The Academy Read online

  “No—no, of course not,” I said hastily. I squeezed his hand. “I…I like it,” I confessed shyly.

  North returned the pressure of my fingers. “Me too,” he murmured. A troubled look flitted across his face and was gone so quickly I wondered if I had imagined it. “Come on,” he said. “I’ll take you to my favorite place for lunch.”

  I thought later that it was the most perfect day I could remember. As promised, North took me all over the quaint, seaside town and we ate a succulent shellfish dish for lunch that was both tart and rich. Dinner was another of his mother’s homemade meals, a vegetarian dish so delicious I longed to ask for the recipe. But though she had insisted on teaching her sons to cook, I was afraid asking would make me look too feminine. I held my tongue and promised myself I’d ask North for it later.

  Just as we were finishing dessert, a sweet native fruit cooked in a flaky pastry shell, there was a clash of lightning and thunder outside and the lights abruptly went out.

  “Oh!” I gasped.

  North’s father cursed in the dark. “Damn storms! Coming up when you least expect them.”

  “It’s okay,” North murmured, finding my hand under the table. “It happens all the time.”

  I squeezed his hand tightly. “It does?”

  “Sure.” I could almost hear the smile in his voice. “Don’t worry, shorty, I won’t let the monsters get you.”

  I laughed weakly. “Very funny.” Not that I was afraid of the dark—it was just that I had never been through a sudden power outage before. The weather in Victoria was as staid and quiet as the society. In fact, some said there was no weather—just a perpetual state of calm.

  “Never mind,” North’s mother said comfortingly. I heard her bustling about in the darkened room and suddenly a small, warm glow sprang to life. I was surprised to see she was holding an old-fashioned candle with a real flame—something I had only seen in vids about Earth-that-was.

  “Mom always keeps blackout candles nearby,” North said, obviously seeing my surprised look. “You never can tell when a storm might blow up around here.”

  “A cold one too, I’ll bet. Just listen to that wind.” North’s mother shook her head at the howling whine picking up outside the windows. She frowned. “I’d better get you boys another quilt. Don’t want you to freeze tonight.”

  “Thanks, Mom but I can get one out of the linen closet,” North said. He squeezed my fingers under the table once more and then let go reluctantly. “Can we have a candle?”

  “Certainly.” She lit another long white taper from the first, fit it into a holder, and handed it to North. Then she lit another and handed it to me. “Just be careful with those and be sure you blow them out before you go to sleep.”

  North rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mom.”

  “All right.” She half sighed, half laughed. “I know you’re a grown man—or almost anyway—and I’ve been letting you have a candle in your room since you were ten. But I still have to say it.”

  “Of course you do.” North got up and kissed her cheek affectionately. “Night Dad,” he said to his father, who had gone back to his dessert.

  “Night, Son,” Mr. North murmured. The wind howled again and he shook his head. “It’s times like these I’m glad we built into the mountain instead of on top of it. It was a pain in the ass to do it but at least we don’t have to worry about being blown away.”

  “Well, that was my idea,” North’s mother said, sitting back down with a smile.

  “Was not,” Mr. North said indignantly. “Why, I distinctly remember…”

  North and I left his parents bickering good-naturedly and headed back up to his room. By mutual, unspoken consent we were going to bed early. Without the power, we couldn’t watch a vid or play any of his computer games. And besides, the long day had tired us both out.

  I went to the fresher to change and to my surprise, when I came back the temperature in North’s room seemed to have dropped ten degrees.

  “Brrr!” I complained as I slid into bed beside him and put my candle on the nightstand beside me. “Your mother was right—it’s getting really cold!”

  “Yeah, that’s the crazy weather we have around here.” North sounded completely unperturbed as he puffed out his candle and snuggled under the thick blue quilt he’d put on the bed. “And would you believe it’ll probably be warm enough to swim tomorrow?”

  “No, I wouldn’t.” I snuggled down beside him, wishing I could get closer to his warmth. His big, muscular body seemed to put out heat like an oven.

  “Yeah, but it will be. That’s what we say about the weather here on Apollo—if you don’t like it just wait a minute and it’ll change.” He nodded at the candle. “Hey, don’t forget to blow that out.”

  “Oh, right.” I sat up in bed just long enough to puff the candle out, then sank back down below the covers, my teeth chattering.

  “Hey, you’re really cold, aren’t you?” In the darkness, North’s voice sounded concerned.

  “I’ll warm up in a minute…I hope.” I burrowed deeper under the covers, trying to find some warmth.

  Suddenly I felt North’s hand on my arm. “Come here,” he said, pulling me to him.

  “What…what are you doing?” I asked breathlessly as he put an arm around me and pillowed my head on his chest.

  “Warming you up,” he said reasonably. “Don’t worry, Jameson. It’s not like I’m trying to cop a feel or anything.”

  “I didn’t think you were,” I protested stiffly. “I just thought…I wasn’t sure…”

  “Brothers, remember?” he reminded me, just as he had when he had taken my hand and entwined our fingers that afternoon.

  “Oh. Of course.” Slowly, I allowed myself to relax against him. I was glad the sleep shirt I had chosen to wear was thick—hopefully thick enough to hide the fact that my unbound breasts were pressing against his side. North didn’t make any comment, though, so I assumed I was safe.

  Being this close to him, having our bodies pressed together in such an intimate way, felt both incredibly taboo and utterly amazing. I could feel parts of myself I’d scarcely ever given thought to before tingling and coming to life. I inhaled deeply, enjoying North’s delicious, masculine scent, feeling the heat of his big body creep into mine, warming me from the inside out.

  Wrong, this is so wrong, whispered the part of my brain that still lingered in Victoria. If anyone ever found out…

  They’re not going to, I told myself quickly. No one ever needs to know besides North and me. It’s our secret. And besides, it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong. He’s just warming me up for a few minutes and then I’ll go back to my own side of the bed.

  “Kris?” North’s deep voice interrupted my thoughts.

  “Yes?” I looked up. The room was almost completely dark but there was a little light coming through the rain-spattered window. I could faintly see the gleam of his eyes as he looked at me.

  “I just…I wanted to tell you…no, needed to tell you…”

  He paused for so long that I had to ask, “What?”

  North gave a deep sigh which seemed to shake us both. “Nothing,” he said at last. “I just wanted to say that I had a really good time with you today.”

  “I had a good time too,” I said softly. “But, North…” I bit my lip. “Is that really what you wanted to say?” I didn’t know where I got the courage to ask him such a leading question—it just seemed to come out. My heart pounded unsteadily in my chest as I waited for his reply.

  He shifted, his broad chest moving under my cheek. “That’s all I can say. For now anyway.”

  “For now?” I echoed, thoroughly confused.

  “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “You still don’t know…”

  “Don’t know what?” I prompted again when he stopped.

  “Know me. The real me.” North sounded troubled. “And I can’t say…what I want to say until you do.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “What is it you