Page 14 of Revenge (Warriors of the Drexian Academy #6)

Chapter

Fourteen

Deklyn

I hurried across the shipyard as the ever-present gale off the Restless Sea tried to knock me sideways.

The smell of salt and fuel made my nostrils twitch, and I lowered my head and barreled forward.

I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder, half-expecting to see a familiar figure with dark hair charging after me across the cracked stone.

Getting authorization from Admiral Zoran had been surprisingly easy.

I’d only felt a small stab of guilt when I’d lied to him about being urgently needed back on my Inferno Force vessel.

The admiral had been distracted, probably still dealing with the aftermath of the rescue mission and whatever political complications it had created with Earth and the Drexian High Command.

As long as I could get off-world without Sasha finding out, everything would work perfectly.

The truth was, I wasn’t going back to my Inferno Force assignment.

I was headed to Earth to find out who had decided not to rescue Sasha before she could put herself in danger by doing it herself.

The evidence we’d found in Zoran’s office was damning, but it was only the beginning.

Someone high in Earth’s command structure had abandoned one of their own pilots, and I was going to find out who.

It was too personal for Sasha. Her anger would drive her to act rashly. Grek , she’d already made foolish decisions in her effort to find answers. What would she do now that she knew she’d been right?

The thought of her ending up in another prison, this time on Earth, made something cold and sharp twist in my chest. I couldn’t let that happen. As much as the woman drove me absolutely crazy with her reckless determination and her stubbornness, I still felt compelled to protect her.

Even if that meant protecting her from herself.

My ship sat on the far edge of the tarmac, its sleek black hull gleaming in the hazy morning light.

The sight of it sent a familiar surge of anticipation through me.

I jogged up the boarding ramp, passing Volten as he finished his final inspection of the internal systems. The young pilot looked up from his diagnostic tablet with a grin.

“All ready,” he said, giving me a thumbs up.

I thumped him on the shoulder in thanks, not trusting myself to speak. Volten was an honorable Drexian, devoted to Ariana in a way that reminded me uncomfortably of my growing attachment to her sister.

I hurried to the cockpit and dropped into the pilot’s seat so I could begin the familiar ritual of powering up the ship’s systems. The console came alive under my touch, smooth surfaces warming beneath my fingers as the displays flickered to life.

The low hum of the engines vibrated through the deck plates, a sound that was both reassuring and thrilling.

I exhaled slowly as I strapped myself in, allowing myself a moment of relief. I’d gotten away without having to make awkward goodbyes, without having to explain my sudden departure or defend my decision to handle this situation alone.

I regretted not talking to Tivek before leaving, but I wasn’t sure what I would have said to him, anyway.

Learning that my brother was a Shadow operative had shaken me more than I wanted to admit.

Was I supposed to pretend I didn’t know when all I wanted to do was apologize for being a condescending ass?

But how could I admit to knowing his true identity without revealing how I knew?

No, I needed more time to sort myself when it came to my brother.

But I didn’t regret avoiding Sasha. That goodbye would have been impossible. She would have insisted on coming with me, which would have been a disaster.

The boarding ramp sealed with a soft hiss as I ran through the final pre-flight checks, my hands moving across the controls from muscle memory.

Then I lifted off from the tarmac smoothly, watching the academy shrink beneath me as I climbed through Drex’s atmosphere.

The black stone towers and courtyards that had seemed so imposing from ground level looked almost delicate from this height, like a child’s toy castle set against the desolate beauty of the planet’s stormy sea and black mountains.

Once I cleared the upper atmosphere, I set a jump course for Earth and began calculating the trajectory that would get me there. The route wasn’t complicated, but it would require multiple jumps, and I couldn’t take too many in rapid succession without risking jump sickness or worse.

I initiated the first jump, bracing myself for the familiar but unpleasant sensation of being sucked through hyperspace.

The universe seemed to both lengthen and flatten around me.

Then came the feeling of being sucked forward, stretched and compressed simultaneously, before the jump drive deposited my ship in another sector of space.

I took a moment to catch my breath and run sensor sweeps of the surrounding area, making sure I hadn’t materialized inside an asteroid field or too close to another ship’s flight path.

The beauty of space travel was that most of the galaxy was empty, but the terror was that the parts that weren’t empty could be treacherous.

Satisfied that my position was clear, I began calculations for the next jump. With luck, I’d be in Earth’s solar system within?—

“So where are we going?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin as a familiar voice came from directly beside me. My head whipped around to find Sasha dropping into the co-pilot’s seat as if she belonged there, her dark hair slightly mussed and her expression carefully neutral.

How the hell had she gotten aboard? When had she gotten aboard? I’d been so focused on a quick getaway that I hadn’t even checked the ship’s interior before departure. She must have been hiding in the cargo bay or in one of the storage spaces.

“ Grek .”

“That’s not an answer,” she said pleasantly, though I could see the steel beneath her calm facade. “Try again.”