The Academy (37 page)

I could tell it was private because my new husband had to punch a code in the tastefully recessed keypad to raise the blue energy field which separated it from the rest of the ship. Once the blue field lifted, I was treated to the sight of a much more luxurious corridor, one which was actually lined in soft moss green carpet. Here the doors were made of rich wood instead of brushed steel and the plaques outside the cabins stated offices instead of names. “First mate,” declared the first one. Across from it was one marked “Captain.” And a little farther down was a door with the designation, “Navigator.”

This was the door my husband stopped at. But there was no keypad to punch a code into. Instead, a hand-plate was affixed to the wall just beside the door.

“Here.” He motioned to me. “Put your hand on the plate. Let the ship read your prints.”

“I don’t understand,” I said blankly as I pressed my palm to the plate as he had indicated. “Are you the ship’s navigator?”

“No,” he said as the door slid open to reveal a small but luxuriously appointed cabin. “You are.”

“What are you talking about?” I stepped across the threshold and turned to face him. He followed me and the door slid shut behind us with a quiet
whoosh.

“I said, you’re the Lakota’s navigator—if you want to be, that is.”

I shook my head. “Is that why you married me? Because you heard about what I did? How I attended The Royal Academy in disguise and learned navigation there?”

“I
did
hear you were at the top of your classes before you were found out,” my new husband rumbled. “But no, that’s not why I married you.”

“Then why? I don’t understand.”

“You will, in time.” He stepped back, still regarding me through the featureless plague mask. “This is your quarters but I will visit it at any time I see fit.”

“Yes, my Lord.” I felt my cheeks go hot as I considered what he was saying. No doubt he would expect me to fulfill my wifely duties, regardless of how I felt about the situation. His next words confirmed my thoughts.

“It is our wedding night, Kris. Do you know what that means?”

“I…I think so.” I dared a quick glance at him and then looked down to study my hands.

“Good,” he rumbled. “I’m going to check with the crew and give them some departure instructions. When I return, I expect to find you waiting in the bed for me. Wear the pink nightgown you will find in the wardrobe. Do you understand?”

I nodded miserably. He was my husband now—my lord and master and I was a prisoner on his ship. What else could I do? “Yes, my Lord,” I whispered.

“Very good,” he said again. Then he swept out of my room in a swirl of black and was gone.

For a long moment I just stood there in the center of the room, dazed. How had it come to this? Was I really going to have to give myself to this man who was a complete stranger?
Not a stranger—your husband,
chided a little voice in my head.
And you don’t know anything about him except he’s a skelly head.
Would I have to see him without his mask on? Would he be horribly hideous?

To be honest, I didn’t care. Anyone but North would be hideous to me—what did it matter if my new husband’s face looked like a skull? Dully, I forced myself to go across the room to the large four poster bed and the wardrobe which stood beside it.

I supposed I should remove the crimson gown and get ready for bed. Not that I would get much sleep once my new husband came back. I squeezed my eyes shut at the thought. God, I couldn’t,
couldn’t
go through with this.

But you must,
whispered my little voice.
And anyway, it’s a fitting punishment for all your lies and deception.
That was probably true but it was little consolation. Sighing deeply, I opened the wardrobe and looked through the clothes hanging there.

To my surprise, they seemed to have been picked especially for me. All of them looked to be my size and they weren’t all dresses and skirts as I had been required to wear all my life in Victoria. There were actually several pairs of trousers as well. Could it be that my new husband was a more liberated man than I had first thought?

Don’t kid yourself. So what if he lets you dress in pants—he still expects you to do your wifely duty whenever he commands. How liberated can he be?

A very good point. With a heavy heart, I pulled out a pale pink negligee with lace at its collar and sleeves.
“Wear the pink nightgown,”
he had said. It was a virginal, delicate thing, the exact color my wedding dress would have been if my time at the Academy hadn’t made me into a “fallen woman.” Was my new husband trying to tell me something? And if so, what? I fingered its silky material thoughtfully before pulling off my crimson wedding dress and putting it on instead.

