I laughed, the sound bitter even to my own ears. “Then I’ll still know the truth. Either way, someone’s going to pay for leaving me to rot.”
He was quiet for so long I thought he might actually walk away. The thought sent unexpected panic through my veins, though I told myself it was just frustration. I needed his help. That was all.
“And if I say no?” he asked, his voice barely audible. “If I tell you to let it go and walk away?”
I smiled then, the expression feeling sharp and predatory on my face. “Then I’ll do it on my own.”
He cursed under his breath.“Grekkinghell. You’re as stubborn as ever.”
“I prefer ‘determined.’”
Another gust of wind slammed into us, strong enough that I had to brace myself against it. Deklyn didn’t even sway. Of course he didn’t.
“All right,” he said finally, his voice resigned. “I’ll stay at the academy long enough to talk to the admiral. But I’m not promising anything beyond that. If there’s proof that the rescue mission was properly authorized?—”
“There won’t be.”
“If there is,” he continued, ignoring my interruption, “then you drop this crusade and move on with your life.”
I nodded, though we both knew I had no intention of dropping anything. Not until I had answers. Not until someone paid.
“Why?” The question came out of nowhere, catching me off guard. Deklyn had stepped closer again, close enough that I could see my reflection in his eyes. “Why do you wantmyhelp? You made it clear in the cells that you didn’t want it.”
The question hit too close to something raw and vulnerable inside me, the part that couldn’t forget his steady presence in the neighboring cell. “I rethought my opinion of you.”
“Oh?”
“Your plan actually worked.”
His answering smile was slow and devastating, transforming his face from merely handsome to something that made my pulse skip. “I told you I’d get you home, sweetheart.”
There it was again. That endearment that shouldn’t affect me but somehow wormed its way under my skin every single time. I forced myself to hold his gaze, to keep my expression neutral even as heat bloomed in my cheeks.
This was exactly the kind of guy I couldn’t afford to fall for. Cocky, dangerous, the type who thought rules were suggestions and authority was something to be challenged. The type who could break hearts without even trying. The type I’d sworn off after too many shattered relationships back on Earth.
“And now you’re going to help me make those at home who gave up on me pay,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt.
“This should be interesting,” he murmured, his tone tinged with approval, maybe, or anticipation. Like the prospect of hunting down traitors was exactly the kind of challenge he’d been looking for.
I turned away before he could see the effect his words had on me, before the dangerous warmth in his voice could burrow any deeper under my skin.
“Where are you going?” he called after me.
I didn’t turn around. “To find the admiral. We have work to do.”
The obsidian stone of the academy loomed ahead of me, and somewhere in those halls were the answers I needed, the truth about who had abandoned me and why. And behind me was the Drexian who might help me get them.
The one Drexian I absolutely could not afford to want.
The thought should have been sobering. Instead, as I flicked my eyes to the stone arch above the school’s entrance and the symbols carved in it, I smiled. For the first time since my rescue, I felt like myself again.
Let them try to stop me. Let them try to hide behind their ranks and protocols. I was coming for them, and I wouldn’t be coming alone.
The wind howled behind me like the promise of storms to come.
Chapter
Two
