Page 72 of Nova Academy

‘I don’t know.’

'Fuck. I knew he was a no-good piece o’ shit,’ she snarled, the sound loud so close to my ear and, with my enhanced senses, caused a stab of pain that made me wince.

Her expression turned sympathetic. ‘Sorry.’

‘I just need an excuse to leave without drawing any unnecessary attention,’ I told her.

She nodded. ‘Got it.’ Then she stood up, pulling me up alongside her. ‘Let’s go back to the other room and you can tell meallabout it,’ she said loud enough for everyone to hear.

‘Gonna gossip about me, Arty?’ Bromm asked from his perch on the floor at Foryk’s feet. ‘I wanna hear this.’

‘You don’t know what he’s gonna say?’ asked Foryk. ‘Weren’t you there?’

‘Yeah, Bromm. Wouldn’t already have all the juicy details?’ Henrik teased.

‘Leave the poor guys alone, already, you bunch of old biddies,’ Urman chastised with a chuckle.

‘Oh, shush, you,’ Dorian said, pointing at Urman. ‘You’re just jealous ‘cause you’re not getting any.’

Addy and I left them behind, quickly making our way to the other suite. Markus followed, a silent observer but smart enough to understand I was trying to make a break for it without cluing the others in to what was really going on.

Before Addy entered, she leaned in close one more time. ‘Be careful. Please.’

I squeezed her arm out of Markus’ view, then turned my back on her as if I’d just dismissed her. When she entered the suite and we were left alone in the corridor, Markus approached me.

‘Interesting team dynamic. Or is it a squad now?’ he asked, though I could tell he didn’t really care.

I recognised the opening his comment created, however, and played along. ‘They think Bromm and I are secretly together or something. We have to share beds sometimes, and I’ve shared with him twice now. The joke’s getting old now, though.’

‘Hmm. You’re not dating the Griknot Princeling?’ he asked, blatantly searching for details I wasn’t about to give. Particularly when those details might hinder my success where Markus wasconcerned.

‘I didn’t realise you wanted to talk about my dating life,’ I countered, bringing the subject back around to his true intent.

‘It’s always interesting to hear about the Griknot royal family and their conquests,’ he said, and something told me he was insinuating that Bromm would never see me as more than an easy lay.

Adara was right. He really was a piece of shit.

‘Well, anyway. Follow me. I’ve prepared adelectablemeal, if I do say so myself, and it’s waiting for us back in my suite.’

I trailed behind him like an obedient puppy, eager for his master’s approval. Though the prize he was dangling in front of my nose wasn’t a treat, but a complete overhaul of my moral compass.

He walked with self-assured strides, as if the universe were working for him rather than the other way around. As if he was the one in control of our upcoming conversation and its subsequent results. He really thought he was the guy in charge, that he was untouchable with The Program at his back.

They would dispose of him as soon as he was no longer useful to them, and I was eager to see his face when he finally realised thathewas the true patsy.

CHAPTER 31

Artemis

Markus kept the conversation vague and impersonal as we made our way down. He chatted about a few rumours he’d heard in an odd attempt to try to connect with me as if I cared about other people’s drama. I was eager to arrive at his suite so he would stop talking about inane nonsense and focus on his pitch.

His suite was on the same deck as the maintenance crew’s, and I wondered if that was the reason he had turned his back on the Intergalactic Union’s military; because he believed himself slighted. I understood that military chefs needed at least some level of training, but I was curious to find out why he chose to cook for people when he so clearly felt himself too far above them to serve them.

The suites here were much smaller than those on the ranking officer’s deck. There were two bedrooms, and from the open doors I could see they were only large enough for a single bed, even though there were markings on the walls that suggested they contained pull-outs as well. The only other items that could fit were a cubby for clothes, a single shelf above the head of the bed for any personal belongings.

Whoever he shared the suite with wasn’t home, and I wondered if Markus had bribed them to leave us alone for our meal.

The rest of the suite was just as tiny with barely enough room for the two of us to manoeuvre around one another as he led me past a small couch and through to the kitchenette on the other side of the room. There, he waved for me to have a seat before he opened the miniscule refrigeration unit and produced plate after plate of already prepared food. I was curious how he managed to fit them into such a confined space but dismissed the thought. It didn’tmatter.

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