Loyalty: An Alien Academy Romance (Warriors of the Drexian Academy Book 2) by Tana Stone

Author:Tana Stone [Stone, Tana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Broadmoor Books
Published: 2024-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

Torq

Ipeered at the looming tower that appeared even more treacherous and unstable in the veiled moonlight. The forbidden tower had been sealed shut so long ago I knew of no one who’d actually seen it when it wasn’t unstable and foreboding. I would have dismissed the rumors that it was cursed as foolish, but I could not explain why it had been abandoned yet not destroyed or repaired. The parts of the academy that had been damaged in the Kronock attack had been restored, but the forbidden tower remained untouched and unwelcoming.

“Up to the top window and back down?”

Kort pulled his gaze from the black stone and the crumbling window ledge at the top. “Unless you wish to go inside and be stuck there.”

I grunted my thoughts about that idea, as one of our Blade brothers tied a grappling hook to the end of a length of rope. We all backed up, our feet wobbling on the rocky ground surrounding the tower. Even less pleasant than being trapped in a cursed tower? Falling to the rocks below.

Do not fall, I told myself.

The prospect of falling to certain death made it difficult to think about anything else and impossible to dwell on leaving Jess in my room. I couldn’t worry too much about being interrupted just as I’d been about to pull down her pants with the prospect of another, more deadly, fall occupying my mind.

You are a Blade. Blades are brave and strong and rush in where others would not dare.

That didn’t mean I wanted to die, especially when I wasn’t in battle. Perishing while completing a secret cadet rite of passage was not how I intended to go out. Not that I thought much about death.

The Blade who’d attached the hook heaved it up and into the window, latching it onto the sill on his first attempt. Only when he tugged and some loose stone fell did it occur to me that the window might not hold us.

This wasn’t the first time I’d had second thoughts about being a Blade, but I did wonder if the Wings bothered to do this. I’d always been told that it was a point of cadet honor to complete all four challenges, but the tower had not been as decrepit when my own father or brother had attended the academy. Since my brother hadn’t finished the academy, had he even attempted one of the four?

“You weren’t going to start without me, were you?”

I didn’t have to turn to see that it was Dom who’d joined us. I shot a glance at Kort, who avoided my eyes. What was the Drexian who’d already pushed me off a wall once doing here? Hadn’t he shown that he couldn’t be trusted? Hadn’t he proven to be dangerous to fellow Blades?

I considered walking away, refusing to climb, protesting Dom’s involvement. But that wasn’t what a Blade would do, even if it was what I wanted to do. A Blade would power through any situation and override any fear.

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