Just as I slid into bed, I heard the door of my new quarters open with a quiet
whoosh.
Hastily I burrowed under the covers, unable to face my new husband or duty I would be required to do.

“Kris,” he said quietly in that deep, gravelly voice. “Are you ready?”

I forced myself to peak over the edge of the blankets. “Yes, my Lord.” The words came out in a squeak but I couldn’t help it—my heart was pounding and my throat was dry. All I could think of was that this stranger was about to touch me and I would have to let him. It was going to be a thousand times worse than Wilkenson’s unwanted kiss and all because the man touching me wasn’t the one I wanted—wasn’t North.

My new husband walked over to the bed. Standing by my side, he loomed over me looking impossibly tall in his outfit of unbroken black. “Should I leave the lights on or turn them off?” he asked softly.

“Off please, my Lord,” I said before I thought about it.

“Very well.” He laughed harshly as he turned out the lights, plunging the room into darkness. “So that you can avoid looking at what’s under my mask, no doubt.”

“Oh, no—no, my Lord,” I protested. “Just because I…I’m shy, that’s all.”

“I have heard of your excessive modesty.” His voice softened somewhat and the bed creaked as he sat down on the side of the mattress, just inches from where I lay. “I hear that you managed to pass yourself off as a boy at The Royal Academy and no one was the wiser because of your caution.”

“I hid myself as well as I could right up…up until the end,” I whispered, remembering the horrible feeling of being naked between Broward and his henchmen. “I…I was attacked in the showers and found out.” Then I realized how that must sound. “I was attacked but not…not taken,” I hastened to assure him. “I was rescued before anything…improper could take place.”

“Before you were raped, you mean,” he said flatly. “I had hoped as much.”

“Is that why you got me a pink nightgown?” I asked hesitantly.

“Among other things. Tell me about how you were rescued.”

“My roommate—he came in just in time. I think my friend told him there was trouble.” I sighed wistfully. “He was always coming in, just in the nick of time to save me. He seemed to know exactly when I needed help the most.”

“Too bad he couldn’t save you this time,” my new husband remarked.

I closed my eyes, fighting back tears. “He…he wouldn’t want to. He hates me now for my deception and I can’t blame him. It was awful, what I did—the way I lied.”

“Maybe not quite so awful. You were protecting yourself in a dangerous situation,” he offered gently.

“I should have found another way. I shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” I whispered. “I hurt so many people…hurt North…”

“Was that his name?” he murmured.

“Yes.” I buried my face in my hands and sobbed. “I’m sorry, I just…I can’t…can’t seem to forget him.”

“Do you still love him?” His harsh voice grated in my ears and I feared the consequences if I answered truthfully. But I had done enough lying.

“Yes,” I whispered. “So very much. Forgive me, my Lord. I know that is not what a man wishes to hear on his wedding night but—”

“On the contrary—it is exactly what I hoped to hear.”

His statement startled me so much that I looked up, peering at his indistinct shape in the darkness. “What?”

“Earlier, you asked me why I married you, Kris,” he said. “I married you because I still feel the same way about you that you feel about me.”

“I…I don’t understand.” I shook my head. “I’ve never seen you before tonight.”

“Is that what you think?” The lights flipped on suddenly and I winced away from their brilliance. When my eyes finally became accustomed, I saw that my new husband was once more standing beside the bed.

“My Lord?” I said, uncertainly.

“Kris,” he whispered. He took a step toward me and reached for his mask. As it fell away, the voice modulator which had been attached to the inside of it detached as well, and I heard his words in a more familiar tone. “I married you because I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Because no matter how angry I was at you, I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”

“North!” I gasped, staring into his familiar piercing blue eyes. I stumbled out of bed and stood in front of him, scanning his tall form frantically. The black clothes seemed out of place but the rest of him—his tousled golden hair, his sharp features—were so wonderfully familiar. Still, I couldn’t quite believe it. “North, is it really…really you?”

“It’s really me.” He dropped the mask and voice modulator on the ground and took my hands in his. “I married you because I still love you, Kris.”

“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.”