Page 8 of Revenge (Warriors of the Drexian Academy #6)

Chapter

Eight

Deklyn

I hurried up the main staircase, my boots silent as I landed on my toes. Luckily, the cadets had all dispersed into classrooms, so the corridors were empty. At the top of the stairs, I pivoted toward the administrative wing. If Sasha wanted evidence, this was where it would be.

I approached the first door and placed my palm against the sensor panel beside the frame.

The mechanism recognized my biometrics—apparently my Inferno Force status came with more access than I’d expected—and the door slid open to reveal a startled instructor hunched over a tablet, his finger frozen in the air.

He looked up at me with wide eyes, clearly not expecting an unannounced visitor.

“Sorry,” I said quickly, stepping back. “Wrong office.”

The door slid closed again, leaving me standing in the hallway feeling like an idiot. But I couldn’t shake the certainty that Sasha was up to something, and that something was likely to get her into serious trouble.

I tried the next door, then the next. Each time, I encountered surprised academy staff who clearly weren’t expecting interruptions. A strategy instructor working on lesson plans. A weapons specialist cleaning an antique blade. A communications officer reviewing transmission logs.

Each apologetic retreat made me feel more foolish. Because of the Drexian honor code, doors shouldn’t need to be locked. No Drexian with honor would dare enter unauthorized. But Sasha wasn’t Drexian, and I was determined to find her.

Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe Sasha had simply been in a hurry to get somewhere perfectly innocent, and I was reading stealth into her expression based on my paranoia.

The thought should have been reassuring. Instead, it left me feeling strangely disappointed.

I was about to give up when I reached the last door in the corridor. The nameplate read “Commander Vyk - Security Chief” in bold letters. I hesitated for a moment. Vyk’s fierce reputation preceded him, and being caught snooping in his office would not end well for anyone involved.

But something made me place my palm against the sensor, anyway.

The door slid open to reveal a spacious office decorated in a style that screamed military pride. Ancient blades lined the stone walls, their polished surfaces catching the light from a single desk lamp. Behind the massive wooden desk, a figure looked up with startled dark eyes.

Sasha.

Her head jerked up in shock when she saw me, her face cycling through expressions of surprise, recognition, and finally resignation in the space of a heartbeat. Papers lay scattered across the desk in front of her, and she held what looked like a tablet.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” she whispered, then waved me inside with urgent gestures. “Get in here and be quiet. Don’t blow this for me.”

I stepped into the office and let the door slide closed behind me, my annoyance overriding any relief I might have felt at finding her. “You shouldn’t be breaking into offices, Sasha.”

“I’m not breaking in,” she said, not looking up from the papers she was rifling through. “The door was unlocked.”

“Because no Drexian would enter an office without authorization.”

“Yay for the Drexians, but I’m trying to expose the people who left me to rot in an alien prison.”

I looked around the office, taking in the collection of weapons and commendations that spoke of a long and distinguished military career.

The blades on the walls weren’t just decorative.

They were battle-tested, well-maintained, and probably sharp enough to split a hair with.

This was not the office of someone you wanted to catch you going through his personal files.

Sasha spared me a quick glance. “The academy’s security chief would have been central to coordinating the rescue mission. If anyone has records of who authorized what and why it had to be kept off the books, it’s him.”

“He’s also a legendary Inferno Force commander who could probably kill us both with his bare hands,” I said, striding over to where she stood behind the desk. “We need to go. Now.”

“Not until I find what I’m looking for,” she said stubbornly, still trying to unlock the tablet. “Do you know what he might use as a passcode? Birth date? Service number? Favorite blade?”

I reached over and plucked the tablet from her hands, ignoring her protests. “We’re leaving. Right now, before?—”

The sound of footsteps in the corridor outside cut me off mid-sentence. Sharp, fast, purposeful steps that spoke of someone who knew exactly where they were going and wasn’t in the mood for delays.

My blood turned to ice as the footsteps stopped directly outside the door.

“ Grek ,” I breathed, grabbing Sasha’s arm and hauling her up from the chair.

The footsteps were getting closer, accompanied now by the soft murmur of voices. At least two people, maybe more, and they were definitely heading this way.

I looked around the office desperately, searching for somewhere to hide. The desk was too open, the weapons displays too exposed. Then I spotted a coat stand near the door, hung with several long military jackets and what looked like a ceremonial cloak.

Without stopping to think, I pulled Sasha toward the corner and shoved her behind the hanging garments just as the door sensor beeped.

We pressed ourselves against the stone wall, hidden behind heavy fabric that smelled of leather and metal polish. Sasha’s body was warm against mine in the confined space, her breathing rapid and shallow. I could feel her heart racing where her back pressed against my chest.

The door slid open with its characteristic whisper, and footsteps entered the office.

“—need to review the security protocols for the next arrival,” a deep voice was saying. Vyk’s voice, unmistakable even in casual conversation.

I felt Sasha tense against me as we both realized what that meant. Vyk was about to sit down at the very desk she’d been searching through, at the scattered papers she’d left as evidence of her unauthorized visit.

This was exactly the kind of situation that ended with people in prison cells—or worse. And somehow, despite my best efforts to stay out of Sasha’s dangerous scheme, I’d managed to get myself trapped right in the middle of one.

The woman seemed to have a talent for finding trouble, which made her exactly the wrong type of person for someone like me to be involved with. I got into enough trouble on my own without adding a partner who actively sought it out.

But as her breathing hitched slightly, and she pressed closer to me in our improvised hiding spot, I couldn’t bring myself to regret being here.

Some people never learned. Apparently, I was one of them.