"Raven—"
"Don't." The word cracks like a whip between us. "Just... don't."
He keeps walking, heading deeper into the palace without a backward glance. I stand there for a moment, staring after him like an idiot, before my brain kicks back into gear.
"Raven, wait?—"
He doesn't slow down. Doesn't acknowledge that he heard me. Just keeps walking with that purposeful stride that says he'd rather be anywhere else but here with me.
Fuck.
And I follow him, because what else am I going to do? Let him wander off alone in a palace that's rapidly emptying of civilians and filling with guards? I fall into step a safe distance from him, the silence heavy in a way it never used to be. Even when we were at each other's throats back at the black market, there was always something.
Banter, insults,something.
This quiet feels wrong.
Usually Raven's the one who can't stand silence. He fills it with chatter about nothing, observations about everything, that honeyed voice weaving words like silk. But now he's mute as we navigate the increasingly empty corridors of the palace, and the absence of his voice makes the quiet feel even heavier.
Ten minutes pass. Ten fucking minutes of nothing but our footsteps and the distant sounds of evacuation. My jaw aches from clenching it, words piling up behind my teeth that I can't seem to spit out.
Finally, I can't take it anymore.
"Kind of weird," I say, wincing at how loud my voice sounds in the empty hallway. "The guard not batting an eye at two alphas going at it."
Raven doesn't look at me. "Their prince is mated to both an alpha and an omega, remember?" His voice is carefully neutral, like he's discussing the weather.
"Right." The word comes out awkward, stilted. Of course. Plague and his unconventional pack. The red-haired omega and that giant loudmouth. No idea howthatfucking works.
More silence. More walking. More of this unbearable fucking awkwardness that makes me want to either punch something or grab Raven and?—
No. Not going there.
I clear my throat, searching for something, anything to say. Maybe this is the moment. Maybe I should try to smooththings over, acknowledge the elephant in the room that's been following us since the day he left. Some acknowledgment of the history neither of us wants to address but can't seem to escape.
"Listen, Raven, about before?—"
"Holy shit." He cuts me off, rushing to a window. "Look."
I follow, irritation at being interrupted warring with curiosity. Through the glass, I can see into a courtyard below where?—
"Is that…?"
"They did it," Raven breathes, his voice filled with something like awe. "They actually fucking did it. They got Plague."
Sure enough, there's Knight's massive form hauling an unconscious body through a window while Geo helps from the other side. And there, directing the whole operation through the window with the confidence of someone who's done this before, is Cosima.
"You crazy little psychopath," I mutter under my breath.
"Ourcrazy little psychopath," Raven corrects, and the possessive pronoun fucks with my head as much as that kiss back there did.
I glance over at him, taking in the way his eyes have gone soft and misty as he watches her. "Are you actuallytearing upbecause our omega kidnapped the crown fucking prince of Surhiira?"
He ignores me, already moving to open our window. "Come on. We need to cover their escape."
He's through and dropping to the ground before I can respond, landing with that feline grace that used to drive me crazy.
Still does, if I'm being honest.
