The Raven King (All for the Game, #2)

by Nora Sakavic

Andrew put a finger to the underside of Neil's chin and forced Neil's head up until they were looking at each other. "On that day you're not going to run. You're going to think about what I promised you and you're going to make the call. Tell me you understand." Neil's voice had left him, but he managed a nod.

When his contacts list refreshed, Neil went to his call history. One name was listed with two timestamps beside it. It wasn't his mother's name, but it wasn't his father's, either. Neil would learn to live with that one day at a time.

"Hey, hey," Andrew said, distracting Neil from the view. "You'll tear something if you keep breathing like that, Kevin."

Neil turned enough to look back. Andrew was standing up and leaning over Kevin's seatback, arms folded on the cushion so he could look down at Kevin's head. Kevin had a knee hugged to his chest and his face hidden in the fold of his arm. His knuckles were white where his hand was clenched into a fist. Neil didn't think it was the bus that was making Kevin shake like that.

"Look at me," Andrew said. "It'll be fine. You believe me, yes?" "I believe you," Kevin said, muffled but noticeably strained. "Liar." Andrew laughed and leaned ...

Wymack pulled a bottle of vodka out of the bag and put it down beside Kevin. "You have ten seconds to inhale as much of this as you can. I'm timing you. Go."

Neil had never seen so many people on an Exy court before. There was still plenty of room to walk around between the tables, but Neil hated seeing a court repurposed like this.

Neil didn't recognize the man, but he didn't need to ask. The black three tattooed on his left cheekbone meant he could be no one but Jean Moreau. He was the Ravens' starting backliner and supposedly an old friend of Kevin's.

"Ah, you are right. That must be it. What was your name again? Alex? Stefan? Chris?"

In eight years on the run Neil had been through sixteen countries and twenty-two names. Hearing one name from Jean wouldn't mean anything. Hearing three wasn't a coincidence. It was a threat. Andrew had warned Neil Riko would unearth his trail no matter how well he and his mother buried it. Neil feared that eventuality, but he hadn't wanted to believe it. It sometimes took his father years to catch up with them. It was impossible to think Riko succeeded in just two weeks.

"It's Neil." "Hmm?" Jean titled his head to one side as if that would help him see Neil better. "You don't look much like a Neil." "Blame my mother," Neil said. "She named me." "How is she doing, by the way?" Riko asked.

Jean looked at Kevin. "Hello, Kevin." "Jean," Kevin said quietly.

"Jean," he said. "Hey, Jean. Jean Valjean. Hey. Hey. Hello."

"Fun is for children," Jean said, looking away from Andrew.

"You took something that does not belong to you," a Raven said. "You brought this year's humiliation on yourselves." "We didn't take anything," Dan said. "Kevin wants to be here."

"You won't stay," Jean said. It sounded less like a prediction and more like an order. "You should reconsider our offer before we rescind it for good, Kevin. Face the facts. Your pet is and always will be dead weight. It's time to—" "What?" Andrew turned a wide-eyed look on Kevin. "You have a pet and you never told us? Where do you keep it, Kevin?" Jean flicked him an annoyed look. "Don't interrupt me, Doe."

"Oh, points for trying, but save your breath. Here's a tip for you, okay? You can't cut down someone who's already in the gutter. You just waste your time and mine."

"What a coward," Riko said with exaggerated disappointment. "Just like his mother." Neil stopped counting. "You know, I get it," Neil said. "Being raised as a superstar must be really, really difficult for you. Always a commodity, never a human being, not a single person in your family thinking you're worth a damn off the court—yeah, sounds rough. Kevin and I talk about your intricate and endless daddy issues all the time."

"I know it's not entirely your fault that you are mentally unbalanced and infected with these delusions of grandeur, and I know you're physically incapable of holding a decent conversation with anyone like every other normal human being can, but I don't think any of us should have to put up with this much of your bullshit. Pity only gets you so many concessions, and you used yours up about six insults ago. So please, please, just shut the fuck up and leave us alone."

"Dan, I said please. I tried to be nice."

Jean turned on Kevin and spoke in quick, furious French. "What the hell is this?" "His antagonism is a personality flaw we're learning to live with," Kevin said. "Live with," Jean echoed, like the very idea offended him. "No! You should have dealt with him two weeks ago when he first stepped out of line. We trusted you to discipline him. Why doesn't he know his place yet?"

