Page 71 of Silver Elite

I don’t waste time with a response. I dart toward the door, but Cross is faster. He grabs me around the waist and hauls me backward, slamming me against the wall. Pain radiates through my body, which is already sore and bruised from Kess’s blows.

I look up at him, my chest heaving. “You’re such a prick.”

“Just making sure you understand the consequences of defying me.”

His words send an odd thrill through me, and I hate that he has the ability to affect me this way. I shove against his chest, trying to push him away. He doesn’t budge.

“Stubborn,” he mutters.

And that’s how Xavier Ford finds us. The lieutenant enters the office with quick strides, then halts when his gaze collides with me and Cross locked in a showdown.

“Captain?” It sounds like he’s trying not to laugh.

Cross glances over. “Black Cell is running tonight. Make sure the recruits know who to thank again.”

Ford’s dark eyes shift toward me. “Got it.”

“And next time Darlington attacks one of my recruits, reward her with two nights in Stock C.”

“Yessir.”

Cross releases me and returns to his desk. “You’re dismissed, Darlington.”

—

At the end of the week, our scores for the first section are uploaded to our sources. I have to pretend to care like everybody else. Like Lyddie, who cares too much. During our afternoon break, when Hadley announces the scores are available, all my fellows become rabid wolves, pouncing on their sources.

My score is 49 percent.

I hide a smile. Perfect.

On the outside, I paste on a dejected face. Lyddie doesn’t miss it. “Can I see?” she asks.

I angle the source toward her. She winces as if my score makes her physically ill. Or maybe she thinks it’s contagious.

Lyddie grimaces. “I’m sorry.” She’s about to say more, but then hesitates.

“What?”

“Can I be blunt?”

“It would annoy me if you weren’t.”

She smiles faintly. “You don’t apply yourself.”

No kidding.

I offer another shrug. “I already told you, I’m not good at the classroom stuff. It’s too hard.”

It’s actually very easy when you’re not trying.

“You need to put in the work,” she says with a serious face. “Even Kaine studies the maps after we’re dismissed for the day.”

I did notice that. He was poring over his source all night yesterday, reading up on the various outposts and installations throughout the Continent.

Lyddie takes my silence as offense. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad.”

“Oh no. I don’t. You’re right. I should study harder.”

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