Page 41 of Legend

She shook her head. “She found me in the shipyard a little while ago, but she was searching for the officer that arrived from Earth. I wanted to know if she found him.”

Kann’s eyes popped wide. “I do not know if she found him, but I do know that Vyk did.”

Ariana’s brow furrowed.

“Commander Vyk put the envoy from Earth through the gauntlet,” I explained.

She didn’t look any less confused. “The gauntlet?”

Kann released a mournful sigh. “You Wings know nothing about the academy if it doesn’t fly.”

I shot him a look, although it was not altogether false. The only reason I knew of the gauntlet was because of my years as a cadet. Otherwise, there was no reason for a Wing to be in Blade territory. “It is a series of physical challenges in the School of Battle. It is not easy.”

Ariana’s brows lifted. “As if anything in this place is easy.” She rested her hand on top of my leg. “Why would the security chief take him there?”

Kann shrugged one shoulder. “Who knows? The good news is that he survived with minor bruising and is with Admiral Zoran now.”

Ariana’s hand on my leg was making it hard to focus, especially since she was moving it up and down absently.

“I guess that answers the question of where Vyk took him,” she said.

“What?” Kann and I asked at the same time, as we swung our heads to Ariana.

“When Fiona was looking for him, it was because Vyk had gone off with the man to give him a tour. Fiona couldn’t find them, and for some reason, she suspected that Vyk might throw him in the dungeon or something.”

“She wasn’t far off,” Kann said.

I placed my hand on top of Ariana’s so she wouldn’t rub my leg to the point that I would be unable to stand without terrifying my friend with an enormous hard-on. She glanced at me and smiled, as if she’d just realized what she’d been doing. Shesqueezed my leg, then twisted her hand so that she could interlock her fingers with mine.

“I should probably find Fiona and tell her that her friend is okay.” She gave my hand a final squeeze and stood.

“Friend?” I asked. “Fiona knows the envoy?”

“She does.” The tone of Ariana’s voice told me that there was more to the story, but I didn’t press her. I would get to do plenty of that later that night.

As she walked from the room, I traced her steps and made no secret of watching her swaying ass. Then I cursed at myself and shifted on the wooden bench. I would not be standing for a while.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

Fiona

Ihesitated outside Admiral Zoran’s office, lifting my hand to the door and then dropping it. When I’d rushed from Vyk’s quarters, it seemed like finding Devon was the best idea. After all, I needed to see for myself that he was okay, and that the insane security chief hadn’t roughed him up too badly.

I cursed under my breath as I thought about Vyk. I could not figure him out. One minute, I was convinced that he was cold and unfeeling, and the next minute I was just as certain that there was some kind of weird, inexplicable heat between us. But if there was heat, it was nothing either of us wanted or needed in our lives, that was perfectly clear.

Besides, Vyk hated humans.

“Which is why he thought it would be fun to torment Devon,” I said, as I shook my head. Part of me still felt responsible for what had happened, although I wasn’t the one who made things weird in my office—Devon—or who gave the captain the worst tour ever—Commander Vyk. Now that I thought about it, the only ones to blame were the guys who clearly had too much testosterone for their own good.

Before I could debate further on whether to knock or not, the admiral’s door slid open, and Devon emerged. I took a few steps back as I took in his appearance. Like Reina said, he looked like he’d been through the wringer, and knowing the Drexians, their gauntlet might in fact have an actual wringer as one of the challenges.

Despite the bruise blooming on his cheek, the captain smiled. “Fiona, were you coming to speak with the Academy Master as well?”

I shook my head. “Actually, I came to find you.” Before he could get the wrong idea, I added quickly, “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

The man squared his shoulders, even though he shifted from one foot to the other. “Do you mean what happened in that gauntlet of theirs?” He laughed. “That was all in good fun.”

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