Page 1 of Revenge (Warriors of the Drexian Academy #6)

Chapter

One

Sasha

T he wind off the Restless Sea whipped my hair across my face in dark, stinging tendrils.

I pushed it back with an impatient hand, my fingers already numb from the cold, and squinted through the gray twilight at the shipyard spread before me.

The smell of salt and scorched fuel hung heavy in the air.

Below us, waves hurled themselves against the cliff face with a violence that matched the churning in my gut and a rhythm that echoed the pounding of my heart. Even though the spray wasn’t high enough to reach me, I could taste the brine on my lips, feel the mist settle on my skin.

I crossed my arms over my chest, the academy uniform doing little to ward off the chill that had nothing to do with the weather. The uniform felt wrong on my body, too clean, too stiff after months in Kronock captivity wearing my old, tattered flight suit.

Not that I wasn’t grateful to be wearing it or grateful to be on Drex instead of the alien prison. I was, but I couldn’t shake the sensation that I wasn’t quite free.

I hurried across the open space and past the rows of sleek, obsidian-hulled fighters lining the tarmac.

Even in the dim light, they seemed to absorb what little illumination filtered through the clouds.

Behind me, the Drexian Academy loomed, all dark stone and lofty towers that clawed at the stormy sky.

It looked more like a fortress than a school, which made sense given what they taught.

Despite the imposing edifice, the academy windows glowed with warm light, promising sanctuary and warmth, but I had no interest in either. Not yet.

I spotted him immediately, even across the windswept expanse of the shipyard.

Deklyn moved with the same arrogant swagger I’d come to know so well during our time as prisoners.

Even from this distance, I could see the confident set of his jaw, the squared shoulders.

He was the same cocky bastard who’d driven me half-insane in that Kronock cell with his insufferable smirks and his absolute certainty that his plan would work.

The same bastard who’d been right.

I picked up my pace to catch up, skirting behind vessels and ducking around pockmarked paving stones. Deklyn was halfway to his transport when I stepped out from behind the tail of a grounded fighter, directly into his path. I felt savage satisfaction when he stopped dead in his tracks.

For a heartbeat, something flickered across his features. Surprise, maybe. Or something deeper, something that made heat coil low in my belly before I ruthlessly crushed it down.

Then, that infuriating smirk spread across his face, and he was back to being the arrogant Drexian who thought the universe revolved around him.

“Did you come to say goodbye, sweetheart?” he drawled, standing a few paces from me. Close enough that I could see the black flecks in his gold eyes, close enough to smell the spicy, musky scent of him. “I’m touched.”

The endearment sent a spike of irritation through me. That was the same thing he’d called me in the prison. Except now there was something else mixed in, something warm and treacherous that I refused to acknowledge.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Dek.” I kept my voice controlled, even though the wind was doing its best to steal my words.

“Then what brings you out in this weather? Missing me already?”

Up close, I could see he’d cleaned up since our escape.

The stubble was shorter, the dirt and blood washed away.

The fresh scar along his temple was barely visible unless you knew where to look.

But those gold eyes that had watched me with such intensity during our imprisonment held the same gleam they always had.

“You can’t go,” I said, the words cutting through the thrashing waves.

His eyebrow arched in that maddeningly superior way of his. “Can’t live without me?”

“Hardly.” The lie came easily, though something deep in my chest twisted at the words. “But I can’t exact my revenge without you.”

The change in his expression was subtle but unmistakable. The casual arrogance remained, but underneath it, I glimpsed something sharper. More calculating. This was the Drexian who’d orchestrated our escape from an impenetrable Kronock jail, not just the cocky warrior who liked to push my buttons.

“Revenge?” His voice was carefully neutral. “Against who?”

I stepped close enough that I had to tilt my head back to meet his gaze. Close enough to see the way his pupils dilated slightly, the almost imperceptible intake of breath. “Against whoever in Earth’s military decided I wasn’t worth rescuing.”

The wind gusted between us, carrying the scent of rain. Storm weather. How fitting.

“What makes you think?—?”

“I know the rescue mission was unauthorized,” I cut him off, observing his face as a tiny muscle in his jaw tightened. “I may have been rotting in a Kronock cell, but I’m not stupid. Someone made the call to abandon me, and I’m going to find out who.”

For a long moment, he just stared at me. Behind him, I could see the lights of his transport, the promise of escape from this place, from these questions, from me.

“And what if you’re wrong?” he asked finally. “What if there’s another explanation?”

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. “Grekking hell. 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 want my help? 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.