Princess Ballot: Royals of Arbon Academy

by James Tate

  I mean, Jordan was a big guy, but I could have sworn that Fallen Angel looked even bigger tonight.

  Then he turned those eyes on me, and I barely stopped the word motherfucker from exiting my mouth.

  Fallen Angel was not Jordan. I’d recognize those eyes any-fucking-where. It was Rafe. That deep blue color was not common, and despite the American accent he was faking, I knew I was right.

  Bastard had pretended to be Jordan. Did he know who I was?

  “See you later, Violet,” he said, turning and walking away.

  Guess that answered that question.

  For a moment, the dark hallway all but closed in on me as I tried to figure out what had happened tonight. It felt like a thousand years since I’d snuck out to follow Nolan.

  Shit! Nolan!

  Was he okay?

  Sprinting through the halls, I made it to my room, unlocked it, and crept inside in case Mattie was still asleep.

  She was, but her furious twin was camped out in my armchair, arms crossed over his chest as he waited.

  He rose, and I ripped the mask off, finally feeling like I could breathe again as my hair tumbled down my back.

  “Where the fuck have you been?” Nolan hissed, stalking toward me. His hands were rough as they wrapped around me, hauling me up into his chest. “I’ve been going out of my damned mind.”

  An adrenaline crash had been coming, and when he held me tightly, a huge breath left me. Boneless, I sank against him, letting him hold me. I needed the comfort, and Nolan was a first-rate hugger.

  “Sorry,” I murmured, well aware that Mattie was still sound asleep. “I got knocked into a tunnel and a guard followed me. Had to fight him off, but I made it back.”

  Nolan’s chest rumbled, anger and concern in his gaze as he pulled back to see me better. “You fought a Swiss guard?”

  Rolling my eyes, I snorted. “Don’t sound so surprised, dude. Just because I’m a chick doesn’t mean I’m useless.”

  One of those “less” words I hated.

  Nolan didn’t laugh, still looking dead serious. “It’s not that I think you’re useless, far from it. The guys on the team will probably talk about the hot chick who could pluck a seventy-kilometer-an-hour ball out of the air for the rest of their lives. But Rafe’s guards … they’re highly highly trained. It’s something that is a big deal in the Switzerlands.”

  Yeah, I could tell that from the way the crown prince fought.

  “What’s Jordan’s persona?” I asked, wanting confirmation.

  Nolan jerked back at my sudden subject change. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I don’t know. None of us know each other’s.”

  I could tell he was lying. Maybe not about everything, but I had a feeling he at least suspected the personas of his friends.

  I let him get away with it though. I was too tired tonight to push, and I was certain that Fallen Angel was Rafe. I really didn’t need any confirmation.

  Mattie started to stir on the bed, and Nolan jerked into action, shoving my mask into a drawer before pushing me to the bathroom. “Shower,” he said, “I’ll get you your room back.”

  I ventured into my bathroom, realizing how much I actually did want a shower. Through the open door I heard murmuring, and then the twins called out their goodbyes. I replied as my front door closed.

  Stripping, I turned the water on hot and waited for steam to fill the room. Stepping inside, I dropped my head back and let the spray wash over me. My hands pressed into the wall, and I left them there to stabilize, even though I wasn’t really that shaken. If anything, I felt a sense of relaxed relief that I’d gotten some fighting in tonight.

  At one point my Sensei had warned me that I couldn’t let fighting take me over, that I needed balance, but I’d tried and there was nothing that gave me the same release.

  I’d been weak and vulnerable at one point in my life, a point where everything had been taken from me, a point where I’d lived in fear.

  Learning to fight, to defend myself … it had given me all of it back—a sense of self and sense of worth, a sense of safety in this fucked-up world.

  And I could admit it. I was addicted.

  Chapter 16

  The weekend passed in a blur, and I spent most of it either studying or trying to wrap my head around everything that’d happened on Friday night. The fight club … it was really the best discovery I could have made here. But would it continue on now that the guards had found them? I’d be devastated to lose it before I had a chance to fight.

