Page 52 of Nova Academy

Someone was going to have to go head-to-head with Arty, and Iwasn’t sure if they would come out of it unscathed.

Something had snapped in him this morning, and with the way Dorian was throwing uneasy glances at the other male, I would bet he knew something the rest of us didn’t about the cause.

As I approached him to ask, I noticed his neck was blooming in an array of vibrant colours, and I paused mid-step. He was a large man than most of us, his size only exceeded by Foryk’s. If Arty had managed to choke him out…

But then another thought struck me. What had Dorian done to make Arty attack him like that, and washethe cause of Arty’s dangerous mood?

A sudden fury rose up and moved my legs faster without my conscious decision. I found myself in front of him, glaring up at him with a rage that stemmed from confusion as well as justice.

‘What did you do to Arty?’ I hissed, not missing the fact that CWO Brin had said the same thing when she’d rounded on me last night. Arty had a few people in his corner it seemed.

His brows lifted, trying to hide in his hairline. ‘Me?’

‘Yes,you. You were the one taking up the bathroom time this morning, even before Arty and we all know he showers first. You’re the one with the bruise around your throat.Youwere up before everyone else and interrupted the morning routine. You’re the only one who could possibly know what’s going on, and he clearly attacked you. So,what did you do?’

He scoffed. ‘You took one look at the evidence ofhimattackingme, and you assumed I’m the one who did something wrong?’

The sound that ripped through my chest was borderline savage. ‘I won’t ask you again.’

He sighed, finally realising I wasn’t backing down. ‘I didn’t do anything. He was having nightmares, screaming in his sleep, so I woke him up. He had me pinned to the floor with his hand wrapped around my neck before I could blink. It was like he wasn’t even there, like he was a completely different person. His eyes werejust… empty.’

It took a beat for me to process that information, but I deflated when I did. I didn’t want to confirm the suspicions that arose, but if we were going to be living in close quarters with Arthur Mercer, we needed to know. ‘Like… like a trauma response?’

His brows finally lowered at that, but they went even further as they dipped into a frown. He contemplated his answer before he spoke. ‘Yeah. I didn’t think about it before, but it wasexactlylike a trauma response. He even warned me not to wake him again, like he didn’t have any control over it.’

‘Something happened to him. In the past. Something bad.’

Neither one of us spoke after that, both of us processing the revelation. The squeak of shifting feet on the mats nearby clued us in that we had a captive audience, and I silently berated myself for causing a scene. Foryk, Henrik, Urman and Cadmus were watching our exchange, barely daring to breathe. I couldn’t discern if they were just eager for drama or answers, but I decided it wasn’t the time to get into it when Corporal Stanson whistled for our attention.

The only consolation was that Arty was further away and focused on pummelling the stuffing out of a punching bag to witness the confrontation. Literally. It looked like the bag was about to rupture and spill its innards all over the mats. A second later I was proven right when the sand filling exploded all over the place.

‘Mercer!’ the corporal’s voice whipped out, both in shock and reprimand. ‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’

‘You need better punching bags,’ was Arty’s terse reply.

It stopped the older man short. It seemed we weren’t the only ones in Arty’s line of fire today, and I was suddenly very concerned we would have to deal with more than the captain’s scowls in response.

‘Someone find the maintenance crew to clean this up,’ thecorporal called out to no one in particular, and I was glad he seemed to clue in to the potential disaster if he called out Arty. But then he ruined it by pointing at him and doing just that. ‘You,go cool down before you destroy anything else.’

Arty stormed out without an argument – thank the stars – not even bothering to change back into his uniform before the door whizzed shut behind him. If he could have slammed it, I was sure he would have done so hard enough to knock it off its hinges. And take some of the wall with it.

'All right, enough of that. Mind your business and gather ‘round!’ the corporal berated those of us still standing around gawping, gazes flickering between the mess on the floor and the door Arty left through. I didn’t know if he would be back to clean it up, but I didn’t think Corporal Stanson cared much so long as he wasn’t destroying anything else on the training deck.

‘Should we… I don’t know, do something?’ Henrik asked.

‘Leave him,’ Foryk rumbled, but it wasn’t an angry sound. Instead, he seemed contemplative.

‘What the big guy said,’ Dorian piped in. ‘He needs to get his head screwed on straight and ambushing him isn’t going to help.’

‘Aren’t we supposed to be guarding him, though?’ Cadmus asked, his voice low to avoid unwanted listeners. At first he seemed like a stuck-up asshole, but the more I got to know him the more I saw that he was a good guy with a decent head on his shoulders. Sure, he put his foot in his mouth more often than not, but ‘misunderstood’ was the best way to describe him. My respect for him was slowly growing.

‘I don’t think he needs much guarding right now,’ Foryk deadpanned, pointedly eyeing the destroyed punching bag.

I wanted to laugh, but the noise that came out of me was strangled and strained. More than anything, I was worried about him. I wanted answers, to see if I really was to blame for all of this. The guilt would eat at me until I knew for sure either way. I neededto know what was wrong so I could fix it, even more so if I truly was at fault.

If so, I hadn’t meant to offend him so thoroughly, and I was suddenly ashamed of how I had assumed his behaviour was toxic. Difficult, perhaps, but I already knew he wasn’t a bad person. I shouldn’t have let my faith in him wane, especially when he needed people on his side even more right now. He had proved on more than one occasion that he was ready to back his team when necessary, and there was no way his actions today were anything other than him struggling to maintain his composure while overwhelmed.

I kept replaying what had happened between us in my head throughout the rest of Combat Training. I was partnered with Henrik because we were the closest in height and build, but my distraction cost me frequently as I was consistently slammed to the ground. I had the least experience with any form of combat out of all of us, so I really did need to pay attention. I just couldn’t.

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