"Neil has no place in Riko's games," Kevin said. "He is a Fox." "He is not a Fox!"

"Funny," Neil said in French. Jean wasn't expecting him to understand them and shot Neil a startled look. "I'm pretty sure the contract I signed said Palmetto State University." "A contract does not change facts," Jean said. "Did you forget who bought you?" "Bought me," Neil repeated. "Nobody bought me." Kevin frowned, lost. "Jean, what are you talking about?" Jean looked like he swallowed a stone. "You don't know." It was supposed to be an accusation, but it fell flat. Jean shot an incredulous look between them. "How can you not know? Why else would you have recruited him, Kevin?" "He has potential," Kevin said. Jean's laughter sounded more than a little hyste...

"Riko will have a few minutes of your time later," Jean said. "I suggest you speak with him if you do not want everyone to know you are the Butcher's son." Hearing his father's name aloud was a kick in the chest. The noise Kevin made at his side was worse. Neil reacted without thinking, clapping a hand to Kevin's chest and shoving him as far back from the table as he could. Kevin stumbled back so fast he almost fell. Neil didn't look back at him, but he couldn't tune out Kevin's hoarse denial. "That's not true." "Shut up," Neil said, but he didn't know which one of them he was speaking to. "Don't say anything else." "Run along," Jean said. "It's what you're best at, isn't it?"

He watched Kevin, waiting for recognition to sink in. On its heels was sick fear. Neil clenched his hands together under the table where no one could see his fingers shake. Kevin opened his mouth, but Neil didn't want to hear it. He didn't know what Kevin was going to say and, more importantly, he didn't know what language it would be in. Neil spoke first in quiet but strained French. "No, Kevin. Not here. You and I will talk tomorrow." Kevin hesitated. "Does Andrew know?" "He knows only pieces of it," Neil said. "He doesn't know my name." "Does he know who you are?" "I said no." Neil wrenched Kevin's hand off his face. "We're not doing this here."

"Neil," Dan said, taking Kevin's seat between him and Andrew. "Are you okay?" "Does he look okay to you?" Andrew asked.

Running wasn't easy, but it was easier than trusting Andrew. But Neil remembered the weight of a key in his palm, its metal soaked through with another person's body heat. He remembered Andrew's promise to see this year through with him.

It came from the least expected corner. Renee appeared out of nowhere on Kevin's other side. She looped one arm through Kevin's and held her free hand out to Jean. "Jean, wasn't it? My name is Renee Walker. We didn't really get a chance to talk earlier." Confusion eased Jean's stoic mask into something more than a little uncomfortable, but he accepted her handshake. "Jean Moreau."

"Matt Boyd, starting backliner for the Foxes. I'm the one who's going to be wrecking your goals this October. Nice to meet you."

She slid around Matt to get in the Raven's personal space. The striker grinned at Matt over her shoulder, then tilted forward and sucked in a deep breath against her neck. Dan brought her stilettos up between his legs in a vicious punch. The Raven recoiled with an inhuman yelp.

"Nathaniel, it has been so long."

"Explain something to me." Riko started across the room on slow steps. "Jean says Kevin did not know who you are. After seeing Kevin's reaction I am inclined to believe him. Perhaps I can understand, as I know how blind Kevin can be when it comes to Exy. I might even forgive him for sheltering you from me. But you must know who you are, so I am very, very curious to know what you think you are doing."

"You were not running from your father, Nathaniel. You were running from his master."

"Oh, Neil came back," Andrew said. "I didn't think you would." Neil pulled his fist from his pocket and uncurled his fingers. Andrew glanced first at the phone in Neil's palm and then up at Neil's face. Neil didn't return the look but said in German, "I made a different call this time."

"A couple," Neil hedged, and distracted them by asking Andrew, "Who is Doe?" "Oh, that's me," Andrew said. "I didn't enter the foster system with a last name, so I was tagged as a Doe. Like John Doe. Get it? Ah, they think they're clever. I changed my name when I was adopted. Yes? Nicky said he told you all about it."

