Ad Astra Per Aspera

Chapter 18

"We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter."

Arcane's POV

We went back to the Illyrian island, our home. This time Astra came in willingly. She remembered it all, now she is finally one of us.

Having a woman like her on our side was worth everything she put us through. Maybe. Even her audacity.

We have been reaching dead ends for the past weeks, can never get the right information, yet this woman gets everything fast and efficiently.

"You are back!" Rue runs into the living room smiling at Astra. She is so young, but already so promising. Definitely an asset I don't want to lose.

I even put her with Astra so she could teach her a thing or two, she can be the future Luna, I see the potential in her.

I can see on her face that she regretted screaming that since I am next to Astra.

She knows she shouldn't show emotions, but we have a lengthy discussion about it later, again.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that, I just thought that you wouldn't, and I just wanted to thank you for the advice you gave me about the training. "

"I'm glad I could help."

"You did more than that, I kind of won. Still failed with a few things and didn't help my teammates, but I guess work in progress."

And my theory was correct. Rue indeed passed the assignment. There were a few misses, but if it was real life, she would have got out and survived.

"I'm sure next time you will do even better. Just remember to never panic. Use your head and imagination."

She nodded at that and started leaving.

"Stop changing things here, you are not helping their training." Blaze said. Astra is the type of woman who would do something out of spite.

"Lets agree to disagree."

"Speaking about changing things, we would really appreciate it if you would stop putting our employees into a medical wing. There are no more free beds because of you."

"I will stop as long as you will stop drugging and kidnapping me. And at least I didn't kill anyone. This time."

"The guy you kicked off the boat couldn't swim. He drowned."

"Okay, well that sounds like a you problem, I mean, you literally live on an island, the water surrounds you and you didn't teach him how to swim? It's like you wanted him to die."

I fucking hate her.

"Just, be less murderous."

"I have a feeling that you won't let me train any kids. "

"I'm not going to let you near anyone under level 4, not just training, in general. I have a feeling like you would kill someone in your sleep."

"According to Mira, I actually did that once."

I gave her a confusing look.

"It's not how it sounds. Some fucker broke into my room in the middle of the night trying to kill me. I guess my six senses worked in my sleep because I woke up and sliced his neck with a knife under my pillow in less than a second, and then I fell back asleep, which resulted in Mira making the assumption I did that in my sleep."

"You know, I'm not even surprised. Speaking of that, I couldn't have noticed that someone else went off the fucking radar. Know anything about that?"

Her facial expression did not change, even her eyes stayed indifferent, as if I asked about the weather.