The Academy: Liminal Space: Book Three by Cari Z

Author:Cari Z [Z, Cari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2025-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter eighteen

Cody

Cody woke up with reluctance, rolling away from the gentle hand on his shoulder. “Ten, stop’t,” he muttered.

“Not Ten, darling,” an amused voice said.

“Garrett?” Cody blinked his eyes open and looked up at his parent, then around the room. Oh, right—he’d opted to sleep on board their ship last night. Ten, being the only sober one out of the group, had had the unenviable task of herding Grennson and Daryl back to their quad, which ze’d complained about—loudly—while Cody had settled into his old bed with a sigh of satisfaction.

It was still so early, though, and there were no classes today. “Why’m I awake?” Cody moaned, turning his face back into his pillow.

“Your dad and I have to leave soon, Cody. He’s off dealing with the bay officer, getting our clearance now, and you and I need to talk.”

That sounded serious. Cody forced his eyes open and sat up. “What’s wrong?” he asked, a little taken aback by how different Garrett looked this morning compared to last night, when he’d been so warm and charming.

“Probably nothing,” Garrett said, “but I have to make sure. Cody, do you remember the civil war on Paradise?”

“A little of it,” he said, frowning as he tried to remember. “You left Pandora for a long time after Miles was attacked.”

“Right.” Garrett nodded. “There are a lot of ways to resolve political disputes, Cody. The most civilized ways involve compromise and diplomacy, but a lot of people who rise to power are uncivil. The assassination attempt against Miles was one group’s bid to get their way through force. A lot of Central System elitists say that sort of thing only happens on the Fringe, but you need to understand that that’s simply not true. Central dissidents are just more subtle about how they do their damage.”

Cody felt a shiver travel down his spine. “Are you saying you and Dad could be in danger from … what, assassins?” he hissed incredulously. “Garrett!” His father was already shaking his head, though.

“The danger exists, but we’re going to be very well protected once we get to Liberty,” he said. “Honestly, I was more worried while we were travelling, but we’re nearly there now. My father has long experience with this sort of thing, and he’s not taking any chances with Claudia or the girls. Your dad and I will be with them, and we’ll be fine. The person I’m more worried about is you.”

“But I’m not even involved,” Cody protested. “I’m just a cadet, I don’t make any decisions.”

“But you matter to the people who are deep in the fight,” Garrett explained. “Miles is very persuasive, and once I’m with him, and his mother is shamed enough to throw her weight behind us, we’ll be formidable. There are a lot of people who agree with us in the Alliance Parliament, but without a leader, it’s easy for their views to be overshadowed by the people with the loudest voices and the closest supporters. Fringe planets have been ignored

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