Page 75 of Nova Academy

‘Everyone needs to go wait outside,’ Adara demanded, earning a round of protests from all the men in the room.

‘Just for a few minutes,’ she reassured. ‘Just go wait in the corridor until I come get you.’

Captain Hironimus silenced them with the single action of raising his hand, then addressed Adara. ‘Is there anything I need to be aware of?’

She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye but squared upagainst the larger man. ‘Not yet.’

I didn’t like that answer, and neither did the captain, but that was all we were going to get from the stubborn Griknot.

‘All right.’ He gestured for Reece and Henrik to follow him outside and they obeyed. Reece stopped when he passed me, though.

‘Are you in trouble?’ he asked.

His concern for me melted another piece of my frozen exterior. This man would have been a faithful friend under different circumstances. My guilt grew over the rising amount of lies broadening the chasm between us he had yet to notice.

‘I’m fine. I just need to talk to Addy for a second without anyone else listening in. It’s kinda… personal.’

It was all I could give him, and it struck me then how much I wanted to give him more. Give him everything. He deserved so much better than what I could offer him. He deserved a friend that would be honest and truthful. A friend that would stay.

He nodded once, not quite satisfied with my answer but trusting me enough to let it go. Adara rounded on me as soon as the door slid shut behind them.

‘Talk. Now.’

‘I don’t know how much I can tell you without dragging you into it,’ I admitted.

I could see that she wanted to argue, but she held her tongue when she realised how immovable I was going to be on the matter. ‘Then tell me as much as you can.’

I did.

CHAPTER 32

Adara

‘Before you start, just tell me one thing,’ I interrupted her right as she opened her mouth to speak.

‘What?’

‘Is he a threat to the people on this ship?’

The expression on her face did not provide any reassurance.‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly, though I could tell it hurt her to do so. ‘It’s possible.’ The connotations of that answer could very well hinder her mission if I told Xander. What she didn’t realise was that Xan had been blind to all of Markus’s faults for an exceptionally long time, and he wasn’t about to believe me now unless I could provide tangible evidence. He believed Markus his best friend (besides me, of course) and could never figure out why I hated him so much.

So far I had tolerated Markus’ presence. It was either that or lose my best friend over it. Our friendship had been so fragile at the beginning due to my asexuality and his ignorance on the matter, but his bond with Markus had been solid from the start. It was going to be a fight and a half to turn his head and get him to see the man for who he truly was.

But it was a battle that now had hope. Eventually, Artemis would allow me to tell him everything, or at the very least enough to keep him in the loop without revealing the more delicate details even I hadn’t been made privy to yet.

‘I’m not going to say anything unless there is no other way, Arty. I’ll keep telling you until you believe me, but there really isn’t anything I can say right now that people would believe, anyway. You can be open with me,’ I assured her.

She took a steadying breath and then launched into the eventsof her evening. The more she talked the more I understood that I didn’t understand anything. Who was he working for? Why did they need to recruit from the military?

So many questions, so little answers.

‘So, now you just have to wait for further instructions?’ I needed to clarify.

‘Exactly. There’s nothing more I can do regarding my personal mission, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about regarding the assailant,’ she said, piquing my interest. This was something that had been bothering me since it began. I’d heard some of the women on the crew of The Carina mention a particular man that had been harassing them, but that gossip had died down. Right up until poor Katira and now Ari had been brutalised.

It was possible they were separate perpetrators, but my instincts screamed that they were one in the same. And we still hadn’t gotten any closer to discovering his identity.

‘I’m listening.’

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