by Rachel Angel
“Looks like someone had planted a bomb at the gate last night,” Hunter said, scrolling through footage from the camera that was mounted on top of the gate. “Luckily the camera’s footage was already downloaded before it blew up along with the gate.”
“Who planted the bomb?” I asked.
“Zooming in to see the face,” Hunter said. “Of course it’s covered by a ski mask. But the eyes…”
I walked over to look at Hunter’s computer screen. “Ori,” I said. “Recognize those eyes?”
“Oh fuck, no way!” Ori said. “Hunter…your favorite female in the world is back, and she’s probably going to accuse you of harassing her again to get you expelled for real this time.”
Hunter groaned and said, “Why didn’t I see this before? How could I not know those sneaky overly made-up eyes were Veronica’s?”
“Probably because you want to forget everything and anything about the b-witch,” Ori said.
“Why is she back from hell?” Hunter asked, groaning into his hands. “Of all the sickest people in the world, this one happens to have all of her daddy’s toys at her disposal.”
“Bombs, guns, soldiers…” I said. “Why does she keep coming back to Kingsbury? I broke off our engagement. I know she couldn’t still be upset about that.”
Ori and Hunter both turned to look at me with a no-shit glare. “Bet she’s plenty upset about that, Kaz,” Hunter said.
“Anything could set that looney off,” Ori said.
“Why blow up the Kingsbury Prep gate?” I asked.
“To create a distraction?” Ori asked.
“To make it look like we’re being attacked?” Hunter asked.
“All of those,” I said. “That girl isn’t dumb. Crazy yes, but not dumb. Almost diabolically brilliant.”
“Great,” Hunter said. “So you’re saying she’s a brilliant villain. We can give her a new nickname…The BrillVill, but prefer to call her BatShit for bat shit crazy.”
“Can’t underestimate her,” I said. “She masterminded getting our countries to listen to her demands.”
Hunter and Ori both looked angry then. “If her country didn’t have all those weapons…” Hunter said, “My country wouldn’t have to kowtow to hers, and I wouldn’t have had to be her boytoy…”
“I wouldn’t have had to get engaged to her,” Kaz said. “My father wouldn’t have agreed to it.”
“No, your father would have fought back, figured out a way to get around it,” Hunter said. “Speaking of which…it was a surprise even for me, Kaz. Your father wasn’t acting like himself for agreeing to that.”
“All I knew was that my father sent me a letter saying we were desperate to keep our country safe from Veronica’s and the only way was for me to marry her so we can form an alliance.”
“Did you actually see your father about that?” Hunter asked. “He didn’t give you that decree in person, did he?”
“What are you saying, Hunter?” I asked.
“I’m saying…having been at the tail end of being fooled into believing what was real and what wasn’t aka believing I was expelled when it was Tempest leading me to believe it…that unless it came straight from your father’s mouth, the letter could have been a prank, a ruse to get you to agree to marry BrillVill.”
“Damn, you’re right!” I swore. “Why didn’t I see it?”
“Because you weren’t expecting it…” Hunter said.
“Because you were so stupid with worry about how you felt about Tempest, fighting against falling for her, you’d believe any excuse not to be with her,” Ori said. “Even when she was with us, as part of K3, you had to go break it up, accuse her of betraying us so we mind-fucked her back in San Francisco. You can’t just accept that we had the love of someone so special like Tempest in our lives that you had to go ruin it for all of us,” Ori said angrily.
Hunter glared angrily at me, too.
“Tempest took us back,” Ori said. “She came back to Kingsbury to take care of us when she heard we were attacked by the townsfolk. Then she went and soothed it over with the people the next day. Bought some ointment to put on us so we can get better. She did all that for us after all we fucking did to her, and you’re still fucking angry about her like you were when you accepted the stupid engagement you had with BrillVill. I think subconsciously, Kaz, you think you don’t deserve her, someone as good and kind as Tempest could actually love you for who you are, not as the crown prince of some country. Tempest accepted and loved you, Hunter, and me for ourselves, not for being crown princes. She was the diamond in the rough that we have been searching for all our lives… the woman who would love us as we are, our true love…but no…you have to go and try to sabotage it…like you are doing now.”
I was dead silent. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing…especially from Ori, who never expressed his feelings like this before. He rarely spoke about much, but when it came to Tempest, he was like a canary ready to sing.
I stopped and stood silent and still, taking in what Ori said.
Hunter had crossed his arms looking over to me and then to Ori back and forth. I knew what he was thinking. Ori had never spoken up like that before. He had never criticized me for anything. But here he was, as open and honest as he had ever been.
He wouldn’t have said what he said if he didn’t mean it. He also wouldn’t have spoken out if he didn’t think it was important.
“Ori,” I said looking disapprovingly at him. “What’s eating you?”
Hunter’s eyebrow arched higher, while Ori’s grew closer in anger.
