Chapter 57
Chapter
Fifty-Seven
Morgan
T he electromagnetic field from the planet below us rippled across our sensors in waves of static, perfect cover for any transmissions we needed to send or receive. I lingered in the cockpit doorway long enough to hear Ariana finish encoding the message back to the Academy, her fingers flying over the console while Commander Vyk watched with his usual stoic expression.
"Signal sent," she announced, her voice tight. "Now we wait."
I turned away, walking quietly down the ship's main corridor. The metal deck plates hummed beneath my feet with the idling engines' familiar vibration. We'd been stationary for too long, and the waiting made me antsy.
As I passed the open door to the crew bunks, I spotted Torq lying on the bottom one, his eyes closed. At least someone was managing to stay calm, although I knew the cadet was nervous about being the only Blade on the mission. Commander Vyk was a skilled fighter, but we were supposed to have Kann and Volten as part of our team. Without them, I did not love our chances.
The back of the ship was quieter, more isolated. Perfect for when you needed a moment to think, or you wanted to use the head without the entire crew knowing about it. But as I approached, I heard something that didn't belong—a voice, muffled but distinct, coming from what I'd thought was just another storage closet.
I pressed my ear to the door, my training kicking in automatically. I might not be an actual assassin, but the School of Strategy was all about measured actions and considered decisions.
"—maintaining position behind the magnetic field."
Tivek's voice. I'd expected him to be talking to the Admiral, but then— "Kax, the rescue team is proceeding exactly as planned. We should reach what we believe to be the human pilot's location within the next two rotations.”
My breath caught. Why was he reporting to someone other than the Admiral? The implications hit me like a blast to the chest—he was betraying us. Betraying the mission. Betraying the admiral he was supposed to serve. Betraying the Drexians.
The door slid open so suddenly I nearly fell forward. Tivek stood there, his expression unreadable as ever, but there was something different in his eyes. Something dangerous.
I opened my mouth—to scream, to accuse—but he moved so quickly I didn’t see it coming, clamping a hand over my mouth and dragging me into the storage closet with him. I bucked against him, but his grip was shockingly strong. I was struck with the sudden realization that he was not simply the adjunct he pretended to be. He was too strong, too quick, too skillful.
He pressed my body to his as he breathed into my ear. Despite my fear, tremors of unwanted pleasure skittered down my spine. Fuck me, the guy’s body was so hard I almost forgot that he was a traitor.
"This isn't what it looks like," he whispered.
I tried to make noises against the hand still clamped over my mouth. His other arm was wrapped around my waist, holding me flush to him. I was very aware of the size of his palm as it slid up my stomach so that it was right below my breasts. He moved his head so that I could swear it was nuzzling my neck. I twisted in his grasp, hating how turned on I was getting.
You do not want to fuck the scary traitor, I told myself. That’s only a good idea in Fiona’s books.
“I promise I can explain what you heard. If I remove my hand, will you promise to give me that chance?”
I nodded, desperate to get some distance from him so my heart could beat normally again. Truthfully, I also wanted to hear his explanation, because a big part of me could not believe he would betray us.
He slowly uncurled his hand from my mouth and released his grasp of my waist. I spun around to face him, trying to steady my breath and pretend that a part of me hadn’t liked being held by him.
“That transmission was not what you think it was,” he said.
"Really?" I flicked a hand through my hair, my hands still trembling. "Because it sounded like you're selling us out to someone named Kax."
A muscle twitched in his jaw. "I'm not selling anyone out. I'm reporting to my handler."
"Your handler?"
"I'm not just the Admiral's adjunct, Morgan." He took a deep breath. "I'm a Shadow."
I blinked at him. “What’s a Shadow?”
He drew in a breath and leveled a solemn gaze at me. “The fifth school of the academy, the School of Espionage.”
I snorted. "There's no such thing as a School of Espionage at the Academy. Four schools. Four rules.”
His lips twitched at my recitation of the words I’d been taught about the academy. "That's exactly what we want everyone to think. The best spies are the ones no one knows exist."
My mind raced, reassessing everything I thought I knew about him. The way he always seemed to know things before anyone else. How he could appear and disappear without anyone noticing. His perfect recall of seemingly insignificant details. I had always thought he was too smart for his position. Then it hit me. The part of his story that had never made any sense.
"You didn't wash out of the Academy.”
He smiled at me, as if proud I’d figured it out. “No, I did not. I was recruited. The School of Espionage takes very few students—only those with the right combination of skills and temperament. Everyone thinks I failed and then went to work as an administrative aide." He shrugged. "It's the perfect cover."
I should have been angry at the deception, but instead, I felt a thrill of excitement. "Why are you telling me this?" Then my pulse jackknifed. “Does this mean you have to kill me?”
He laughed at this, the sound a warm rumble that filled the small space. “No. I would never hurt you, Morgan.”
This sent a thrill through me. I didn’t think I’d ever heard him say my name before, and I liked it more than I wanted to admit.
"I've been watching you.” His voice dropped lower, sending an involuntary shiver across my arms. "You're one of the best Assassins the School of Strategy has produced in years. Your instincts, your ability to read people and situations, your talent for retaining information—you'd make an exceptional Shadow."
Heat crept up my neck at his praise. "Are you recruiting me?"
"Consider this an exploratory conversation.” His eyes met mine, intense and searching. "But first, I need your word that everything we've discussed stays between us. The safety of every Shadow depends on secrecy."
"I won't tell anyone," I promised. My mind was already spinning with possibilities. A spy. An actual spy. It explained so much about Tivek, even as questions buzzed around my brain. “Wait, is any of your work real? Or is it all just a cover?"
Something flickered in his expression. "Everything you know about me is real. Shadows don't pretend to be someone else. We simply,” he paused as he considered his words, “select which parts of ourselves to show the world."
I was suddenly aware of how close we were standing in the storage closet. His presence seemed to fill the room, and his gaze kept drifting to my lips when he thought I wasn't looking.
Stop it. You cannot be attracted to him. Especially now that you know he's a spy. Everyone knows getting involved with a spy is a terrible idea.
But as he stepped even closer, ostensibly to reach past me to open the door, I couldn't help but think that some terrible ideas were incredibly tempting.