"You want to tell me why you have a hard-on for antagonizing Riko?" Wymack asked.

"How can you stand having a team like ours, Coach? Isn't it exhausting dealing with us and our problems day after day?" Wymack emptied his coffee with one big gulp. "Nope."

"I'm starting to think I misjudged you," Wymack said. "I just don't know how or where. I know I'm not completely wrong, but you're still not adding up right." "Now you sound like Andrew."

"Andrew and I are working on our trust issues. Sort of." "He says you're a pathological liar," Wymack said. "I'm starting to believe him." "It's what I was raised to be," Neil said.

"My mother OD'd almost ten years ago and my father lost a prison fight the first year I started here at Palmetto State. I hadn't spoken to either of them since I left D.C.." Neil's heart skipped a beat. "You grew up in D.C.?" "Interesting that that's the part you got hung up on."

"I don't care what Andrew said to you. I don't care what Kevin thinks. If—and that's a big if, Neil—if Riko really was behind it somehow, the blame is all on him. He chose to take out his petty rage on Seth. He chose to cross a line. You didn't. You hear me? You didn't. Don't ever blame yourself for Seth's death. That is too dangerous a road to walk down. You keep your eyes on your own path and keep moving forward."

"Why did Riko say he bought me?" Neil asked. Kevin was silent for so long Neil almost hoped this was all a sick dream, but finally Kevin spoke. "You're not really him," Kevin said, so low Neil barely understood his words. "Tell me you aren't really Nathaniel."

"I can't believe your mother agreed to this." "My mother is dead," Neil said. Kevin opened his mouth, but Neil didn't want to hear it. "She died last year and I buried her on the west coast. I have nothing and no one else, Kevin. That's why I signed with you. I figured the chances of you remembering me were slim and I gambled on you not knowing the truth about my family."

"You were supposed to be like me," Kevin said. "You were a gift, another player for the master to train. You had two days to win him over: an initial scrimmage with us to show off your potential and a second scrimmage to prove you could adapt to and implement his instructions and criticisms. If afterward he decided you weren't worth his time you would be executed by your own father." Neil swallowed hard. "How did I do?" "Your mother wouldn't risk failure," Kevin said. "You never made it to the second practice. She disappeared with you overnight."

"I'm going to be sick," Neil said, getting to his feet. He was halfway up before Kevin grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Nathaniel, wait." Neil wrenched free so hard he almost sent Kevin sprawling. "Don't call me that!"

His thoughts spun in a thousand directions as he stared at Kevin, at a number and a reputation that could have been his in another life. If he'd impressed Coach Moriyama he would have grown up at Castle Evermore with Riko and Kevin. He'd be wearing the "3" tattoo that adorned Jean Moreau's face.

Neil wanted to hate the way things turned out. For a moment he did. He'd grown up a frightened nothing and no-one when he could have been raised to be a Raven and future Court. Neil loved Exy so much he had to resent being cheated of that chance. But all Neil had to do was look at Kevin to know he would have hated that life too. He'd have learned from the best and played for the best, but he would have been a caged and abused wreck. Maybe he'd spent eight years running for his life, but at least he'd been free.

Kevin shook his head and bulled on when Neil started to argue. "The master wants to salvage you. He's going to sign you to the Raven lineup in spring. So long as you keep quiet and keep your head down he won't tell the main family he's found you." "I'm not a Raven," Neil said. "I never will be." "Then run," Kevin insisted, low and frantic. "It's the only way you'll survive."

"At least you'd have a chance," Kevin said quietly. "A chance to die somewhere else all by myself," Neil said, and Kevin looked away. Neil put his hands in his pockets, feeling his keys in one and his phone in the other. He twisted his fingers through the key ring, tracing ridges with his fingertips until he found the key to Nicky's house in Columbia. Andrew gave it to him in August when he first promised to protect Neil.

Neil crouched and pressed his hands to the orange paint. "I don't want to run. I don't want to be a Raven. I don't want to be Nathaniel. I want to be Neil Josten. I want to be a Fox. I want to play with you this year and I want us to make it to championships. And in spring when the Moriyamas come for me I'll do what they're so afraid I will. I'll go to the FBI and tell them everything. Let them kill me. It'll be too late by then."