“I’m saying what needs to be said, Kaz,” Ori said. “Tempest went out of her way to take us back, to forgive us for the sucky inexcusable way we have treated her. If I were her, I’d walk away from us. I’d give us the middle finger and tell us to go fuck off. But no, she’s bigger than us. She’s a better person than us. She forgave us and took us back. And now you’re still distrusting her?” He got up. “You don’t deserve her, you know. We don’t deserve her.” He walked to the door. “I already know I want her in my life forever. Now I don’t have time to sit here and question whether to trust her or to accept what she’s given us. I’m going to go find her and protect her. With crazy BatShit loose at Kingsbury, you know she’ll be after Tempest. For some reason, she hates Tempest more than anyone.”
“Ori!” I said, clapping. “Well said. It’s about time you express yourself openly like that. For years I wished you could’ve…that you would be more like Hunter in telling me things that I need to hear. Like I will be with you and Hunter. Sometimes they may not be what I want to hear, but always tell me something I do need to hear.”
“Like voicing your disapproval of how we handled Kaz’s perception of Tempest’s so-called betrayal in the beginning,” Hunter said. “If you said something, and I had said something, maybe Kaz wouldn’t have done what he did.”
Ori grimaced. “We wouldn’t have lost Tempest to Jordan.”
I clenched my fists. I couldn’t get the image of Jordan fucking Tempest in my bed out of my head. “Fuck!” I screamed. “Don’t remind me.”
Hunter chimed in, “Kaz, I have to agree with Ori…about everything. I think you need to forgive Tempest. Make up with her. Because as I see it, and probably as your whole kingdom could see it, Jordan is now the hands down winner for the crown. And for Tempest. You have not been acting like a man ready to rule your country. And you definitely haven’t acted like you love Tempest and want her back.”
“When you and Ori were getting Jordan out of my room, I made love to Tempest,” I said dreamily, remembering how surreal it was to even touch her, to kiss her again after dreaming of it every night since I’ve first laid eyes on her. “From the way she came hard, she could tell I loved her.”
“You can have mind-blowing sex with someone and not be in love with them,” Ori said. “And Tempest…sex with her is always mind-blowing.” Ori gulped. “She’s not like everyone else, Kaz, and you know it. She’s like a god
dess amongst men. You think you’re special? Crown prince? Look at us, we’re all crown princes. We can be replaced. Our kingdoms can topple, our monarchies can be overtaken by another ruling family, but Tempest…she’s one of a kind.”
“If she were born a royal, she would be the kind of special that makes history…like Alexander the Great,” Hunter agreed.
I sat down. They were right. Tempest was truly special, and I was the biggest fucking fool to not cherish her, to throw her away like a stupid dumb dickhead that I was.
“Fuck, I’m a fool,” I cried out.
“Fuck you, fool,” Ori said. “Time you realized it.”
“Yeah, fool,” Hunter said, joining in. “Fucking stop fooling yourself that you are better than Tempest or anyone else. If you step back away from yourself, you’ll see everything you’ve done has been playing the fool.”
“Meanwhile look what Jordan did for Tempest,” Ori said. “I should switch over to Team Jordan. He gave her the opportunity to shine and to come out as a star by winning the fight against me. He helped her earn her own way to buy back her family’s business. He helped Tempest’s sister, Lily.” Ori scowled at me, lifting a finger to point at me. “What the hell have you done to help Tempest and her sister out? Bully her, almost causing her to die?”
“Nothing,” I said. “I did nothing for her, except feed my own desire for her.” I shook my head. “I thought we were protecting her by bringing her into the K3. But it was me who caused her to need protection in the first place with the Black Envelope decree.”
“Yup!” Both Hunter and Ori said together.
I walked to the door to stand next to Ori. “If you can wait for me to get into the Kingsbury school uniform, I’ll join you in hunting down Veronica and anyone else she sent to try to kill Tempest and destroy Kingsbury. Then we’ll make things right with Tempest again. We’ll set things straight.”
Hunter got up from his computers and said, “I’m changing into the uniform, too. Ori?”
“Already have it on,” he said, taking off his yellow parka to show the Kingsbury blazer underneath.
“Good, already ahead of the plan,” I said, nodding to Ori. “You’ve got the makings of a King,” I smiled.
“Well, I am the crown prince of my country,” Ori said. “Undisputed. There is no question I will be King one day.”
I stopped to look into Ori’s light blue eyes, filled with pride and confidence. “Yes you will, no doubt,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “I should listen to you more often then, my friend.”
Ori smiled. “About time you realized that.”
Hunter was changing into his slacks and shirt, pulling it out of a suitcase he had packed earlier, thinking he had to leave Kingsbury because he was expelled.
“I’m ready,” he said, tying on his tie. “What’s your big plan, Kaz?”
I looked from Hunter to Ori. “Let’s discuss it on the way to my room. I don’t want to waste time.”
Hunter and Ori nodded.
Chapter 6
Tempest
After leaving Kaz’s place, I quickly texted Ricky to let him know I was on my way over to his house in town.
RICKY: What took you so long? I was so worried I was going to head back to get you.
