I sighed, and gestured toward the co-pilot’s couch. “You’re a good kid.” I paused as he perched on the edge of the seat. “And I’m your commanding officer. I can’t have you knocking on my cabin door every time you have a nightmare.”

His face flushed a deeper shade of red. “I’m sorry, Captain. I’m trying. I really am.” He rubbed the side of his nose again, and scraped a hand through his hair. He looked as if he wanted the deck to swallow him. “When I was at home, before the Academy, one of my father’s staff used to sleep in an adjoining room. She kept her light on and her door open in case I got scared.”

“Your father gave you a… nanny?”

“No!” Preston shook his head. He looked wretched. “Not a nanny, more like a… personal assistant.”

“An assistant?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t help smiling. “And how old were you when you left for the Academy?”

“Twenty-one.”

“So, you had a nanny right up until then?”

His head sank between his hunched shoulders. “I wouldn’t put it quite like that, exactly.”

“I don’t know whether to laugh or feel pity.”

“But you understand?” I saw hope flicker behind his misery. I wanted to be angry with him, but couldn’t summon the emotion or the energy to power it. He wasn’t qualified for his position and had no right to be here; when I looked at him, all I saw was a nervous young kid.

He took my silence for disapproval.

“I know you’re going to throw me off this ship,” he said, looking at his hands. “But I haven’t got anywhere else to go. My father won’t take me back after the way I embarrassed him at the Academy. And I don’t want to be alone.” A tear spilled from his eye and drew a line down his cheek. “I’m not cut out for it.”

I closed my eyes, remembering how it had felt at that age to be suddenly parentless and alone. If I hadn’t had my studies at the Academy—and then later, my duties aboard the medical frigate—I couldn’t begin to guess what might have befallen me. And now here Preston sat, snuffling onto the sleeve of his uniform, and all he had to cling to was this post, on this ship. I knew in my heart I couldn’t deprive him of it.

I muttered an expletive under my breath.

“Captain?”