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So, why was I in a Drexian cadet’s room now? I’d managed to steer clear of trouble when I’d lived in a place where I couldn’t take a step without tripping over it, and I hadn’t even made it through my first year at the academy before I was sneaking around and breaking rules.
“You can relax.”
I swung my head to Torq, who was sitting on the bed. He might as well have been sitting on the end of a pickup truck and swinging his legs.
Oh, hell, no. I took a step back. “I’m relaxed.”
Torq eyed my crossed arms and a laugh burst from him. “Are all human females as tense as you?”
I bristled at this. “I’m only tense because we were supposed to meet at the Stacks, and now we’re in your room. I agreed to tutor you. Nothing else.”
His smile dimmed, and he stood again. “Right. Tutoring.”
As he pulled out the chair to his desk, I swept my gaze around his room. It wasn’t much different from mine in the female tower—two beds, two desks and chairs, a pair of tall chests with personal items scattered on top of one. The empty desktop and lack of items on the second dresser reminded me that Torq’s roommate hadn’t made it through the maze. I didn’t know which Drexian he was, as I hadn’t gotten to know many of them during the first term, but it still struck me as sad.
My gazed snagged on a shiny emblem propped up next to a digital image of Torq and what must have been his family—a bunch of tall, handsome Drexians who smiled like they owned the universe. The emblem wasn’t that of the Drexian Academy or even of the Blades. Those symbols I knew. This one was a sun surrounded by wings.
I touched the shiny embossed sun. “What’s this?”
Torq paused in dragging the second chair to his desk. “My clan crest.” He joined me at the dresser. “House Swoll has produced proud Wings for a long time.”
I could hear a hint of bitterness in his voice, and I noticed that he didn’t touch the clan crest. “If my family had a crest it would be a bottle of Jack Daniels surrounded by Coke cans.”
He tilted his head at me as I forced myself to laugh. “Is this Jack Daniels someone famous on Earth?”
My uncomfortable laughter died on my lips. “No, it’s a type of liquor.” I looked away as my face warmed with embarrassment. Great. I wasn’t any less awkward on Drex than I was on Earth. “I was making a joke.”
“So, your family crest does not have this Jack liquor on it?”
“We don’t have a family crest. Maybe some families on Earth have them, but mine doesn’t. We’re not exactly what you would call a clan with a proud history.”
Torq’s gaze was penetrating, and now it wasn’t just being alone in a guy’s room that was making me feel weird. “You do not come from an elite family, but you were chosen to come to an elite warrior academy?”
“Things are a bit different on Earth.” I released a breath as my thoughts reluctantly returned to my past. “If you work hard and are smart enough, you can make it without family connections or money. It isn’t as easy, but you can do it.”
“And you did that?”
How had this tutoring session become an exposé on my hardscrabble childhood and journey from nothing to the top? “Yep. I came from nothing and busted my ass to get as far away from that as possible, so here I am.”
Torq’s usual cocky expression had become curious and confused. Had he never met anyone who hadn’t come from a fancy family like him? I knew the academy wasn’t filled with only elite Drexians, although they did appear to stick together.
“I am not used to spending time with…” he paused, as if searching for the right word.
“Poor kids?” I asked in an attempt to finish it for him.
One side of his mouth quirked up. “I was going to say, females so smart they beat out everyone else.”
“Oh.” I studied his face to determine if that was what he was actually planning to say, but the Drexian appeared sincere, which was not a look I was used to on Torq. “Well, I’m not used to hanging out with rich kids.”
Now his half smile grew into a full one, and the arrogant tilt of his lips returned. “There were no rich kids where you lived on Earth?”
“Literally none,” I said, memories flooded my mind of the small Midwestern town that had been withering on the vine when I’d lived there and was probably now all but dead.
“I grew up surrounded by Drexians from elite families just like mine.” Torq’s expression flickered something unreadable for a beat. “You might have been the lucky one.”
I snorted out a laugh then put a hand over my mouth. I wasn’t trying to impress the guy, but it would be nice if I didn’t repel him. “I’ve never thought of myself as lucky for having to struggle.”
“Maybe you should.”