  I’d have to ask Nolan when we got a second alone.

  On Monday morning, I dragged my exhausted ass out of bed and cranked my shower to cold. Short of a damn miracle, that was my best hope for making it through the day.

  Once I’d dressed in a clean uniform, I scraped my hair into a messy French braid and grabbed my damn near empty backpack. Without the need for all my physical books, my back would be thanking me, which reminded me to do something nice for Mattie.

  Yanking open my bedroom door, I almost collided with Alex’s raised fist.

  “Uh, hey,” I greeted him, taking in his slightly dazed expression. “Did we make breakfast plans?” It was entirely possible that had happened while I was nodding and smiling and not really listening on Friday.

  Alex smiled and lowered his hand. He’d clearly been about to knock on my door when I’d pulled it open. “No, I just haven’t seen you all weekend and thought maybe I could walk with you to breakfast.” I’d made excuses all weekend not to do anything. Alex had been so sweet in his messages, but I’d been caught up in my own head.

  “Might be nice to have a few minutes alone before Mattie steals you away again,” he finished. There was an edge to his voice that said he was still a bit pissed about how last time had worked out.

  Whatever, their issues were their own to work out. Right now I was too busy wondering why I’d been ignoring him all weekend. I mean, the boy was damned sexy, and all I could think about was our last kiss.

  I stepped into him. “Well, I’m glad you stopped by. I didn’t sleep very well, so this is a pretty great way to start my day.” Acting on instinct, I raised up on my toes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. A quick kiss that quickly turned into a longer, heated kiss as Alex reciprocated with enthusiasm, cupping my face with his large, tanned hands.

  When we separated, we were both breathing heavily, and the look in Alex’s ocean-blue eyes was making my whole body flush with heat.

  “We should probably get to breakfast,” Alex murmured, his gaze locked on my mouth like he wanted to keep kissing me.

  “Sorry,” I murmured, feeling anything but. “Just wanted to say good morning.”

  A wide grin spread across his face. “If that’s how you say good morning, I need to escort you to breakfast every day.”

  I laughed, letting him take my hand and lead me down the hall toward the dining room. It was weird how quickly we’d fallen into this… thing. Relationship? It felt all kinds of wrong to say I was dating a crown prince, but Alex wasn’t exactly treating me like his dirty little secret.

  “So, how was your movie date on Friday?” he asked as we walked together, our hands still joined.

  My mind flashed back to the hidden passageways, the illegal fight setup, the Swiss guards… Rafe.

  “Mattie has a thing for old movies,” Alex continued, totally unaware of where my brain had wandered off to. “She probably made you watch a bunch with her favorite old Hollywood actors, huh?”

  I couldn’t even remember what movies the twins had brought. Too much had happened since then. But it made me wonder…

  “You seem to know a lot about Mattie and Nolan, considering you guys dislike each other so much.” It was a statement, but the question was pretty clear.

  Alex’s nose wrinkled slightly, and he gave a small shrug. “We all used to be friends ages ago. I guess so many of the royal houses having kids around the same time gave them some crazy idea that we could all hang out and make alliance
s and shit.”

  That idea wasn’t totally shocking, but trying to imagine Alex actually friends with the twins… or Alex, Rafe, and Jordan… Come to think of it, yeah, I could see that. Something bad must have happened to push him so far on the outs with their crew, though.

  “Anyway, it’s old news,” Alex continued, clearly not planning on explaining any further. “What classes do you have today?”

  Letting the subject slide, I let go of his hand to bring up my schedule on my new palm reader.

  “Morning, Violet,” someone called out, and I glanced away from my display to see Jordan wandering down the hall looking half-asleep. “Alex still hanging around like a bad smell, huh? Need me to take care of him for you?” He spoke like the blond prince wasn’t standing right there, and it was awkward as all fuck.

  “As if you could,” Alex sneered back at him. “But there’s no need for your posturing, Jordy. I was only walking Violet to breakfast. I have an early tutorial with Professor Langley, anyway.” Deliberately giving his back to Jordan, he turned to me. “I’ll see you in the library after classes?” His eyes were so full of nervous hope that it made my belly flip, and I nodded.

