Page 11 of Nova Academy

‘I’m just a cadet. There’s no need for that,’ he continued, a harsh bite to his tone that was a shock to my system. It felt wrong coming from him when I had him pegged for bright, happy and fun.

The woman stood, her own cheeks turning a deeper magenta on her already pink skin. ‘Right, sorry. I just wasn’t expecting to see you here, Your… uh, I mean, Brommyt. Wait, no. Um,Cadet.’ She gave a decisive dip of her head as she came the conclusion that was how to properly address him.

‘You’re a prince?’ I asked. Foryk’s teasingprincessmoniker suddenly made a lot more sense.

He huffed out a breath, completely deflating with it as if holding that information in had been incredibly taxing, but exposing the secret was even more so. ‘Yes, I’m a Prince. I would prefer it if you just considered me another cadet, though. I don’t want that information to get out. Too much fanfare, you know?’

I didn’t know. But I recognised his desperation to remain invisible, at least to some degree. A small part of me felt a little bit more connected to him, an understanding passing between us that only the two of us could comprehend. I was aware that my personal circumstances were considerably more traumatic and horrifying than his, but it was like something clicked into place between us that hadn’t been there before.

Giving into his wishes, I turned back to the short, pink, bumbling woman without another word and moved on. I heard Bromm’s sigh of relief behind me but ignored him.

I extended my hand towards her again, and this time she shook it. ‘Cadet Corporal Mercer,’ I introduced myself. ‘And these are Cadet Lance Corporals Min’Tuk, Turrl, and Hastings.’

‘Chief Warrant Officer Brin. Good to meet ya. Follow me and I’ll get ya kitted up,’ she said, turning on her heel and scurrying down the corridor at a speed I was not only surprised to see from someone so clumsy, but I expected would lead to disastrous consequences.

I was proved correct a moment later when she barged through the same doorway she’d popped out of and immediately crashed into something and caused a clutter and a bang that didn’t stop for some time. Concerned, I ran through the door to find her sprawled in a heap of limbs, tools, and spare parts.

Reaching down, I offered her my hand which she took with a grateful, thin-lipped smile. I helped haul her back up onto her feet, ensuring her feet were positioned securely on the floor and away from the mess.

‘Well,’ she said breathlessly as she dusted herself off. ‘Looks like you’ll be helping me organise all this today instead.’

Bromm whistled as we took in the state of the room. Piles of disorganised clutter were scattered around, and there was barely any room left to stand. Tools hung from the ceiling, making us duck our heads as CWO Brin led us deeper into the chaos. More tools and equipment were haphazardly hung from the walls but stuck out at off angles as they dangled precariously on their hooks.

Brin stopped with her hands on her hips, gazing around the wreckage of a room with a lost look on her face, and I knew I would have to step in or we’d be here all day.

‘Let’s get started over here,’ I pointed to the pile closest to us. I didn’t think it mattered where we started, so long as we did.

‘Right, yes. Good idea. Here,’ she mumbled. Her mind seemed to be as scattered as her things.

Kneeling down, I reached out to start untangling a collection of multicoloured wires when another pile collapsed with a clash and a clang, poor Brin’s limbs sticking out from under a mound of metal.

‘I’m okay!’ she called, her voice muffled beneath the heap.

I huffed out a laugh, both from complete stupefaction and the utter absurdity of the situation.

This was going to be a long shift.

CHAPTER 6

Bromm

My heart was still racing from the sheer panic of being discovered. I hadn’t wanted anyone to know who I was. It was a stipulation of my enrolment that I hadpersonallyincluded and actively enforced. I had enough siblings that I should have remained anonymous within the crowd of fellow cadets, but already I had met two people who knew my face and my title. And now that number had doubled thanks to CWO Brin’s formal (ish) response to recognising me.

Stars damn it!

I’d known Foryk from my time doing charity work on Burnos a few solars back. I’d been helping rebuild a settlement that had fallen prey to the never-ending wildfires that plagued the planet, and Foryk had been part of the hired security. We’d chatted a few times, got drinks, and even shared a lover or two before we went our separate ways. I considered him a friend, though we’d fallen out of contact with one another recently, but life got in the way and I didn’t blame either of us for that.

It was good to see him. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed his companionship.

When he recognised me, all it took was a single panicked look from me to understand I wasn’t advertising my royal title. He’d always been able to read me like a book, which was what had made us such good friends in the first place. I was forced to wear an invisible mask in public to enforce the visual of the Griknot Royal Family’s desired image. Not that it was entirely a lie, but a prince couldn’t just do what he wanted when he wanted to. A scandal could be detrimental to the entire family and our influence. But Foryk was able to see through all that straight away. He had approached me for a night of wild fun when he noticed my forcedsmile taking its toll back on Burnos.

I mean, who was still smiling after the loss of so much life and livelihood? Me, that’s who. It was deemed necessary by my family’s PR team to ‘boost morale’, and I wasn’t in a position to defy those orders. Father would have pulled me from Burnos and my work before I could blink if he found me acting at all morose.

‘The people look up to us,’he would say.‘We must be their beacon of light, shining upon them to light up their darkness and show them the way.’

I didn’t necessarily disagree, but it did become exhaustive after a while.

I’d spent an entire solar of my later adolescence in the Border System with my uncle and cousins in an effort to clean up the more polluted areas. Scrubbing oily residue off of every surface and object had become a gruelling, impossible, never-ending task that still gave me nightmares to this day.

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