Even worse than seeing her upset was hearing her self-pity. "There are other schools," Seth said.

"Ithaca's one of the best," she said. "And it's the closest to Billsken."

"I might not get into Billsken," he hedged. He didn't like to flaunt his mother's connections to Chloe. "Besides, I-"

Chloe snorted. "Please. How much money has your mom donated to them in the past twenty years? You're in."

"-might not want to go there," he finished.

She sniffled and cut him off. "If I didn't get into Ithaca, I probably didn't make Origins or Clarissa, either."

"There are other schools," he said again.

"Only if I want to fly a star-duster," she said derisively.

"Come on, Chloe," he said, a tinge of impatience in his words. "It's not like your life is ruined or anything. If you don't get into any good schools this year you can apply next year. Don't let one rejection kill your dreams."

Anger flashed in her eyes. "Easy for you to say, Mister Heir Apparent. You'll be the head of Genesis Corp before you turn thirty. Most of us aren't lucky enough to have our lives planned out for us, you know."

"Yeah, I know," Seth said, his own anger coming to the surface. "The rest of you get to have this little thing called 'free will.' "

"I'm sorry," Chloe snapped as her brow furrowed. "Sometimes I forget it's not all wine and caviar at the front of the ship." Chloe looked like she wanted to say something else but stopped short. She sighed and said, "I apologize. I shouldn't have said that."

"Don't worry about it," he said before he licked his lips. "Listen, if you want," he said, "I can talk to Mom. She's on the board at Ithaca-"

"Absolutely not," Chloe's face turned hard again. Chloe propped herself on her elbows. "I'm not going to have my boyfriend's mother's get me into school."

"It wouldn't be like that-" he said.

"Then what would it be, exactly?" She gazed at him, her brown eyes full of accusation.

"What's wrong with using the resources at your disposal?" he tried to sound innocent and failed.

"Call it what you want. Having the CEO of Genesis Ships make a nepotistic call is wrong."

"She's right, Seth," a voice came from the door.

Chloe gasped as though she'd been burned and jumped off the bed. "Mrs. Bennet. I didn't hear you come in." Chloe didn't like his mom-Seth couldn't blame her-but she had a healthy respect for her wrath.

"I'm sure you couldn't hear much over your whining," she said.

"Mom," Seth warned. Why did his mom have to be such a b.i.t.c.h?

"I have to go, anyway." Chloe said as she retrieved her Messenger from the desk. "Dad's expecting me for dinner. Good-bye, Mrs. Bennet." She nodded to his mom and slipped from the room.

"Why did you go and do that?" Seth said, not worrying if Chloe was out of earshot or not. "She's having a bad enough day without you picking on her."

Mom shrugged. "It was true. I won't make myself a liar just to placate your . . . girlfriend."

"That doesn't mean you have to say it," Seth said. He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair.

She crossed her arms. "What had Chrissy so upset?"

"Chloe," he said through gritted teeth.

"Of course," she said.

"We've been dating for a year. It's time you learned her name."

"Are you going to answer the question?"

Seth stared at his mom. She gazed back, a bland smile on her face. "She didn't get into Ithaca. I offered to ask you to pull some strings but she wanted no part of that. Not that you would've done it."

"I heard that part." Mom pursed her lips and looked thoughtful. "Interesting."

Seth blinked. Had his mother just admired Chloe? If so, it was gone with her next words.

"It's just as well. She would have been disgraced."

Seth couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Excuse me?"

"The best minds go to Ithaca. Your girl would have washed out. That's not to say she didn't have opportunity here-Genesis has some of the best prep schools in the system-but from what I've learned she's far from the top of her cla.s.s. The professors there would have chewed her up and spit her out."

Seth didn't know which point to address first. He chose the obvious one. "You won't even learn her name and you've been spying on her?"

"I don't have a choice," she said. "You haven't been forthcoming with information."

"Lords, Mom! I am eighteen. Are you going to check on me my whole life?"

"Are you going to make me?" she c.o.c.ked a brow.

Anger flared in Seth. His mother always had a way of reflecting everything so that it came back to him. Instead of continuing down that wormhole he said, "I won't listen to you bad-mouth Chloe again."

"Oh?" she said coolly, and Seth wanted to punch a wall. Instead, he took a deep breath through his nose.

"I won't," he repeated. "I love Chloe. Someday I want to ask her to be my wife. If I'm lucky, she'll say yes." Seth set his jaw. "If you make me choose between the two of you, I'll pick her, and you'll never see me again. You can find someone else to run Genesis."

A flush in her cheeks was the only indication she'd heard him. "Get changed. We need to leave for the Dorsey's in ten minutes." She didn't look back as she stalked from the room.

He flopped onto the bed and clenched his fists to keep his hands from shaking. What did I just do? He'd never considered not taking over his mother's company someday, but now that he'd said it out loud, he felt the truth of the words down deep. If he didn't follow his mother's plan . . . well. He smiled. Life would be different. He could still smell Chloe's shampoo on his pillow. Mrs. Chloe Bennet. He liked the sound of that.

The next day, before school, Seth found Chloe studying in the library.

"Hey," he said as he joined her. "You look like you're feeling better."

"My eyes are still puffy," she said.

"I hadn't noticed."

