Aidan ate the food hesitantly and with a measure of disgust, but he ate it nonetheless, knowing that it was wise to keep his energy levels as high as possible. The plate was flimsy, softened by the heat of the food, and it was swiftly made evident that it would provide Aidan with no use whatsoever in freeing himself from his bindings.

He almost had to laugh at his predicament. They were cunning, Raven and Samar, and they knew--and had known--better than to underestimate him.

The knowledge that he had not done the same with them was a knife twisting unrelentingly in Aidan's gut. However, the part of him that didn't hate himself for underestimating her, admired Raven.

Never had he been played so thoroughly or so well, and if he wasn't adamant on revenging himself on her for doing so, Aidan would have wanted Raven to explain exactly how she did it.

Hell, he didn't even know what her objective was, and he was still impressed. Though, if he had to bet, he'd guess that it had something to do with the vault beneath Stone Manor. She wouldn't be the first to attempt to crack it, and yet it wouldn't surprise Aidan if she was the first to actually infiltrate it.

To be honest, that was a shit-ton of euphemism; he would be completely and utterly shell-shocked. But on a smaller scale than if he'd learned that anyone else had do so, and Aidan supposed that was close enough. After all, if anyone had the talent to crack Kieran Stone's underground vault, it was Raven.

Even he, knowing fully what to expect as the brother of the person who had designed it, had not escaped Kieran's corridor unscathed; that fact only served to further highlight Raven's emergence on the other side with nothing less than a haircut.

But, to be fair, Kieran's corridor paled--literally--in comparison to the vault.

Placed directly under the manor, the vault was relatively small, spanning one hundred square feet total. But between the manor and the vault lay five hundred feet of lethal obstacle course that even Aidan himself would hesitate before attempting to breach. 

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A/N:

I like this chapter--is that cruel of me? To enjoy writing Aidan's mixed self-hatred and admiration for Raven? Also, I'm interested in your thoughts on Raven and her objective! Do you think it is the vault, or does she have another goal in mind? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to vote if you like this chapter half as much as I do ^w^