Page 67 of Nova Academy

So if Adara wasn’t a viable option, who was?

The answer was no one. Libby had been my only true anchor and I was floundering now because I had unmoored myself. There was no one else I trusted enough or knew enough about to trust with the state of my wellbeing or the mission’s.

Of course, that left only one more option. Someone I hadavoided contacting for the past two years after he had abandoned me to the outside world without a backwards glance. But hehadhelped me once before, and Ihadsuccessfully escaped The Program thanks to him and his team. Even he hadn’t worked alone.

Except I hadn’t heard from him in those two years either and I wasn’t about to swallow my pride for a man I clearly couldn’t trust. Which brought me right back around to Adara. She was a risk, and it seemed she was my only real friend right now, but since I had already decided to leave her out of it that left me with no one.

I had to continue doing this alone.

With that decision made, I purged all thoughts of it and the emotions it dredged up from my mind. There would be nothing I could do until we docked anyway, and I already had Adara checking in with me frequently, so there was no point in worrying about it.

There were more important things to worry about now anyway, like Tarren and his merry band of brainless followers. None of them seemed to care that Reece was innocent, nor did they seem to care that the rest of us weren’t involved either.

Apparently, there was another assault yesterday, and they had decided to track us down in our rooms last night to ‘teach us a lesson’ only to find them empty. That was enough for them to blast around the ship as ‘evidence’ that we were the guilty party. All it proved to me that it was the right call to find somewhere else to sleep at night.

With my original mission on the backburner until we reached the academy, that didn’t mean I had to sit back, kick my feet up and do nothing. Reece’s framing and the subsequent light it was shining on us all was proving to be more of a hindrance than I could afford. It was time for me to stop sticking my head in the sand and find the real culprit so I could get back to my true purpose.

‘Arty,’a voice whipped through my thoughts and startled me back into the present moment.

‘Sorry, what?’

Reece was looking at me with so much concern that I felt guilty for letting my thoughts run away with me. I shouldn’t, since I wasn’t here for him, but that was rapidly changing. I was going to have to leave these people behind as soon as I found a way back to The Program. I knew starting this journey that I couldn’t afford to make friends. There was only one person I cared about that Ineededto get back to. Adding to that was stupid.

And now I was going to be torn apart when I said goodbye.

‘I asked where you’re sleeping tonight. We need to work out tonight’s watch schedule,’ he said, bringing me back again.

‘Oh, right. I’ll just take one of the pull-outs in the spare room,’ I said.

‘Nope,’ Adara’s bright voice inserted itself into the conversation. When had she arrived? I must have been too caught up in my internal planning that I’d completely missed her showing up. A quick glance behind her proved the captain was also here, never far behind Adara. He was eyeing me speculatively, his forehead creasing with consternation.

A crease that everyone else in the room suddenly copied with one of their own.

‘You’re staying with us,’ Adara informed me, her tone brokering zero debate.

I raised an eyebrow, surprised and wondering what she was playing at. She knew very well that I couldn’t share a bed with anyone, especially after the disastrous results from the last time.

‘Now that that’s settled, it’s time for bed,’ the captain piped up, rising from his perch on the arm of the sofa with a stretch. I pretended I wasn’t watching the delicious way his muscles contracted with his movement, or that I was pretty sure I drooled at the small sliver of skin he revealed when his shirt lifted. ‘It’s been a long day and we all should get some rest.’

Adara reached for my hand to pull me up and I let her.

‘Brommyt, you comin’?’ she asked, and my head snapped up,panic racing through me. I couldn’t share a bed with him again.I couldn’t.

‘Sure. Just need to grab a few things. I’ll be right over,’ he said, heading towards the bedroom where he’d stashed his belongings. Mine were still in the captain’s quarters, so it made getting settled over there a bit easier for me. Excluding being forced to share a bed with the most dangerous person to my secret on this ship. You know, the prince I wanted to do naughty things to but couldn’t.

Or… maybe I could?

Just because I couldn’t allow him to touch me didn’t mean I couldn’t touchhim.

I wanted to baulk at the idea, but it broke free from my grasp and cemented itself in my brain. There was no way I would be able to sleep tonight with him beside me and the possibility ofmorebanging its fists against my mental walls. The memory of the way he moaned and submitted to me when I’d pinned him down a few nights ago rushed to the forefront of my mind. The image of him splayed beneath me, ready and wanting, refused to budge.

I stared at the back of Adara’s head, wide-eyed and panicked. Why was she doing this to me?

I had to get control over myself. It wasn’t a death sentence. I could place a pillow barrier between us and lay down some rules. I was perfectly capable of enforcing my boundaries. This didn’t have to be as bad as I was making it out to be in my head. Surely Bromm wouldn’t try anything untoward with me again after the way things were left between us after last time.

Or maybe he would. I didn’t know what to expect from him, and that must have been where my anxiety originated. I had expected him to want nothing to do with me after I’d rejected and threatened him, but he’d bounced back almost immediately and had been making even more of an effort to maintain a friendship between us. And hehadn’ttried to do anything more with me since. He hadn’t pushed or questioned me, instead taking a step back whilstreassuring me that he was still in my corner.

No one had ever respected me in such a way before, and all it did was make me like him even more.

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