She smiled. "You never notice anything bad about me."

"Maybe that's because there's never anything bad about you to notice."

"Or maybe you're too nice to say anything."

Seth pretended to look around the empty room. "Don't say that so loud. You'll ruin my image." He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "I talked to Mom last night."

Chloe pulled her hand away. "I told you not to do that," she said.

"Not about talking to Ithaca," he said quickly. "Just about how she treats you."

"Oh." Chloe relaxed and let him hold her hand again. "What did you say?"

Seth recounted the conversation-skipping the marriage business, of course. No reason to spring that conversation on Chloe yet.

Chloe's face fell. "That sounds like a horrible fight."

"It wasn't our worst," he said. "And I meant every word." Seth shifted in his seat. "I kind of expected you to be happy. Or something. I mean, I just told my mom off and picked you over her and all that."

"I know," she said, her brow knotted. "And I think it's awesome you stood up to her. Especially on my behalf. It means a lot. It's just . . . well." She bit her lip. "She could make life really hard for me. Or my dad."

Seth blinked. He hadn't thought about that. "She wouldn't."

"Are you sure? She's basically my dad's boss-"

"There are about fifty layers of management between them," he said.

"Thanks for the reminder," she said.

Eric squeezed her hand. "You know I didn't mean it like that. I meant . . . well . . . why would she care enough about your dad to fire him?" He knew it sounded elitist as soon as he said it, and he cringed against Chloe's response. To his surprise, though, she didn't call him on his sn.o.bbery.

"It'd be a roundabout way to hurt you," she said. "If she fired my dad we'd have to leave Genesis so he could find another job."

Eric hesitated a moment-would she?-before shaking his head. "No way. That's not Mom's style. She's more 'in-your-face' than that."

She scrunched her face. "Your mom's a hard person who's used to getting what she wants," she said. "If she doesn't like that we're together, she'll find a way to keep us apart."

He didn't want to think too hard about his mother's machinations, especially where Chloe was concerned. Chloe's rejection letter from Ithaca blipped through his mind. She wouldn't. Would she? Seth shook his head against that thought and changed the subject. "Have you thought about what to do about next year?" Seth said.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You really know how to push a girl's b.u.t.tons."

Seth released her hand and smiled. "What can I say? I'm a romantic kind of guy." When she laughed, he said, "Seriously, though. Have you thought about Billsken?"

"Not really. They don't have an aviation program," she said.

"I know. But maybe there'd be something else you could major in. Or you could go there for a year and transfer to flight school. Something."

"I'll think about it," she said.

"That sounds convincing," Seth said. He tried not to sound as hurt as he felt.

"I know," Chloe said as she rubbed her eyes. "I have a lot to think about right now." She smiled at him. "You could always apply to flight schools and come with me."

Seth snorted. "With my grades? Not likely." A few students trickled into the library and he checked the time. "School's about to start. Promise me you'll think about what I said, okay?"

"I promise."

"It's all gonna work out."

"It's all gonna work out," she repeated. To her credit she sounded like she meant it.

After school, Seth walked to Chloe's section of Genesis. He didn't come to the back of the ship often, and as always, the differences between this area and his surprised him. It wasn't dirty, exactly, but the walls and floors were dull and shabby and looked older than they should. The narrow corridors made him feel claustrophobic; the lack of portholes made the sensation worse. He rang the bell to Chloe's quarters. She opened the door and smiled.

"Hey, I was just about to Message you," she said as she yanked him into the cramped living room.

He smiled and hugged her. "I'm glad to see you're in a better mood."

Chloe's smile widened. "I am. During Physics cla.s.s today I had a brilliant idea," she said. "I can learn to fly in the military."

Seth's smile faltered as his stomach dropped. "What?"

"They use fighter pilots! I don't know why I didn't think of it before," she said.

Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Probably because we're at war with the Sysdians and you don't want to, you know, die," he said.

Chloe waved away his words. "At Ithaca I wouldn't get into a c.o.c.kpit for two years. With the military I'll be in s.p.a.ce in six months." She jumped up and kissed him. "Isn't that great?"

Seth's fingers shook as he put his hands on her shoulders. She couldn't join the military! This wasn't how he saw their future. He had to get her to see reason. "Don't you think you should talk to your dad about this? He'll never go for it."

"I already did. He loves the idea," she said. "Especially since they'll pay for college once I'm out."

Seth felt short of breath. "This is a huge decision. Take a few days to think about it."

"What's there to think about? I'll learn to be a pilot and they'll pay for school," she said. "I stopped by the recruiting office today."

Seth blinked as his stomach clenched. "What?"

"The recruiting office. I signed up today. I leave for training right after graduation."

"What about Billsken?" Seth blurted. He knew he sounded selfish but he didn't care. Since talking with her that morning, he'd convinced himself that Chloe would join him at college and they'd live happily ever after. Seeing her overwhelming happiness now dissolved his fantasy.

"What about Billsken?" She said, confusion replacing the happiness on her face.

"It's just . . . well." His mouth felt dry and he swallowed. "Do you have anything to drink?"

"Sure," she said. She went to the kitchen and came back with a metal cup of water.

He gulped it down in two swallows and licked his lips. "I sort of thought we'd be together at Billsken," he said.