Cassian’s POV
Five days later, we were back in school but nothing about it felt normal.The halls, the stares, the suffocating silence that wrapped itself around the air like a noose was not normal anymore. Raven still wouldn’t speak to us, she wouldn't spare a word, a glare or even a scoff and I would’ve taken a thousand of her insults over the fucking emptiness she left behind instead.She healed us with her blood and pain. She gave us the one thing we’d been craving our whole cursed existence—relief. Freedom..and what did we give her in return?We tried to make up for it—God, we fucking tried. We changed her accessories to enchanted and flashy favourite colours, gave her the best meals straight from the royal kitchen, put up a silent but deadly warning to anyone who so much as looked at her the wrong way.But none of it mattered because she wanted space.She wanted to be alone.And the worst part of it ? She didCassian’s POVRaven wouldn’t come out of her room.It had been hours since we left ,gave her a little accessory to match her outfit, and still… nothing about her scent was perceived.Her door remained shut, and the silence behind it was eating at all of us. I stood outside like a ghost, my hand hovering near the doorknob. Her mother was giggling excitedly about the night, my dad looked happy and ofcourse, everyone else were fucking happy except us as we didn’t know what the night holds for Raven.Would she be rejected, lied upon and thrown aside like an outcast just because she was a human? There was one way to find out this night but I didn’t knock despite standing before her door right now, maybe she needs a little space..But the truth was It was driving me crazy.Dante paced the hallway like a caged wolf. “You’re really going to let your Aunt announce that tonight? That Jerome cured us? Like he’s some hero
Raven’s POVThe morning sun filtered through the heavy velvet curtains, casting a warm golden hue across the dining room. I sat stiffly at the long oak table, surrounded by them…my brothers. Well, not by blood….not really yet as it makes me feel uncomfortable to address them that way.Breakfast was laid out like a feast. Roasted meats, fish cooked to perfection, thick sauces in tiny porcelain bowls, and fresh bread rolls that smelled like heaven. Yet, I had no appetite. I pushed the meat away gently. It wasn’t because it didn’t smell good. I just wasn’t a meat type.Cassian looked up from his plate. “Don’t want the meat?” he asked softly, his voice almost too gentle for someone like him.I shook my head.He didn’t wait for more. He reached over with his long fingers and gently swapped my plate with his, now filled with fish. “Try the salmon,” he said. “It’s good.”I didn’t respond, didn’t even meet his eyes. I couldn’t. Not
Powerful muscles flexed as he moved, working the tongue of his belt through the buckle and panic and instant desire flooded throughout my body.We were in the kitchen, anyone could walk right through now and we'll have a lot of explaining to do. “What do you want, Raven?” My body shivered as he pushed his pants to the floor too, leaving him standing in soft black boxer briefs, his cock straining against the fabric. So precise and controlled. The real him was shimmering under the surface. There was a lie about Caius , a pretense where he lived. Everyone knew it. Everyone saw it, but no one acknowledged it. No one stepped into his darkened room and threw open the blinds, exploring his desires…except for me right now.“You..sh.. should stop, anyone can walk in right now?” “Is that it, what you're worried about and not what you want to see?” I folded my hands around my chest and felt bold. I really wanted to see Caius go crazy too, h
Raven's POVWhen we returned home, the air felt heavier than usual. . I just wanted to head straight to my room and pretend this entire day hadn’t happened. But no—they were waiting for me in the living room.My stepfather stood at the base of the grand staircase, holding something small and velvet in his palm. It was a box and I slowed down, eyeing him cautiously.“This is for you, you should open it” he said with his tone measured and eyes softer than usual.I hesitated before taking the box from his hand. Inside was a brooch with deep silver, ornately crafted and glinting in the chandelier light with a crimson gemstone at its center. It pulsed like a heart.“It’s the royal badge,” he said, like it should’ve meant something monumental to me. “It marks you as one of us now. A daughter of the house of Velmora.”I stared at it longer than I needed to. One part of me felt… something. Maybe awe or confusion but another part wanted
Raven’s POVI was reeling from the orgasm Dante gave to me, my body still trembled and I hated how I was still sitting this close to him with his expression as if he didn't just watched me naked, his expressions was something to kill for, I wanted to do that again so I could see him fall apart. I hope he doesn't read my mind, through my research process, I discovered that they read minds too.Can he read mine right now? What's he doing?He's smirking, oh God! Dante is smirking right now, looking at the road while driving? Does he thinks this is a fun game? It's fucking frustrating and infuriating.“Do you want to go back to the Park princess, I mean I enjoy all that flushed look but do you like it that much from you to stare at me like I'm cake?” My mouth fell open and I scoffed.“Huh? What's that?”He stared at me and bit his lips before facing the road back again.“Don't look at me like that, it's frustrating I can't get th
Raven's Pov “As a friend?” he growled, then shifted his gaze to my lap. My body responded, warming and throbbing.Gods, the way he looked at me with frustration…why do I like that he was bothered with the way I've been treating them. I didn’t understand why I was so affected by them, why they seemed to tap into that dark, aching place inside me. He reached out, brushed his fingers along my thigh, and drew my skirt higher. “I’m not your friend Raven… you’re family now,” he murmured, his gaze riveted to my thigh as he exposed it inch by inch. I grabbed the skirt from him, feeling my heart beats in loud drums, yanking the hem down. “I saw you, you know….that diary thing of yours?” My hand stilled, fisted against my leg. He lifted his gaze to mine.“What the fuck Dante!” I yelled in the car, turning to leave but it was locked.“Raven wait.”“You had no fucking right to touch my private belongings! It was private for