TEMPEST: I ran into Jordan. We talked. Cleared up some things. I’ll tell you later.
RICKY: Ok. I hope you haven’t eaten yet. I made beef stew for you and fresh bread.
TEMPEST: Yum. I can’t wait.
RICKY: Baby, I can’t wait to have you all to myself again.
I quickly made my way around the main campus at Kingsbury Prep to the tram going down to town. On my way, though, I noticed the front gates of Kingsbury Prep was blown wide open. So that was where the explosion took place. I took some photos and sent them to Lily.
She quickly texted back.
LILY: Wow! What happened? Are you OK?
TEMPEST: Someone blew the gates open. A bomb.
LILY: I’m zeroing in up close to take a look. The residue seem to be from a homemade bomb. Could it be one of the students wanting to get out of taking an exam?
TEMPEST: Don’t know. How are you? Where are you?
LILY: At home, in the secret apartment at 3 Kings. Why?
TEMPEST: Where’s Helen?
LILY: At her little soup stand at the Pier. Doing well.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her Helen wasn’t what she seemed. As long as Helen stay good to Lily and until I could find out what Helen was doing with Kaz, me, and Jordan; I couldn’t really accuse her of anything yet.
TEMPEST: Heard from anyone besides me today?
LILY: Oh I got a weird text from a guy name Ricky who said he was a friend of yours. I told him to get lost. You know. You’re a public figure, and a lot of guys are hitting on you, writing all kinds of stuff to you, mostly shameless love confessions, to your photos on Instagram and Twitter. You have a huge fan base. The girls want to be like you while the guys are shamelessly asking you to marry them.
TEMPEST: I didn’t know I had an account on there.
LILY: Tempest Storm – Champion Fighter UFN.
TEMPEST: Oh. Jordan must have set that up.
LILY: Speaking of Jordan. I saw a picture of him. He is so sexy. Like Prince Kaz but older. Something more about him.
TEMPEST: Confident? Mature? Less impulsive?
LILY: Are you and Jordan serious? Sounds like it. I know you are no longer with Prince Kaz and the K3s, but moving onto Jordan so fast.
TEMPEST: He asked me to marry him. He’s moving too fast so I told him I need more time to think about it.
LILY: Good. As hot as he is, you have all these guys who want to marry you. Why settle for one when you’re just 19? Why settle down yet?
TEMPEST: Lily! I swear you’re like a 30 year old in a tween’s body.
LILY: Like I said. I’m really an ancient alien who had come to Earth to repopulate my species.
TEMPEST: Yeah right!
LILY: I look nothing like you and Mom and Dad. I could be adopted.
TEMPEST: Speaking of Mom and Dad, I know you’re too young to remember but maybe you might have come across something in their secret apartment. Mom’s Diary…anything about our family. Anything about Kingsbury.
LILY: Kingmaker stuff? Are you beginning to see visions? They come to you like dreams, life-like dreams.
TEMPEST: How do you know?
LILY: I’ve been researching things ever since I found out we’re descendants from Kingsbury.
TEMPEST: Good! I am getting visions. Violet’s visions. I think she’s the original female kingmaker.
LILY: Our ancestor. Badass bitch, I heard she was.
TEMPEST: Watch your mouth, little sister.
LILY: I want to be just like her. I’ve been learning martial arts from your teacher, and I’m taking the test to become a green belt.
TEMPEST: Good. So proud of you. Keep up the good work, Sis!
LILY: About the special folder of Mom and Dad’s.
I knew what she was talking about…the binder containing the formulas for some massive weapons our parents had designed and probably was making. Even airplanes and tanks that was mind-blowingly spectacular like something out of a science fiction novel.
TEMPEST: Have anyone asked you about them or tried to look for them?
LILY: Yes. Helen.
TEMPEST: How did she know? No one should know, not even our lawyer. What did you say?
LILY: I acted like I didn’t know anything about it.
TEMPEST: Good. I hate to say this, but you can’t trust Helen. Something is off. We need to find out what she is up to and who is she really.
LILY: I was about to say the same to you.
TEMPEST: We need to get you out of 3 Kings right away. I’m not taking any chances. Pack up now, take the binders. I’ll send a jet to pick you up. Don’t let anyone know. The person I’m sending is a woman whose name begins with the letter “D”. She’s from Arcadia.
LILY: So
I’ll finally get to see Kingsbury Castle?
TEMPEST: Yes. I’ll tell you what I found out once you’re here.
LILY: What about Helen? Wouldn’t she look for me?
TEMPEST: I’ll send her a message after you’re here safely with me.
LILY: Okay.
TEMPEST: See you in about 24 hours. You’ll see Ms. “D” in about two hours. Don’t take your laptop. Transfer everything to a portable hard drive. Your laptop may be tapped. Get a throwaway phone so you can’t be trace. Keep your laptop and phone at the secret apartment where you are supposed to be. Once you get your new phone, text me to let me know. Ms. “D” will handle the rest.
