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I took another few breaths and leaned against the banister again. I did feel better. Maybe I could return and raise a glass with my fellow female cadets one more time before turning in.
“Leaving so soon?”
I pivoted to the voice, startled that it didn’t belong to Reina, but relaxing as Torq sauntered from the hall. “Not leaving, just taking a break.”
Before we’d made it through the maze together, I would have been nervous to be alone with him. The Drexian was big, strong, and handsome and had always emanated a dangerous sort of privilege, like he believed anything he desired was for the taking—including me.
He nodded as he joined me at the banister, stretching his legs long in front of him and crossing one over the other. “Congratulations on becoming an Assassin.”
“Thanks.” Now that I wasn’t surrounded by the heat of the candles and bodies and the swell of cheering and laughing, my head had cleared. I noticed the gold emblem on his dress jacket. “And to you for becoming a Blade.”
He gave a half shrug. “I’m the first one in my family to go through the academy and not be a Wing, but since my brother didn’t even make it past the first term and some Drexians didn’t make it out of the maze, I guess it isn’t so bad.”
“Are you kidding? I could never be a Blade. They’re way too tough and scary.”
He grinned. “Tough and scary isn’t bad.” He leaned closer to me. “You aren’t scared of me, are you, Jess?”
His question surprised me, but it wasn’t unwarranted. He was at least a head taller than me and had always struck me as a predator slowly stalking his prey. Not to mention the fact that I’d caught him watching me more than a few times, and he’d cornered me in the female tower the night before the trials. Still, I didn’t think that meant much. A guy as handsome and built as him wouldn’t be into a nerdy girl like me. Hot guys never were. “Should I be?”
His smile was so silky that I almost didn’t catch the narrow of his eyes. “Not if you give me what I want.”
My brain was sluggish, but it wasn’t mush. Growing up in a small town in Arkansas where there was nothing to do but hang out in the Dairy Queen parking lot or make out in the back of pick-up trucks had taught me how to spot a guy who wanted more than I was willing to give. “What?”
He moved quickly, his hands going to either side of me and pinning me in although his smile hadn’t faltered. “I heard what you said in the maze about coaching. I know that you and the other humans got extra help.”
I opened my mouth to spin a lie, but he cut me off.
“I have no plans on telling anyone. Who knows? If you hadn’t been coached, you all might not have gotten us through those challenges.”
“Is that a thank you?”
He laughed. “I don’t mind admitting that I wouldn’t have made it through myself, so I guess that is a thank you.”
I didn’t believe that he was going to hold his tongue for nothing, and I sensed that he hadn’t followed me from the celebration banquet for idle chit-chat. “What do you want?”
He let his gaze roam lazily up and down my body before locking it onto mine. I forgot to breathe for a moment as I allowed myself to sink into the heat of his gaze, realizing only vaguely that he had striking, green eyes. Before I fell completely under his spell and released a sappy sigh, echoes of my mother’s voice snapped me out of it.
It’s a good thing you’re so smart, Jessie, ‘cause you aren’t winning any beauty pageants.
I straightened, sobering even more at the memory of her backhanded compliments. I’d never cared about beauty pageants—or being pretty—the way she’d wanted me to, and being smart was what had gotten me an ROTC scholarship to college and away from that going-nowhere-fast-as-lightning-bugs town. But it reminded me that Torq wasn’t leaning in close because he wanted me. He wanted something else.
“Kronock lessons.”
I gave my head a shake, not sure I’d heard him right. “You want—?”
“You said you’re good at languages. I’m not, but even Blades have to pass basic Kronock tests to advance. You tutor me after hours in Kronock, and I won’t breathe a word of your other after-hours meetings.”
My mind had come up with a heap of things he might demand me to do for him, so being asked to tutor the guy in the alien language was a relief. “That’s all?”
He leaned so close that his lips feathered my earlobe and sent a shiver of unwanted desire dancing down my spine. “For now.” He took a deep breath, as if he was memorizing my scent, before he pulled back, his gaze dark and dangerous. “Then we’ll see what else.”
Chapter
Five
Torq
As I leaned close enough to Jess to breathe in the scent of her—floral and slightly sweet, as if she’d been dusted with sugar—my heart hammered recklessly in my chest. I was flirting with danger by even talking to her. I should back up, back away, and leave her alone. The last thing I should do, the worst possible thing I could do, would be to ask her to tutor me, which was exactly what I’d done.
