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I huffed angrily at this, hating that I’d slipped into my old ways as soon as I’d desired something. As soon as I’d desired her.
“No need to get angry about it,” Kort said, studying my reaction.
“I am not angry,” I said quickly. “I was thinking of something else.”
Kort brows shot up. “Something more interesting than food? What is her name?”
I jerked at his question. “That isn’t it. There is no ‘her.’”
Kort’s face fell. “Too bad. I thought you might have an in with the human females, since you went through the maze with them.”
“I do not,” I lied.
We started across the open area of the main hall, voices echoing from the dining hall above and bouncing down the sweeping staircase. An inclinator zipped down from overhead, swirling around the inside of the staircase, and stopping at the bottom to let out a compartment filled with cadets. Irons, I noted, as the intense Drexians proceeded off the inclinator and toward the Stacks without glancing at us.
We passed the arched entrance to the School of Strategy as another group rushed out and almost walked into us.
“Sorry,” Ariana said, glancing at me and giving me a relieved look. “Oh, it’s you, Torq.”
Kort didn’t hide his surprise as he swung his gaze from me to the flight instructor and back.
“Lieutenant.” I gave her a salute by thumping my fist across my chest, even though she wasn’t Drexian, and then spotted the human female who taught the Assassins and gave her a matching salute. “Captain.” I didn’t salute the Vexling in the bright-yellow pants suit, but she gave me a finger wave that seemed unusually friendly.
Ariana glanced at the contraband roll in my hand and then at Kort who held several rolls in his hands. “I don’t need to ask where you’ve been.”
I couldn’t answer, even though her statement didn’t require one. I’d spotted Jess and her friend Morgan behind the two instructors, and my brain had short-circuited. I couldn’t think of a sensible word to utter, and I couldn’t manage to wrest my gaze from Jess. I could only gape at her as I thought about how she’d looked lying beneath me, her cheeks flushed, her eyes fluttering as she’d moaned with pleasure, her chest heaving.
“Just returning from the dining hall,” Kort said after an uncomfortable pause.
Ariana nodded, but I sensed she knew that was a lie. Was I the only one in the school who hadn’t been sneaking to the kitchens?
“Don’t worry,” Reina said in a stage whisper. “We won’t tell.”
Jess was making a point to avoid my gaze, but it was only when Kort grabbed my arm and tugged me away that I stopped staring at her.
“Have a good night,” my friend said, as we allowed the women to pass.
“You too,” Ariana called back, as she resumed her fast pace and the rest of the women followed.
Morgan tilted her head at me, flicking a glance at her friend as the group walked by me and continued through the main hall. When they’d gone, I released a breath a bit too noticeably.
“What was that?”
I snapped my head to Kort, preparing to weave an explanation for my off behavior. “You mean the Vexling in yellow? She’s the Academy Master’s wife’s—”
He cut off my convoluted explanation. “Did you see the way the one with gold hair looked at you?”
I blinked at him. “What? The captain?”
Kort shook his head and gave me a look like I was simple minded. “No, the other one. Wasn’t she one of the women who went through the maze with you?”
“Morgan?” I almost laughed in relief. He hadn’t noticed my inability to look away from Jess? “I did not notice.”
“Too bad. She noticed you.” Kort took a bite from one of his rolls. “Too bad the other one didn’t look at either of us. She’s the one I’d want to try.”
I bristled. “Jess? You would want to try her?”
Kort slapped a hand on my shoulder. “Do not look offended. Not all Drexians believe they are so superior they can’t enjoy a human female.”
