Roma Aeronautica Read Online Free PDF Page A

about. You didn’t even have to push yourself like you just did!” He slapped Alexandros on the back.
    “What about you?” Alexandros asked. “Have you gone to look?”
    “Yes, but I’m most likely going to be in officer training with you. Guess that’s what happens when your dad happens to be one of the eight major fleet admirals.” He waded into the mob of people surrounding the boards. At that moment, Alexandros was disgusted with Gordanus. I swear, that boy can be the most arrogant person I know.
    “So, traitor, I hope you’re excited to join the support crews.”
    Okay, there may be someone more arrogant that Gordanus .
    “Why, Scipio, I didn’t know that cheaters were allowed to stay in the academia. Surely you’re here to tell me that you’ve realized what an absolute idiot you are and that you’ve decided to join the Vestal Virgins, eh?” he asked bitingly. For a brief moment, Kretarus looked slightly shocked. His face colored as other people around them turned to watch the two rivals verbally spar.
    “I couldn’t join the Vestal Virgins, actually. They said you’d already filled their only opening. Besides, they don’t let women into the Officer’s Academia. Or traitors,” he said haughtily.
    Alexandros chuckled, taking the anger he felt and funneling it into his next barb.
    “Then I suppose you won’t be joining me in Officer’s Academia. Perhaps they realized that brains beat bloodline any day.” Several people around him laughed, and Kretarus’s eyebrows furrowed. He opened his mouth to speak.
    “Rufius! Rufius Alexandros!” came a familiar cry. Turning his back on the other boy, Alexandros found himself face to face with his parents.
    “Mother! Father! It’s good to see you!”
    They embraced and Alexandros took in the smell of his mom’s lavender perfume, something he had not inhaled since their last visit at the end of his second year. The academia purposefully kept the boys and their families separated so as to teach their students the values of self-reliance and teamwork with their fellow cadets.
    “How are you? We have so many questions! And look, you’ve grown so much! Oh, you’ve got to tell me everything!” His mother was overjoyed to see him, and tears of happiness ran down her face.
    “Son, I saw your name on the officer’s list…” His father’s voice trailed off. “You’ve made me so proud. You have made your family proud.”
    Full of emotion, Alexandros was hard pressed to hold back tears himself.
    “I’ve missed you all so much.”
    “Rufius! Rufius! I made it! I’m in the Officer’s Academia!” Gordanus shouldered his way through the crowd of reuniting parents and cadets to Alexandros.
    “I did it!”
    “I knew you would, Gordanus.” He felt his earlier annoyance at the dark-haired admiral’s son vanish. He knew that Gordanus had his own issues to deal with, and that sometimes money and power simply gave one more problems than solutions.
    Sometimes can be a very challenging word .
    Alexandros spent some time introducing his family to Gordanus. They were very openhearted and welcoming to his friend, and upon learning that his father had been unable to attend the ceremony, insisted that Gordanus come to their house for a celebratory graduation party that night. The two boys readily agreed.
    Later that evening, after having put down the delicious fare provided by the well-trained kitchen staff of the Alexandros villa just outside the walls of Rome, the family and guests reclined on their traditional divans in the dining room. Beautiful frescos decorated the walls, showing scenes of hunting and exploration, a skill that the more recent generations of the Alexandros family were renowned for in certain circles.
    Gordanus was particularly interested in hearing the tale of the family’s traitorous ancestor, Gaius Cassius Longinus. Although normally considered a sore subject, Krytos Liani Cassi Alexandro decided that his young guest was simply curious