Chapter 25 Nova
NOVA
I stopped dead in the doorway of the lecture theatre, and then I moved, making a run for my brother.
“Ryker,” I breathed, throwing my arms around him and burying my face in his shoulder. Relief was coursing through my body, and it didn’t even register that he was allowing me to hug him—not only allowing it but putting an arm around me and patting my back in return.
When my mind made the connection, though, I stiffened instantly, pulling away from him. But he didn’t let me go, his arm firm around me.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “I’m okay.”
“Yeah.” I allowed myself another moment to sink into the warmth of a rare hug from my twin before I finally disentangled myself from him. I studied him—the dark circles beneath his eyes, the grey pallor to his skin—and inhaled shakily. “Are you really okay?”
“I’m fine.” His grey eyes met mine, as unreadable as ever. “It’s been a long few days, and I’ve had five hours of sleep across seventy-two hours, but it’s over now.”
“I’m just glad you’re here. I didn’t know what was happening. No one would tell me anything, and Dan said you were okay on Sunday night, but then you weren’t back at uni yesterday, and you weren’t replying to my texts—”
“Breathe,” he said, his lips kicking up. “Dan, is it?”
“Oh. Yeah… I guess your friends aren’t so bad, after all.”
“Hmm. Maybe I should disappear more often if this is what happens.”
“Don’t you dare,” I hissed. Stepping aside to let students pass me, I glared at him. “There better not be a next time, but if there is, can you at least send me a text so I don’t end up going out of my mind with worry?”
“I’m sorry. I left my phone at the manor, couldn’t text anyone. I only got it back this morning.”
“I thought you and Dad were resting up on Sunday night? Weren’t you at the manor?”
His gaze shifted away from me. “Yeah. Uh, I left my phone here, I mean. Look, I’ll do what I can to get a message to you if it happens again, okay?”
“Ry…”
“It’s done. We don’t need to talk about it anymore.
I’m fine. We can handle this. Don’t worry.
” With that, he flashed me a brief smile that didn’t reach his eyes and then turned to make his way to the row where Daniel and Jay were already seated.
Unease churned in my stomach, but I let it go.
For now. If there was something he didn’t want to talk about, there was nothing anyone could do to persuade him otherwise.
I kept my eyes averted from Jay as I joined Liana in our own row.
Despite the fact that we’d agreed to become friends, he’d mentioned that Anton was suspicious about his feelings towards me, and therefore, I was going to do my best to keep my distance in public or treat him with polite disinterest if we were forced to interact.
“How are you doing?” Liana whispered to me when I sank into my chair. “I see your brother’s back.”
“He was acting a bit shifty, but I don’t know… He says everything’s okay and I shouldn’t worry, but it’s hard not to.”
Liana nodded. “I know. Listen, Vesper sent me more theatre times and dates this morning. Why don’t we see if we can get last-minute tickets to a show, if you can get away?
Have an evening or even a whole day away from Cranham, with no talk about weddings or crime or hockey or men or…
” She sighed. “No talk of anything that might bring us down. I think it’ll be good for us all. ”
“That would be nice. My mother left me a long voice note about wedding dress shopping this morning. I almost didn’t listen to it, but I’m glad I did, because she mentioned the security around the uni is back to normal.
Apparently, they need the manpower at the port, and they’ve deemed the uni a low-risk location.
So I don’t think a theatre trip will be a problem. ”
“Mention it to her and say you want to discuss bridesmaid duties with us. She’ll love that.”
“Hmm. That’s not a bad idea. Okay, let’s pick a show.”
A hand landed on my arm as I was exiting the lecture hall. “Nova.”
I whirled around to see my brother behind me. I was instantly on alert. “What’s wrong?”
His brows lifted. “Nothing. Don’t be so jumpy. I told you I’m okay. We both have some free time now, so are you up for cross-country running?”
He wanted to spar with me? Now? When he’d already told me he’d only managed five hours of sleep in seventy-two hours?
“Now?”
“Yeah, now. C’mon. The gym’s free.”
I glanced back at Liana, who had stopped just ahead of me and was waiting against the wall. “Um, okay. Lia, I’ll see you later?”
She flashed me a brief smile. “Go have some sibling bonding time. I’ll arrange everything with Vesper and let you know the plan.”
I hugged her quickly and then left with my brother. I tried not to think about the fact that Daniel and Jay were on his heels.
After a quick stop to change into my gym clothes, I met Ryker in the gym. He was pacing up and down by the punching bags, sipping from a can of energy drink.
I came to a stop in front of him. “Is this really a good time? You need to rest.”
“I’m fine.” Placing the can on the floor next to the wall, he grabbed a boxing pad from the rack of equipment next to the bags. “We haven’t done this for a while, and I want to make sure you’re prepared.”
Unease twisted my stomach as I pulled on the gloves he handed to me. “Prepared for what?”
“Don’t look so worried. I just want you to be prepared for anything. You know our family has enemies, and I can’t be there all the time.” His expression gave nothing away as he held up the pad. “Let’s go.”
Huffing out a frustrated breath, I began to circle him. “I don’t need you to protect me all the time. I don’t want you to have any extra burdens. You’ve taught me well, and I can handle myself.”
“You’re not a burden,” he said. When I jabbed the pad, he mustered up a grin. “I know you can handle yourself. Hit me harder. Let’s try the jab-cross-uppercut combo we were working on before.”
I fell into a rhythm, starting off with punches and moving on to kicks. When we stopped for a breather, my twin looking more exhausted than usual, I heard slow clapping from behind me.
Great. We had an audience, and one of them was the boy I couldn’t get out of my mind.
“Nice moves,” Daniel said when I spun around. “Banks thought so too, didn’t you?” He elbowed Jay, who shot him a warning look, nodding towards Ryker. Luckily for us, my twin was sprawled out on the floor with his back to us, downing the remainder of his energy drink.
“What are you doing here?” I was addressing Daniel, but I could feel Jay’s eyes on mine, dark and intense.
“Watching a hot woman fighting gets me hard.” He wiggled his brows, and I rolled my eyes. Dropping the teasing look, he stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Okay. We’re here to keep an eye on your brother. He’s not himself.”
“Do you think he’s in trouble?” I murmured.
“Nah, he’s alright. He just takes on too much, doesn’t he? He needs us to rein him in a bit. I mean, he’s studying for his degree, he’s the hockey captain, and your dad’s got him running all over the fucking Cotswolds dealing with syndicate shit. It’s…a lot, and you know what he’s like.”
Unfortunately, I did. “He feels responsible for too much.”
“Yep.” Daniel nodded. “So here’s my plan. I’ll take him back to his room and force him to rest, and you can carry on sparring with Jay.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Jay said immediately, and I nodded in agreement. It was far too public here in the uni gym. “I’ll take King back to his room.”
Daniel gave me a bright smile. “Then I guess it’s you and me, ice prin—uh, Supernova. Starry sky. Ready to learn moves you didn’t even think were possible?”
I sighed. “If I must.”
“You must. I’ll go and tell King and give you two a minute.” With a completely unsubtle wink, he bounded away towards my brother, leaving Jay and me alone.
Jay opened his mouth to speak but then stopped, taking a purposeful step back away from me.
I followed his gaze. Ryker was watching us with his brows pulled together.