Chapter 62

Chapter

Sixty-Two

Vyk

I bent down and retrieved the dagger before the human could regain consciousness, scowling when I realized that it was one of the ancient battle blades that I had hanging on the walls of my office. How had I not noticed that one was missing?

That thought was quickly banished from my brain as I remembered what I had just overheard. The captain had mentioned a night together with Fiona. The night before she had left. That did not bother me, even though her claims that there was nothing between them were not totally accurate. There had been something.

“Was that true?” I rasped .

Fiona was still staring at the man she’d struck, but she gave me a bewildered look. “Was what true?”

“That you want more nights with him?” I could barely force the repugnant words from my mouth.

She made a face. “Seriously? You think I would want to spend another second with a guy who was holding me at knifepoint and put everyone at the academy at risk?” Folded her arms over her chest. “You really think I would spend the night with you, not to mention what happened on the climbing wall, and then be into this guy?”

I grunted. “I do not understand human females very well.”

She laughed dryly and shook her head. “No kidding.”

“I would not have let you go,” I blurted. “I made that mistake once before, and I will not make it again with you. I would have fought for you.”

Fiona lips quirked into a brief smile. “So, all that talk about me being yours wasn’t just Drexian dirty talk?”

I balked at this. “You think I said something I did not mean?”

“Maybe I don’t understand Drexians very well.”

I closed the short distance between us, stepping over the captain who had started to move and groan. I gave the man a quick thump on the head with the heel of my boot, and Devon slumped back into silence. “I am happy to help you understand Drexians better.”

“And I can tell you everything you need to know about women. ”

“I only need to know about you,” I told her. “I meant every word I said. There is no one but you, Fiona. Not for me. There never has been. Not from the first moment I saw you.”

Her jaw dropped. “But you despised me. You despised all human women. You made things miserable for us here.”

I curled my arms around her waist and pulled her to me. “I have never despised you. If I despised anyone, it was myself. I believed falling for a female was a weakness. I had cared for a tribute bride once—at least, I believed I did—and I let her rejection break me. I promised myself I would never be so weak again.”

“You don’t have it in for humans?”

“If I did, would I have made a bet forcing myself to spend time with one?” I cocked my head at her. “Would I have attacked a guest of the academy? Would I have spread your—?”

“There you are!” Ariana practically skidded to a stop as she burst into the room. Her chest heaved, and her side-swept bangs flopped over her eyes. She pushed her hair aside, as she glanced from me to Fiona and then to the collapsed captain on the floor.

I instinctively stepped away from Fiona, although I instantly regretted it.

“I can explain,” Fiona started, before Ariana flapped a hand at her.

“No need. I’m glad you took him out after what he’s done.”

I had thought that Fiona had meant that she could explain why I was embracing her, but maybe that was not news to her closest friend .

“You know?” Fiona asked. “How?”

Ariana put a hand to her waist and grimaced. “Nina told me.”

“Nina?” My confusion deepened. What were the women talking about, and what did it have to do with the captain’s obsession with Fiona?

Ariana flicked her gaze to me. “My cousin. She works on one of the tribute bride space stations. She’s been trying to reach me, but academy communications have been down.”

I scowled at this. It had been a couple of days since I’d gotten updated reports from High Command or my Inferno Force contacts, but I had been too preoccupied by the human envoy and my suspicions of him to be too focused on a lag in reporting. Now I scolded myself for this oversight.

“She isn’t the only one who’s been trying to reach us,” Ariana continued. “I’m guessing there will be at least one ship arriving soon to give us the news they couldn’t transmit.”

Dread tickled the back of my neck. “What news?”

“A faction of the Sythian swarm has broken off and Drex is now within its potential path.” Ariana straightened and glared at the man lying at our feet. “And he knew about it. He was supposed to warn us.”

Fiona’s expression was dark and deadly as she narrowed her gaze at the man she had once called colleague. “Instead, he wanted to see the Drexians and the Academy suffer. He wanted to take me with him, which is probably why he requested the assignment. He would save me, and I was supposed to fall into his arms with gratitude. ”

Ariana patted her friend on the arm. “We all have toxic exes. Not all of them try to eliminate an entire school, but this is not on you, Fi.”

“It is not,” I said, regaining my focus and sharpening my gaze on the traitor beneath me. “Why did you not tell me earlier?”

“I haven’t known—”

“But you knew all this time we’ve been talking.” I raked a hand through my hair.

“Sorry, I guess I got caught up in,” she waved a hand at me then at herself, “us.”

I liked thinking that we were an us, but there wasn’t time to dwell on how much had changed since the card game. “Now that we know, we need to prepare for the onslaught.”

Ariana nodded. “I ran into Britta and Morgan while I was searching for you, Fiona. Britta is working on restoring communications and Morgan went to brief the Academy Master.”

I continued to be impressed by the humans, and the female flight instructor was no exception. I wished to continue my conversation with Fiona, but now was not the time. I had something I needed to do first.

I bent down and heaved the limp captain from the floor. “Our guest will no longer be leaving and saving his own skin.”

Fiona looked at him with pure venom. “The dungeons?”

I gave a single nod.

“For the first time, I wish there were monsters down there,” she said.

I met her gaze and gave her a small smile. “Then for the first time, we are in agreement.”