Chapter 68 The revelation
Chapter 068
RAVENNA
I flashed Darius a grin that I knew would irritate him even more than my words. "You will have to try much harder than that if you want to scare me away, Darius."
Before he could respond with whatever cutting remark was forming on his lips, Dorian appeared in the doorway behind me.
His expression was concerned as he looked between us, clearly sensing the tension crackling in the air. "Is everything alright out here? I heard voices."
I turned away from Darius and walked towards Dorian, grateful for the interruption. "Everything is fine. Your friend was just being an asshole as usual, nothing I cannot handle."
Dorian sighed and shook his head, then gently led me back inside with a hand on my elbow. "I am sorry about his behaviour, Ravenna. I know he can be difficult, but he is not usually this bad."
"Yes, he is," I countered, though there was no real heat in my voice anymore.
The adrenaline from our confrontation was starting to fade, leaving me tired and ready to go home.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see a message from Samantha asking if I was planning to return home tonight or if she should lock the door and go to sleep without me. I quickly typed back that I was having a good time and did not want to come home just yet, that I was enjoying myself too much to leave early.
Her response came almost immediately. It was just an eyeing emoji followed by another message telling me to hurry home because she was feeling lonely in our room by herself.
I laughed out loud at her dramatic response, and Dorian glanced over at me curiously. "Let me guess, that was Samantha?"
"Yes," I confirmed, still smiling at my phone screen. "She wants me to come home now. Says she is lonely without me there."
Dorian's expression shifted slightly at the mention of Samantha's name, something soft and wistful crossing his features before he could hide it. I filed that observation away for later examination.
I looked around the party that was still going strong, then checked the time on my phone and realised how late it had actually gotten. "I think it is quite late already, and I should probably head back so Samantha can rest properly for classes tomorrow morning. We both have early lectures."
"That is probably a good idea," Dorian agreed, though he looked disappointed that the evening was ending.
We both downed the last of our drinks, the bitter taste burning down my throat one final time.
When we stepped outside into the cool night air, I was surprised to find Darius still there.
He was leaning against the building wall with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, looking for all the world like he had been waiting for us.
He pushed off from the wall when he saw us and fell into step beside Dorian without a word.
The three of us walked together towards the academy in silence, but I could feel Darius's gaze on me the entire time.
It was like a physical weight pressing against my skin, impossible to ignore.
Finally, I could not take it anymore. I turned my head to look at him directly, catching him in the act of staring. He did not look away or try to hide what he was doing. Just kept his eyes locked on mine with an intensity that made my breath catch.
"Why are you not tipsy like Dorian?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence. "You both drank the same amount."
I shrugged, grateful for the distraction of conversation. "I am immune to getting drunk, I suppose. It takes a lot more alcohol than that to affect me."
As if on cue, Dorian suddenly stumbled over his own feet. Both Darius and I reached out instinctively to catch him, our hands gripping his arms from either side to steady him before he could fall.
Darius grumbled under his breath, irritation clear in his voice. "I do not understand why you drank so much when you know perfectly well that you are intolerant to alcohol, Dorian."
Dorian lifted his head slightly and mumbled something that sounded like, "Because I am not as boring as you are."
Instead of getting angry at the insult, Darius just sighed and shifted his grip to support more of Dorian's weight.
He wrapped one of Dorian's arms around his shoulders and held him securely against his side, bearing most of his friend's weight without complaint.
I watched this interaction with a strange feeling stirring in my chest. Seeing Darius care for his friend so openly, with such patience and concern, was unexpected.
It showed a side of him I rarely got to see, a gentleness that he kept hidden behind walls of anger and arrogance most of the time.
When we reached the point where our paths separated, Darius took full responsibility for getting Dorian back to their room safely.
I said goodnight to them both and hurried towards my own dormitory, suddenly eager to see Samantha and tell her about everything that had happened tonight.
I knocked on our door, and Samantha opened it with an exaggerated grumble. "You should have just stayed there overnight and slept outside for all the waiting you made me do."
I laughed and pushed past her into the room, dropping my bag on the floor beside my bed. "Oh, stop being so dramatic. I have not been gone that long."
Samantha closed and locked the door behind me, then turned to face me with her arms crossed over her chest. "So? Tell me everything. How was the party? Did anything interesting happen?"
I flopped down on my bed, suddenly exhausted from the long evening. "It was good. Fun. Dorian is nice, easy to talk to and be around."
"Just Dorian?" Samantha raised an eyebrow knowingly. "What about Darius?"
I groaned and threw my arm over my eyes. "Can we not talk about Darius right now? He is confusing and frustrating, and I do not want to think about him anymore tonight."
But even as I said the words, my mind was replaying the moment outside when he had threatened to make me stay away from Dorian.
The intensity in his eyes, the possessiveness in his voice, the way he had looked at me like he wanted to devour me whole.
Samantha sat down on the edge of my bed, and I could feel her watching me carefully. "You know, speaking of Dorian," I began, eager to change the subject away from my confusing feelings about Darius. "He really likes you, Samantha. Like genuinely, seriously like you."
I said releasing the bombshell.