Chapter 12

Chapter

Twelve

Fiona

T here was no other sound as I strode through the academy corridors--only the deafening rushing of my blood in my ears. Rage made it pulse hot and fast, and after I stomped down the wide staircase, I paused at the bottom to steady my erratic heartbeat. It wouldn’t do me any good if I stroked out before I could prove to Vyk that he hadn’t beaten me.

I pressed one palm to the cool, black stone of the carved banister, the solidness of it grounding me and reminding me that I was safe. I wasn’t being chased by a predator like my lizard brain was convinced I was.

“Vyk might be a predator,” I said under my breath, refueling the rage that had been coursing through me since he’d splayed his cards onto the table .

It hadn’t only been that he had won. It had been the knowing look on his face when he’d made the bet with me. He knew he was going to win. He’d been sure of it. But how could he be so certain? For a moment, I considered that he’d cheated. But I dismissed that quickly. Despite the fact that the guy irritated me like a bad rash, he’d never struck me as the cheating type. None of the Drexians at the academy had.

They were huge on Drexian honor. Not only that, Vyk had been trying to prove himself as trustworthy ever since the scandal over the trials. He would be a fool to risk that over a card game. Not that I hadn’t known plenty of guys who’d been bigger idiots over less. Still, he didn’t seem the type, and there had been nothing about the game that had struck me as odd. The cards hadn’t been his, there had been no one else in the room during our solo game, and not even the world’s best card counter would have had an advantage in a game like ours.

The brutal truth was that he’d beaten me fair and square. He’d been better than me, and he’d won. Not that I should be shocked. I’d been the idiot. I’d played him at his own game, which was a rookie move. But I’d been so determined to beat him without any advantage, so I could prove that he was wrong about humans. In the process, I’d given myself terrible odds.

“Dumb, dumb, dumb.” I resumed walking, this time with a more deliberate pace as I crossed the main hall and headed for the female tower.

Now that the fury was leeching from me, exhaustion was washing over me. I wanted nothing more than to crawl into my bed and sleep for a week. Maybe if I slept for long enough, I could forget about the mess I’d gotten myself into. I could forget about the stupid bet I’d made. I could forget that I would have to spend three nights with a Drexian I wanted to beat to within an inch of his life.

I shook my head, imagining how awkward and unpleasant it would be, even if Vyk had promised not to force me to do anything I didn’t want to do. I still had to be in the same room with a Drexian who’d made it clear time and time again that he thought humans—especially females— were inferior and had no place at the academy. “Should be fun.”

How had I gotten myself into another mess? And how was it possible that I’d found the one warrior in the entire academy who was a combination of hostile, aloof, and gorgeous? How had I attracted another hot, older guy who was the absolute wrong guy for me?

You do have a thing for silver foxes, I reminded myself. Even after multiple doomed affairs with older men who had always been unavailable—and one time so unavailable as to be hiding the fact that he was married—I was still drawn to them like catnip. Was it the superior disdain that I craved? Did I secretly search out older men who had never settled down because they were incapable of commitment? Or was it just my serious daddy issues rearing their ugly head again?

“I should be old enough to be over that,” I said, not caring that the words echoed back to me off the vaulted ceiling of the corridor as I made my way through the darkened and quiet school.

But did you ever get over losing your father? Did you ever recover from him leaving one night and never returning? Did you ever stop trying to replace him with someone just as cold, just as distant, just as cheap with affection ?

My pace increased as I jogged up a winding staircase and walked across an open bridge, casting a quick glance at the inky surface of the Restless Sea in the distance. Even though I couldn’t see the breaking waves in the moonless night, the hint of salt in the air reminded me that the sea was close.

When I reached the other side, I rubbed my arms to warm them from the chill of the air, then I descended some stairs to reach the base of the tower that housed all the women at the academy. I stopped short before starting up the tall tower when I noticed who was sitting on the bottom step blocking my way.

Ariana held out a glass. “Win or lose, I thought you might need a drink. If you won, we could celebrate. If you lost, I could commiserate with you.”

My throat tightened. I’d had friends before, but never one like Ariana. Never one who I knew in my gut would have my back no matter what. I grinned at her as my vision blurred and the backs of my eyelids burned. “Thanks.” I took the glass and cleared my throat. “I need this.”

Ariana stood and studied me. “Is that good or bad?”

I swirled the amber contents in the bottom of my glass and thought about Vyk. I thought about the way he’d looked at me, the way his eyes had burned into mine, the way he’d made me feel seen, the way he’d made my body hum with unwanted desire. I clinked my glass with Ariana’s and then tossed back my drink in a single gulp.

It seared my throat on the way down, giving me new resolve. “I lost this battle, but the war has just begun.”