  “Can’t wait,” I told him.

  After another quick kiss, Alex headed off in the direction of the tutorial suites, leaving me standing in front of a frowning American prince.

  “What?” I demanded when Jordan continued to stare.

  He arched a brow, wiping his frown away. “What do you even see in that douche, Violet?”

  He started walking, and I hurried to follow, my jaw slightly unhinged at his blunt words. “Uh, he’s nice, handsome, and funny. Why shouldn’t I like him?”

  Jordan scoffed slightly. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because he murdered his fiancée almost three years ago?”

  What?! I ground to a halt.

  “That wasn’t murder, bro,” Nolan chimed in, joining us. We were right near our usual table. “Jasmine fell, remember?” His heavy sarcasm told me all I needed to know on whether he believed that line. “But you know Dean Morgan will have your balls if you’re caught talking about it. Hey, new girl. ’Sup?” He gave me a narrow-eyed glare that implied far too many things all at once. “How was your weekend? We need to do another movie night soon.” Pretty sure he’d deliberately used those words. But I couldn’t tell if he was warning me or letting me know there would be another fight soon.

  Glaring back at him, I took my time to sit down and arrange my skirt.

  “Oh yeah, you had a movie night with the twins?” Jordan was the picture of fucking innocence. Like he hadn’t just dropped a fucking bombshell about my sort-of boyfriend and that he hadn’t been sneaking into my room during said “movie night” to wake Nolan for their super secret nighttime activities.

  I cleared my throat and gave Jordan a plastic smile. “Uh-huh, sure did. What were you up to over the weekend?”

  Jordan—poor darling—had no clue that I knew where he’d been. Where they’d all been.

  “Just studying,” the American prince lied, glancing up as his brooding, bad-tempered Swiss friend pulled out the chair next to him.

  Rafe’s stare lingered on me way too long. Long enough that the silence grew awkward, and I made a mental choice. Fuck him and his attempt to conceal his identity, and seriously fuck his bad attitude toward me. Clearly his friends saw something in me worthwhile of their friendship, so seriously. Screw. Him.

  “Hey, Jordan?” I placed my hand on his forearm and pitched my voice low, inviting him to lean in like I wanted to speak privately. He did exactly that because I was no slouch in the flirting department. Just because I had planned not to get mixed up with the royals didn’t mean I couldn’t have.

  Jordan’s dark brown eyes lit with curiosity as he angled toward me, his unanswered question to Rafe already forgotten. “What’s up, Violet?”

  “I wanted to say thank you,” I said quietly—but not so quietly that Rafe couldn’t hear me. Jordan blinked at me in clear confusion, and I swallowed my urge to laugh. “For Friday night,” I continued with my act, “I really appreciate your help getting out of those tunnels.”

  Nolan groaned, but the American prince’s eyes widened, and he shot a lightning fast glance at his friends. I pretended not to notice, all the while laughing my ass off inside my head. From the corner of my eye, I could see Rafe’s knuckles turning white where he clenched the side of the table as he listened to our conversation.

  “I have to say, you’re really good,” I turned up the gushing to a point where I wanted to cringe just hearing myself. “Maybe you could teach me some things?” Jordan’s eyes were now wide and his jaw slightly unhinged, and Rafe was like a fucking storm cloud. Nolan looked resigned. Whatever, I was tired enough that I deserved a little fun.

  “Um… yeah?” Jordan nodded slowly, and when Rafe made an outraged noise, I needed to cough to hide a laugh. “I’d love to, um, teach you things. All the things.”

  Jordan had zero clue what I was talking about, but was playing along anyway. What a champ.

  Fuck it, time to hammer it home.

  “Awesome! You’re the best, Jordan. And since we’re being so honest now, I just want to say you don’t have to worry.” I dropped my voice to a stage whisper that Rafe would have no trouble listening in on. “I won’t tell anyone that you’re Fallen Angel.”

  Nolan sprayed his juice all over the tablecloth and something cracked.

