Page 26 of Nova Academy

‘Well, tell the captain we thankedyou, Brin,’ I teased.

‘Addy,’ she said.

‘Hmm?’

‘My given name is Adara. We’re friends now, so you can call me Addy,’ she said, and my laughter died down, suddenly unable to move past the tightness in my throat.

Objectively, I knew that making friends wasn’t part of the plan, and that it could cause more issues than I could anticipate. Yet, the desperation that punched me in the gut when my gaze darted between her and Reece. Even Bromm and Foryk didn’t allow for any other response than to accept. Both of them had showed me in such a short amount of time that it could be worth opening up a little to allow for a friendship.

Perhaps it couldn’t go too deep, and it would end sooner rather than later, but I wanted to be selfish, just this once. I wanted to let myself enjoy the moment and feel wanted, accepted, and welcomed.

Stars damn it, I wanted friends.

So I braced myself for the inevitable heartbreak and focused on the present.

‘Okay. Addy.’

CHAPTER 12

Dorian

My neighbours had been suspiciously absent for the past few days. By now, everyone had heard about the woman that had been attacked and ended up in the med bay. They were calling it an ‘incident’, though the rumours of what that incident was varied vastly. Some said she chopped off her hand while doing food prep. Others said she was attacked by a rogue cadet. There was even a cadet team telling everyone that they saw it all go down, and that another cadet and his team were the ones responsible. Unfortunately, the team in question were my neighbours, and I was trying to make the pieces fit from what I’d already seen of them.

They didn’t.

Another of the cadets was the loudest with his accusations, calling for their immediate removal from the academy and prison time. He turned out to be the younger brother of the victim. Unfortunately, he was the most biased individual on The Carina, his actions coming from his emotions rather than logic. He hadn’t witnessed the crime himself, so I didn’t believe a word that came out of his mouth. In the little over a week we had been on this ship there had been zero indication that Reece and his team were anything but respectable, rule-abiding men. I didn’t think any one of them had received a single demerit since that first day. Good cadets, through and through.

The brother’s ire I could understand, though I believed it was misplaced. But with the way he and the team that claimed to witness the assault were going on and on about it and throwing around their threats and aimless barbs, they were quickly diminishing my opinion of them all. Their blatant disregard for not only the privacy of the victim but their unfounded accusationswere starting to get on my last nerve. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were their fault the poor woman was in a coma. They were spending far too much time yapping on about it and pointing fingers for them to be completely innocent in the matter. Guilt often spoke louder in actions than words, and theirs were waving giant red flags.

I was beginning to worry about Mercer’s team, though. Something more was going on, and they hadn’t been seen at any meals or checking in for any shifts for long enough that it was obvious they were somehow involved in the drama. My gut told me they were innocent of the crime, so I steadfastly refused to believe anything else until there was physical, tangible evidence to prove otherwise.

I didn’t envy them. I wouldn’t want to be in a position where I was forced to hide away while others bashed my name and my honour. But all of that just added to my concern. Why weren’t the officers silencing the rumours, and why was the captain allowing such unrest to spread on his ship?

When my team and I returned to our room that night, I decided to check up on our neighbours and hopefully get some answers. When I was sure Urman, Markus and Henrik were asleep, I slipped out of bed and snuck out of the room. I was aware of my dishevelled state from tossing and turning in bed, but it couldn’t be helped. The hour was too late for any real grooming, so I simply ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to smooth it down and hoped they wouldn’t think me too strange for showing up in my ratty old pyjamas.

But when I knocked I hadn’t expected a short, pink Griknot lady to open the door. I blinked at the sight of her in the doorway while my brain tried to catch up. It was far past lights out and everyone was expected to be asleep, so why did they have a visitor? Was there more than one? Or… were Tarren and Co. telling the truth and they’d been booted off the ship? Was this room now being occupied byfemale officers?

Or was it something a little more kinky?

When she opened the door wider to allow my entry, the four of them were sitting on their beds, chatting like they didn’t have a care in the universe. And they were fully clothed.

The room’s relaxed demeanour was fitting if the amount of food fit for royalty spread out on any available surface was any indication. Where and why they were eating so well I wanted to know. And when my stomach let out an obnoxiously loud gurgle, I knew it wanted in on it.

‘Can we help you?’ Arty asked, standing up and stepping forward to draw the attention to himself rather than his team. While we’d interacted on a few occasions, we’d never been properly introduced. It struck me then that my sudden appearance in the middle of the night might not be so well-perceived, especially after the way our previous interactions went. Oh well, too late now.

‘Hi, I’m Dorian Ituk,’ I introduced myself, holding my hand out for Arty to shake. He took it, and everyone else followed. Even the woman, who turned out to be Adara Brin, the ship’s technical chief warrant officer. Her presence increased my curiosity tenfold.

‘I just wanted to check on you all. There have been some nasty rumours running around, and your absence has been noted.’

‘And you wanted to know if the rumours are true,’ stated the Tornu, his tone low, rough, and disapproving. Arty stiffened at his words.

‘Not exactly. I don’t believe any of it myself, but there are some people attempting to sully Reece’s name, and your team by association. I really just wanted to make sure everyone was okay. A woman is in a coma, after all, and people can be cruel when they jump to conclusions.’

‘Thank you for your concern, but as you can see we’re okay. And no, the rumours aren’t true. About our involvement, at least. A woman was, unfortunately, assaulted, but Reece nor anyone elsein this room had anything to do with it,’ Arty informed me. He was very polite and professional, and it rubbed me the wrong way. I got it though. He clearly wasn’t one to trust easily, and rightfully so. Particularly with all this nonsense surrounding his team.

‘Didn’t doubt it. I’m glad you’re all okay, I just wanted to check in with you all to see how you were faring.’ I pointed my thumb over my shoulder towards the exit. ‘Well, I should be getting back to bed. Hopefully, I’ll see you around soon,’ I said, then waved goodbye as I left.

Urman stirred when I got back, waking from the rustling of my bedsheets.

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