Page 45 of Legend

My throat tightened. “You would do that for me? Are you sure?”

“Of course, we’re sure,” Jess said. “It’s not like it will be hard with three of us. We’ll take turns. Right, girls?”

Britta and Morgan nodded and grinned.

“There’s one more thing,” I said, hesitant to add more to their plates. “Vyk has it out for the captain.”

Morgan shuddered. “The security chief has it out for everyone, doesn’t he?”

“He’s not so bad,” Britta said. “He’s an Iron, so he pops into our school every so often. He’s not as scary as I used to think.”

Jess made a face. “He might have saved me in the dungeons, but I would not want him on my bad side. So, we need to distract the captain so he can’t get you alone and we need to keep Vyk from getting him alone?”

Britta shook her head so hard her ponytail swung around her face. “Commander Vyk would never hurt a visiting envoy from Earth.”

I thought about the bruise on Devon’s face. “All I’m saying is to watch out for Vyk. I don’t trust him around Devon.”

All the women eyed me curiously as I used the envoy’s first name, and my cheeks warmed under their scrutiny.

“Keep the visiting captain distracted and keep Vyk from killing him.” Morgan twitched one shoulder. “That should be simple enough.”

“You don’t need to worry about Vyk.”

We all looked up as Ariana rounded the corner in front of us.

“I was looking for you,” I said, noticing that my friend had changed from her oil-stained uniform to a clean one.

She jerked a thumb behind her. “I went to the banquet but saw that you all were missing. I came to tell you to hurry up.”

“We were just getting marching orders from Fiona,” Jess said. “To run interference so the Earth envoy can’t get her alone.”

Ariana grinned at me. “Sounds like a plan. I’m in.”

“Why were you saying that we don’t have to worry about Vyk going after Devon?” I asked.

Ariana pivoted on one foot and joined us in walking toward the banquet hall. “Because I just saw the two of them in the banquet. Vyk seemed to be having a great time talking to the guy. He was even laughing.”

I almost tripped at this. “Vyk was laughing?”

Morgan let out a low whistle. “I don’t know if I’ve seen the Drexian smile, much less laugh.”

Only earlier in the day, the commander had told me that he didn’t trust Devon. Plus, he was the reason Devon sported a bruise on his cheek. How had Vyk gone from glowering at the man to laughing with him?

“I guess that’s good, right?” Britta asked. “One less thing to worry about?”

I nodded, but I was far from sure I agreed. A stubborn Drexian like Vyk would not change his tune so quickly. The commander was up to something, and I had a bad feeling that it was going to bite me in the ass.

Chapter

Thirty-Six

Vyk

“Ihope you do not hold it against me for the brutality of the gauntlet,” I said as I patted the human captain on the back. “You made an impressive showing, especially for a first attempt. Most cadets do not make it as far as you on their first go.”

Captain Gorman had looked both alarmed and hesitant when I had first approached, but I was doing my best to appear jovial and friendly. Now that I had decided to win the man’s trust, I had to change my strategy. I no longer wished to humiliate him and show him up. I wanted to prove that I was his friend.

“The gauntlet was not so bad,” he said, managing a laugh.

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