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I stared at Tivek for a beat then at the opening in the wall and the dimly lit room beyond. I’d heard that the academy had secret rooms, but this was the first proof I’d gotten that the rumors were more than myth. I squared my shoulders, even though the movement made me wince, and walked past him into the admiral’s private chambers.
The stone floor gave way to thick carpet, and soon, I was padding toward a crackling fireplace flanked by dark sofas. A wall of books was to my right and to my left was a wall of clear shelves that held a vast collection of bottles, each presumably containing a type of alien booze. A bar fronted the bottles, and the Academy Master stood at it pouring a measure of green liquid into a pair of glasses.
He saw me and stopped pouring. Picking up the glasses, he closed the distance between us, meeting me in front of the sofas and handing me a glass. “It looks like you need this more than I do.”
I did not bother lying to the admiral. He would certainly see that my bruises could not come from falls from an apparatus. But if he wondered who had given me such cuts and bruises, he did not ask.
I eyed the green liquid, curious that the head of the academy would summon me, invite me into his private chambers that looked more like a lair, and offer me a drink. “Is this about the accident? I have told you all I know.”
“It is not.” Admiral Zoran took a sip of his drink, his eyes staying on mine over the rim of his glass.
I hesitantly took a drink, the liquid stinging my open lip. The sharp bite of the liquor mixed with the metallic tang of blood as I swallowed, but the heat slid down my throat and hit my gut with force. I took another sip to chase the first one, and the pain throbbing through my body became dull.
Admiral Zoran waved a hand toward the sofas, and I sat on one side while he sat on the other. The light from the fire cast his face in shadows, making the Drexian appear fierce and stern.
I wanted to snap at him not to toy with me, but even my high-born instincts made me hold my tongue. The admiral was from just as elite a clan as mine. He was no one to be challenged. Even my father had deferred to him, and my father deferred to few. “Is this about my father?”
Zoran swished his drink in the glass, the green liquid catching the firelight as it swirled. “In a way. Your father was not here because of the accident. I did not summon him.”
This startled me. Even my father did not have contacts high enough to have heard about the accident without being informed by someone on the inside. “Then why was he here?”
“You asked him to help you. You asked for a connection.”
I’d almost forgotten that I had asked him to connect me to former High Commander Kax. He had never responded to my request, and I had assumed that he’d dismissed it along with the news that I’d been inducted into the Blades. “He came to connect me with Kax?”
The admiral’s lips pulled down. “He did not. He made the trip to tell you that he did not support your involvement in the human’s rescue.”
This hit me like a slap to the face. “He came all this way to tell me no?”
“Am I to assume that he did not discuss this with you?”
I gazed into the bottom of my glass and managed to move my head from side to side. “He was too preoccupied with the disgrace I have brought onto my clan.”
Zoran grunted. “He told me, although I expect he thought he would find a more sympathetic ear than he did. Maybe he had not heard that I took a human bride.”
Or maybe he did not care and savored the opportunity to insult a Drexian of higher military rank, I thought. I had heard my father talk dismissively of humans too many times to think he would respect even the admiral’s choice of mate.
“So, he will not help.” I tossed back the rest of my drink, gasping as it scorched my throat.
“No.” Zoran studied me carefully as I started to stand. “But I will.”
This stopped me. “You know the former High Commander?”
“Not personally, but I am very close with someone who does.” He looked toward the door as Tivek walked in. “You did not think I chose my adjunct strictly because of his charming personality, did you?”
I glanced from Tivek to Zoran, utterly confused that a low-born assistant would have contacts with a high-born officer who was working undercover for Drexian intelligence.
“I have already reached out to Kax, and he is happy to help in any way he can.” Tivek joined the admiral on the sofa, sitting beside him like they were old friends. “He is currently en route to the academy.”
“You are to be commended for offering to use your connections—even through your father—to help the missing pilot.” Zoran lifted his glass to me. “You are a very different cadet than you were when you arrived, even if you do still tend to get into fights.”
“Thank you, Admiral,” I croaked, sure the alien booze was causing me to hallucinate, and also sure that I was fine with that.
Chapter
Forty-Eight
Jess
