curve at the corner of his mouth, a glint in his eyes, some private joke he seemed to be having with the world even when nobody else understood it.

There was none of that now.

He walked into the cafeteria, and the crowd opened for him before he had to ask.

His gaze moved across the room as he came—Rowan and Dante facing each other in the middle of the floor, the Blackthorn twins behind them, Celeste off to one side, Cassian calmly eating as if none of this concerned him.

Then his eyes found Raven.

Still sitting on the table.

Still holding the half-eaten piece of meat.

His stare lingered for a second.

Raven slowly lowered the meat.

By the time Nikolai reached the cleared floor, whatever amusement usually lived on his face had been replaced by something much closer to genuine irritation.

He addressed Rowan first.

"Take it off her."

"The Redress was filed personally," Rowan said. "Against the student, not your Wing. You have no standing here and you know it."

"I’m not disputing the filing."

"Then—"

"She refused." Nikolai cut across him. "In front of a witness, an instructor, a prefect and half the academy. Record it. Apply whatever consequence the provision allows. Take her Merit. Take her Seat. Escalate it to the Court this afternoon if that makes you happy."

His expression hardened.

"What you don’t get to do is stand in a student cafeteria pressing a first-year with your aura until she gives you a different answer. That isn’t Redress. That’s assault with a document nearby."

The gold around Rowan didn’t move.

Nikolai stared at him.

"Rowan."

For another second, nothing happened.

Then the distortion began to recede.

Slowly. Reluctantly.

Dante’s heat was still between them, but the pressure leaking around it finally eased. Raven dragged in a deeper breath, surprised by how much easier it came, while three rows away the girl who had folded over a table pushed herself upright with a gasp.

"And you," Nikolai said, without turning. "Pull it in."

Dante smiled.

"Make me."

"Prymont—"

"As witness," Cassian said, from his position, "I should note that I’ve witnessed the refusal fairly comprehensively."

Several heads turned toward him.

He took another piece of meat.

Raven nearly laughed, and it came out as a breath through her nose, and Nikolai’s eyes flicked to her.

He looked at her feet on the bench.

He looked at the half-eaten meat in her hand.

He looked at her face.

"Rivers."

Raven waited.

"...I’ll deal with you later."

And then, without warning, right at that moment, Raven ran out of anger.

It was just gone.

One breath she could still feel it burning through her, the same fury that had carried her out of the classroom, through the corridors and onto this table.

The next, there was nothing left to burn.

Her shoulders sagged.

Raven stayed where she was and looked around.

Dante stood in the middle of the floor with heat still rolling off him. Rowan faced him from the other side. Nikolai had planted himself between the confrontation and Raven’s table, while Cassian remained off to one side with somebody else’s breakfast in his hand.

All four Cardinal heirs.

Of course.

Kieran and Alaric were still there. Celeste too. Six Vanguards lined the wall behind them. Berry stood farther back, watching the disaster unfold while tapping something into her Linkslate with the exhausted concentration of a woman already deciding how much paperwork this was going to become.

Near the doors, Raven found Thalia, Tessa and Brielle pressed together among the crowd.

Thalia had both hands twisted into the front of her uniform.

They all looked worried.

Raven looked away.

There were students everywhere. On benches. Against walls. Filling the entrances. Linkslates raised over shoulders wherever she looked.

Lessons had stopped for this.

For her.

And Raven was suddenly too tired to care.

Not frightened. Not even upset anymore.

Just empty.

Her arms felt heavy. Her eyes burned. Even keeping her back straight seemed like more effort than it was worth.

She hadn’t slept properly.

A few hours ago masked strangers had dragged her out of bed for the First Howl. She had been battered across the Grand Drill Court with runic balls, crawled onto a platform on bleeding hands and forced a howl out of a wolf that still refused to properly wake.

Then she had gone to class.

Now she was sitting on a cafeteria table while three Cardinal heirs argued and a fourth ate meat nearby.

Valerius was beginning to feel slightly unreasonable.

The voices in front of her blurred.

Raven watched without really listening.

Rowan’s mouth moved.

Dante answered.

Nikolai cut between them.

Cassian chewed.

For several seconds, that was enough.

Then the sound sharpened again, and Raven realized the situation had somehow gotten worse while she wasn’t paying attention.

Dante and Rowan had moved closer.

Nikolai was talking faster now, one hand raised between them, but neither seemed particularly interested in listening.

Gold had begun to gather around Rowan again.

Across from him, the lines beneath Dante’s shirt glowed red-gold, spreading farther over his chest as heat thickened around his shoulders.

"Nobody is fighting," Nikolai snapped.

Dante took another step.

So did Rowan.

Nikolai swore and moved directly between them.

The crowd retreated again.

Raven looked down at the table beneath her.

Maybe she had chosen a poor seat.

Even Cassian stopped eating.

That was probably a bad sign.

Raven exhaled through her nose.

Fine. You know what? Burn it down.

At least then nobody would have to pretend Valerius was an educational institution anymore.

A chill suddenly slid over Raven’s skin.

She went still.

Every hair along her arms lifted at once, and before she could work out why, the air above the cafeteria floor warped.

Purple.

It spread in a heartbeat, a deep shimmer racing over the stone and climbing the walls. When it reached Rowan’s gold, the distortion crushed inward. Dante’s heat flattened with it, the wavering air around his shoulders suddenly forced still.

A Linkslate slipped from someone’s hand and cracked against the floor.

Nobody bent to pick it up.

All around Raven, bodies had gone rigid.

Heads dropped all along the walls, dozens at once. Someone stumbled hard into a bench behind Raven. Rowan’s aura compressed around him as though an invisible fist had closed over it.

Dante’s heat flattened.

Even Nikolai went rigid.

Cassian lowered the meat.

The pressure reached Raven.

Her shoulders dipped before she could stop them.

Her body knew what it wanted her to do.

Lower her head.

Something behind her ribs surged awake.

No.

Raven sucked in a breath.

It wasn’t her voice.

It wasn’t even a word.

Just that same furious refusal she had felt on the Grand Drill Court, rising beneath the pressure and pushing back against it.

Her heart kicked hard against her ribs.

Oh, fuck.

A woman’s voice came from the entrance.

Quiet, tired and absolutely furious.

"What exactly do the four of you think you’re doing?"

Every head that could still move turned.

The Headmaster stood in the doorway.

Her gaze travelled across the cafeteria.

Rowan first.

Then Dante.

Nikolai.

Cassian.

Finally, she looked at Raven.

Raven was still sitting on a table in the middle of the cafeteria, surrounded by hundreds of students, holding what remained of somebody else’s breakfast.

For one long second, nobody spoke.

The Headmaster closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, the fury was still there.

But what she aimed at the four Cardinal heirs looked older than fury.

It looked exhausted.

"I am so fucking tired of the four of you."