The Academy Read online

  “Oh,” I whispered and then the room started spinning and everything went gray.

  North caught me before I could touch the ground, just as he had back at The Academy after my first fight with Broward. He moved back to the vast, four poster bed and settled there, still holding me.

  “Are you okay?” His beloved, familiar face was anxious. I had to reach up and touch his cheek to assure myself again that he was real. That it wasn’t all a vivid, wonderful dream I would wake up from. North turned his face into my caress and nuzzled my palm, placing a gentle kiss in the center. Then he asked me again, “Are you all right?”

  “Oh, North—if you’re really and truly real and this isn’t a dream then yes, I’m more than all right,” I whispered. “But I don’t see how…I thought…I thought you hated me.”

  “I did, for a while,” he said seriously. “You don’t know what you put me through, Kris. I questioned my sexuality, my sanity—everything about myself when I realized I was attracted to someone I thought was another male. Not that there's anything wrong with it but I'm not gay. Letting myself fall for you was seriously one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through.”

  “I’m so sorry.” My eyes filled with tears and I tried to blink them away. “I wanted to tell you—please believe me, North. I wanted to in the worst way. But it wasn’t only my secret.”

  “I know. You were protecting your brother.” He sighed. “Realizing that was what helped me get over it. I would have done the same thing for Jamie that you did for Kristopher. And I never would have given him up, either.”

  “Thank you for understanding,” I whispered.

  “I would have kept your secret, you know.” He looked at me seriously. “That hurt me the most—knowing that you didn’t think you could trust me.”

  “I know you would’ve kept it.” I hung my head. “I nearly told you so many times, especially during the break. But somehow I just…I couldn’t.”

  “Hey…” North lifted my chin so that we were eye to eye. “It’s okay, I’ve had time to get over it. And I gave you a little taste of your own medicine just now.” He nodded at the mask and voice modulator still lying on the floor. “How did you like it?”

  “Not at all,” I said, shivering. “How could you make me think I was going to have to spend my wedding night with a complete stranger? You could have told me as soon as we were out of the house.”

  “And risk one of your servants seeing and alerting your father? I don’t think so.” North shook his head. “Besides, you pretended to be someone else for over six months. I think you deserved at least sixty minutes of the same treatment. And…” He dropped his eyes. “And I wanted to know that you still felt for me. That you still cared.”

  “Of course I care,” I said fiercely. “I never stopped even when I thought you had.”

  “I never stopped either,” he admitted softly. “Even though I tried for a while. I was so angry with you.”

  “I could tell by the way you looked at me.” I looked down at my hands. “That last time we met when my father was dragging me out.”

  “I was mostly still in shock then,” he said. “But I had enough sense to act like I hated you.”

  “What do you mean enough sense?” I demanded. “You don’t know how many times I replayed that scene in my mind! How awful I felt knowing you couldn’t stand to even look at me.”

  “Think about it, Kris,” he said patiently. “Your father was already accusing you of being some kind of prossie. If I had acted on my true feelings and tried to hug you or God forbid kiss you, his worst suspicions would have been confirmed—to his mind, anyway.”

  I thought of my father’s angry eyes and had to admit North was right. “I guess so,” I said, sighing. “And I guess I deserved it. The mental anguish I’ve been going through the past six months thinking you hated me was probably nothing to what you went through when you were trying to understand your feelings for me.”

  “I don’t know about that.” North kissed my cheek tenderly. “But I do think we should call it even. No more torturing each other for a while—okay?”

  “All right.” I snuggled happily against his chest. “How did you get my father to consent to the marriage anyway?”

  He shrugged. “I just thought up the most awful disguise I could imagine. You were right—your father really wanted to punish you. Why else would he marry you off to a man he thought was a Skelly head?” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I had to involve him in the first place, back at The Academy. But I didn’t see any other way to keep you from losing a hand.”

  “So you were the one who called him!” I looked at him in surprise. “I wondered about that.”

  “I was still so angry and hurt I couldn’t see straight, but I knew I didn’t want you to lose a limb. So I placed an anonymous call. Thankfully he wasn’t far from Athena or you might still be re-growing your hand.” He looked at me speculatively. “Although, if it grew as fast as your hair, I suppose you’d be all right.”

  I flushed and put a hand to my hair. “Do you like it long?”

  “I more than like it,” North assured me in a soft growl. “Now that I see you with it tumbled all around your face, I wonder how I could ever have taken you for a male in the first place.” He frowned. “Of course, near the end I was beginning to suspect that something wasn’t right.”

  “What made you suspect? My girlish smell?” I asked, remembering how he’d complained that I smelled good, even when I used his shampoo.

  “That was part of it, I guess.” North shook his head. “And your extreme modesty. At first I thought maybe you had some kind of deformity—like Jamie had. That was why I helped you take showers in the middle of the night. But later, after I held you close to me those nights on break and felt how soft and delicate you were, I began to think maybe it was something else.”

  “Something else? Like what?” I asked.

  “I don’t know…” He frowned. “Like maybe you were a transsexual or something. You know, transitioning from one sex to the other…”

  “A transsexual from Victoria?” I nearly laughed. “You must not know my home province very well. Such a thing would never be tolerated. Why, I was shunned just for wearing your token.” I reached up to touch the onyx and silver stud still planted firmly in my right earlobe.

  “I know—I did some research on Victoria during the time we were apart.” He looked at me earnestly. “You have to believe me, I didn’t know only prossies got their ears pierced there.”

  “That’s all right.” I smiled at him. “I was proud to wear it. I don’t care what anyone in Victoria thinks.”

  “Especially since you’ll never have to see them again,” North remarked.

  “I hope not.” I bit my lip. “And…you’re sure my father never suspected a thing?”

  North shrugged. “Even if he did, it’s too late now—we’re legally wed. And in case you're wondering, the names on the marriage contract are real, not the fake name I gave your father. So it's completely binding.” He cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. “And about that, I know I never actually asked you to marry me. If you’re unhappy about the situation, we can always get it annulled.”

  Anxiety twisted my stomach in knots. “Is…is that what you want?” I whispered.

  “No. Hell, no!” North shook his head forcefully. “Remember how I told you we’d have a ship of our own once we got out of The Academy? Well, this is it.”

  “Oh, North…” My heart felt like it was going to burst but there was still something that bothered me. “It’s wonderful—but what about your dream of being in the Space Corps? You gave that up for me?”

  “Wasn’t much to give up,” North said seriously. “The Corps doesn’t allow female officers and I knew I wanted to be with you.” He cleared his throat. “They also don’t look kindly on recruits who have permanently maimed another cadet.”

  I put a hand to my mouth. “You mean Broward?”

  North nodded. “He’ll ne