  Holy shit, did Rafe just break the table?

  Points to Jordan, though, the dude maintained a carefully neutral expression as I smiled innocently and batted my lashes at him.

  “Cool,” he murmured. “Best we keep that… between us. Now tell me again how great I am?”

  “Jordan,” Rafe damn near barked, scraping his chair back from the table. “A word.”

  The American prince sighed and gave me an apologetic look. “Sorry, Violet. Some people have no manners. Hold that thought?”

  Again, I smiled and batted my lashes, as Rafe practically dragged his friend away from our breakfast table.

  “Uh…” Nolan reminded me that he was still there, even while he mopped up spilled juice. “You know Jordan isn’t Fallen Angel, right?”

  I dropped my dumb airhead act and narrowed my eyes at him. “Thought you didn’t know each other’s personas, Noles.”

  He glared back at me. “We don’t. I’m just… guessing.”

  Liar.

  “Uh-huh, sure.”

  We stared at each other for a moment longer, then Nolan’s eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. “Oh shit. You’re messing with them.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied right back. “Hey, did Rafe seriously just break the table? What is that dude’s problem?” Yep, I definitely raised my voice enough on that question so the two princes on their way back to our table heard me loud and clear.

  “Rafe broke our table?” Mattie repeated, dropping into one of the available chairs. “What gives, dude? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?” She wrinkled her nose at the sexy Swiss prince, who just death-glared back at her. Not that she noticed; she was busy sending a message on her palm reader already.

  The waiter came by to take our breakfast orders, and there was a small lull in the conversation until he left again.

  “Where is everyone this morning?” Mattie asked, frowning at the empty chairs around the table. I could barely even remember who their other friends were, aside from bitchy Princess Claudette. “Was there a party last night that I wasn’t invited to?”

  Ignoring her, Jordan shifted in his seat beside me, leaning back in to whisper in my ear. “So, about those lessons you wanted. I’m free this afternoon if you are?” His eyes sparkled with mischief, and I suspected Rafe’s “word” with him hadn’t gone quite as planned. Ha, sucker.

  “For the Fallen Angel?” I whispered back. “I can make time.” I added an eyelash flutter and swallowed a snicker at Jordan’s mischievous grin. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who
got a rise out of pissing Rafe off.

  “Fantastic,” Jordan replied. “I’m looking forward to getting hands on with you, Vi.”

  Okay, that was flirty.

  Breaking glass startled me, and everyone stared at Rafe. His water glass was in pieces in front of him, his hand dripping blood.

  “Fuck, dude, you’re all kinds of clumsy this morning,” Jordan chastised his friend, clapping him on the shoulder, a smirk hovering. “Come on, let’s get that fixed up.”

  The two of them left the table right as our breakfast arrived, so I couldn’t be sure if the conflicted look Rafe shot over his shoulder was at me or his eggs benedict.

  Chapter 17

  Classes again that week were grueling, and the strange combination of subjects left me a bit confused as to what my degree was actually in. When they’d told me I’d won the ballot, I’d expressed an interest in sports medicine, but my classes and schedule had been put together without my input.

  A massive overload of core reading saw me rain-checking on my “training” with Jordan and keeping my study dates with Alex in the library. Good thing, too. Alex was so much more deserving of my time and attention than pissing off Rafe. And during this time together our relationship grew and deepened, and for the most part, I had no niggling doubts about the Australasian prince’s character.

  Sure, after the huge-ass accusation Jordan had dropped about Alex, I’d taken the time to look into the matter. I’d done hours of research on his “murdered” fiancée, but there had been not one shred of proof. Her death had been ruled an accident. It was signed off by multiple witnesses.

  So I was giving Alex the benefit of the doubt.

  He deserved it.

  * * *

  Over time I fell into a rhythm of meals with Mattie and Nolan—while ignoring Rafe and deliberately flirting with Jordan—then spending every afternoon in the library with Alex after soccer practice. I caught up on a heap of assignments, but also spent a good deal of time making out with him in the dark corners of the religion section.