Chapter 44

Chapter

Forty-Four

Fiona

“ W hat are you doing here?”

Ariana had rolled over and jumped from my bed. “Sorry, Fi. I just lay down for a few minutes while I was waiting for you and …”

“How did you get in here?” I didn’t mind my best friend being in my room—I did trust Ariana completely—but I had no idea my room was so easy to access.

“You gave me access a few weeks ago when I needed to grab some stuff for you, remember?”

Now I remembered. I’d gotten an Iron to add her palm print to the ones my door panel would recognize. I just hadn’t imagined I’d ever find her sleeping in my bed. “Right. Is there a reason you’re crashing in my bed instead of in your own room?” I sucked in a quick breath. “Did you and Volten have a fight?”

She shook her head. “Nothing like that, besides, we usually stay in his quarters, so it isn’t awkward for women in the all-female tower. And why would he get to stay in my room if we fought?”

“Good point.” I walked deeper into the room and pulled out the desk chair to sit on. “That still doesn’t tell me why you’re here.”

She brushed a hand through her short hair. “It actually does have to do with Volten, but only in a roundabout way.”

I crossed my legs at the knees and leaned back, waiting for her to elaborate as I stifled a yawn. “And it couldn’t wait until morning?”

“I guess it could have, but I was pretty surprised, and I knew you’d want to know.” She gestured to my now-closed door. “I did knock a few times, just so you don’t think I’m a total creeper.”

I grinned at her. “The jury is still out on that. Spill your news.”

She shot me a slightly amused look. “I was leaving Volten’s room because he started snoring—”

“He snores?”

“Not usually.” Her tone was a bit defensive. “But when he does, watch out. Anyway, I decided I’d rather sleep than listen to a chainsaw and get annoyed. I slipped from his room and was trying to be quiet, although I don’t know why since he was so loud.”

I gave her a stern look.

“I’m rambling. Sorry.” She leaned forward and rubbed her palms down the front of her pants. “I’m explaining why I was tiptoeing and how the captain didn’t hear me when I passed his open door. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.”

I sat forward. “By captain, do you mean Devon?”

She bobbed her head up and down. “The door to his quarters hadn’t closed all the way. It looked like there was something stuck in the doorway like a strap to a bag, but whatever it was, it made a gap in the door.”

“And made it possible for you to hear him?”

Ariana grimaced, as if dreading telling me more. “He was talking to someone, but he was on a device. It sounded like a vid call, probably with Earth. The voice was distant, so I know there wasn’t someone else in his room with him.”

“It isn’t odd for him to making a vid call after arriving here.” I hoped he hadn’t felt the need to share being put through the literal gauntlet by Commander Vyk.

“Not at all. I didn’t think much of it once I got over the shock of being able to hear him and the guilt about lingering outside his door to hear more.”

I shook my head, even though I was smiling. “I would have done the same.”

She let out a whoosh of breath. “Good. I know it was nosy but since he has the fate of the exchange program in his hands, I wanted to know what he was saying. ”

My heart tripped in my chest. “And? Did he say anything that might hurt the program?”

“No. From what I could tell, he wasn’t giving a report on the academy at all.”

“But he was talking to someone on Earth?” Then something occurred to me. Maybe the captain had a girlfriend back home. Maybe I’d been worried about all the wrong things with him. Maybe his call had been personal, which was why Ariana was beating around the bush so much. “You don’t have to worry about telling me if he has a girlfriend back home. I was being honest when I said that I wasn’t interested in Devon and it had been a one-night thing.”

“That’s not it. He wasn’t talking to a woman. If that was it, I would be relieved. At least then, you wouldn’t have to worry about him making the moves on you.”

My heart sank a bit. It would have been so much easier if he was romantically involved with someone on Earth.

“Whomever he was talking to sounded like he was a superior officer. He was pretty stern and did not seem happy with your friend.”

“Why not?” Devon had always gotten along well with the higher-ups. He was great at kissing just the right amount of ass.

“From what I heard, he was not supposed to come here. He was not the envoy that Earth Planetary Defenses intended to send.”

“Then how—? ”

“The guy he was talking to pulled some strings to get the mission, and he wanted to make sure Devon knew that he owed him for it.”

I groaned and slumped back in the chair. Devon had maneuvered his way to Drex, and I had a sinking feeling it wasn’t because of the scenery or a love of long-range space travel.