Page 26 of Revenant

“No reason.” I step into a pleated skirt, then sweep what I need for my afternoon class off my desk and into my backpack. “Just making conversation.”

“You’d tell me if you were in some kind of trouble, right, Alicent?”

Trouble. I can admit her question is odd, but I’m trying to work on not assuming the worst of her. I really am. It’s just hard when every interaction we’ve had feels like she resents me being here. Maybe this is her extending some hypothetical olive branch?

“Yeah. Of course.” I jam my feet into a pair of Mary Janes, move Moriah’s slippers under my desk to return later, and beeline for the door. “I’ll be back later.”

Pryce is right where I left him, one shoulder to the wall, ankles crossed as he takes me in freshly changed, hair scraped into something that’s trying to be bun and failing. The corner of his mouth tips up before the rest of it follows.

“Feel better?”

“Marginally human.” I take a slow sip of my coffee to buy myself a second. “I don’t really drink. I think after last night I’ve retired for the foreseeable future.”

“Human is a low bar.” He peels himself off the wall. “I had higher hopes for you, tesoro.”

“Get me a caffeine IV and we’ll talk.” I hold up the cup as evidence that I’m doing my best, and it earns me a laugh as he turns down the hall, giving me his back like he expects me to follow. I do.

Gloomy clouds smother the sun, but the campus looks stunning in the daylight. Last night walking to the woods was all dim light and shadows. Now I can experience Veilcrest in all its glory: weathered stone and ivy that’s had centuries to work its way into the mortar. Fallen leaves rustle around us as Pryce points out various places we walk—a covered stone bridge arching between two wings, enclosed and latticed with narrow windows, that he says resembles one in Venice; the bell tower just past it, its stone darkened by yesterday’s rain to the color of a storm, and a fountain he swears predates Wickham, the city we’re currently standing in.

Twice I almost ask about the West Wing in Vesperian Hall, why it’s forbidden. Both times he lands some small, carefree comment a beat before I’ve worked up the nerve, and I catch myself smiling instead.

“If you have any questions, feel free to interrupt me. I know it can be a bit confusing.”

There isn’t a single part of me that would dream of doing such a thing. His accent softens his English; I could listen to him talk all day. “I appreciate you taking the time to show me around. Directions have never been my strong suit, and this campus is…expansive.”

“The pleasure is all mine, tesoro.”

“When are you going to tell me what that means?” My curiosity has been piqued since the first time he said it; I just haven’t found the time to look into it myself.

He lets out a low, unbothered hum, lips tightening as he tries…and fails, to suppress a smile. “When are you going to figure it out?”

Touché. I know it’s just a simple Google search, but part of me finds the mystery oddly exhilarating.

My coffee is gone faster than I’d like, the only thing left to suck through the straw is air. I toss it in a garbage can as we pass, already needing something to occupy my hands. The silence between us is comfortable, but I want to know more about him. I couldn’t care less about the history of Ashcroft Tower or how back in the day, it was used as a medical facility in the war.

“Do you visit your family often? I don’t know much about Italian culture, but I would assume you’re pretty family-oriented.”

His eyes turn down at the corners, his expression turning somber, but it’s gone in a blink of an eye, as if he caught himself slipping out of his usual carefree attitude. “Unfortunately, I don’t. But there was never a dull moment when I was younger. Always lots of people, even more food. I used to spend every Sunday cooking with my nonna.” He has a look of longing in his eyes as he speaks about his family, and I’m curious why he doesn’t visit more. But considering he didn’t offer up the information, I don’t want to pry into something that seems so personal.

“I was also close to my family. Well, my parents. Neither of them had any siblings, and my grandparents passed away before I was born.”

“And how do they feel about you being so far from home?”

A pang hits me in the chest, constricting over my heart like my body’s afraid it’ll stop beating. “I’m sure they would be happy I was seeing the world.” He looks at me with a slight pull in his brows. “They died when I was ten. A car crash.” Even after all these years, it never gets easier. I don’t talk about them often, which in some capacity I think is selfish, but I hate the look of pity everyone gives me at the mention of their deaths.

The same look Pryce is giving me now.

“It was a long time ago, but we were close. We traveled a lot, never staying in one place for too long. It was fun and exciting, but there wasn’t really an opportunity to make friends.”

He nods like he understands, and then I wonder if maybe his parents have passed too, but he doesn’t want to talk about it. Which is something I can respect.

“Where did you go after?”

“I’ve lived with my aunt Tessa ever since. Which, at the time I wasn’t sure why, but as I grew older, it must’ve been because they didn’t have anyone else.”

“Aunt Tessa? I thought you said your parents didn’t have any siblings.”

I chuckle at the irony. “She’s not a biological aunt, just one that you call an aunt. Tessa was my mother’s best friend, but I don’t think Tessa ever expected she would be my guardian. And it showed.”