Marked (Last Princess Book 1)

by A. M. Hardin

  They sit like that for a while before they both go inside.

  “I can’t help but notice that her mom never actually answered her question,” Xander says the exact thing I’m thinking.

  “It could be nothing,” Andrei replies. “I’ve got a few things I need to take care of. You two stay with the princess. Make sure nothing happens. If it does, call me.”

  “Of course,” I mutter, my eyes still stuck on the door that Cherish and her mom went through.

  Andrei leaves, and Xander looks at me.

  “Her mom’s deliberately hiding the truth from her. Why though?” he asks.

  I shrug. “Maybe she thinks she’ll be safer that way?”

  He shakes his head. “I don’t think it’s that. I think her mom knows that something’s going to happen, and Cherish is going to be leaving, but not to go to college.”

  “Why would she do that, though? Not tell her that she won’t even be leaving to go to school, instead getting her hopes up for something that will never happen because of the fact that the King wants her back at the palace where she can be put under heavy guard and taught what she needs to know about her powers.”

  “I don’t have all the answers.” Xander runs a hand through his hair, clearly aggravated. “It’s just a feeling. I’m not sure.”

  “This guessing game shit is for the fucking birds,” I snap, getting irritated that we don’t have the answers we need to properly guard our princess.

  “Shit. You’re telling me.” Xander chuckles humorlessly.

  Chapter Seven

  Cherish

  I look at my sister in the mirror while she curls my hair. "Are you sure you don't want to come?" I ask for the third time since I started getting ready for the prom.

  Ella flashes a smile at me. "I'm so sure. You know I'm not much of a people person, and I'd much rather be home, hanging out with mom and dad anyway."

  I'm silent for a minute before nodding my head begrudgingly. "Okay. If you're sure."

  We fall quiet as she finishes the final curls and sprays my hair with the heavy duty shit, since my hair doesn't always stay the way it was meant to. The curls will at least partially be there by the end of the night instead of leaving me with frizzy hair.

  I stand and move to the floor length mirror and examine myself in the dress my mom made for me to wear. It's a baby pink sleeveless with a deep v-neck. There's a slit down the middle from high up on my thigh to almost make it indecent. It almost gives the dress a cloak feeling.

  In short, the dress is pure perfection, and I have to agree with Zoe and Lucy. My mom always makes the best dresses.

  "You look beautiful, Cherish," my sister says with a large smile gracing her face.

  I give her a hug and hold her tightly to me. "Thank you for helping me get ready." I pick my phone up from the dresser beside me and check the time. "Shit. I've gotta go get Lucy and Zoe. I'll see you later?"

  She chuckles. "Go have fun. Let me know how things go."

  I give her one last quick hug before putting my phone, money, and license in my bra - best fucking purse ever when you don't want to carry one around, just saying.

  I grab my keys off the counter on the way out of the house, stopping to give my parents each a quick kiss on the cheek. I carefully put the bottom of my dress in the car after sitting, making sure it doesn't get shut in the door.

  It doesn't take long to get to Lucy's house, where she and Zoe got ready. I stay in the car, deciding not to fight with my dress a second time and honk the horn to let them know I'm here.

  Three minutes later they walk out, dressed in the dresses they had picked out at the mall last weekend. Zoe wobbles slightly on her heels while she walks to the passenger side. They get in the car and buckle themselves in while I start to pull out of Lucy's driveway.

  "Remind me again why it's a requirement to wear heels," Zoe asks, making Lucy and I laugh.

  "Because your dress is a little bit too long for you to be walking around without them when you'll fall flat on your face if you don't wear them," Lucy explains.

  Zoe pouts the entire way to the school, much to my amusement. Lucy rolls her eyes when we get out of the car and she sees that Zoe's still pouting about having to wear her heels.

  "Buck up, Buttercup," Lucy says to Zoe, linking her arms through mine and Zoe's.

  "I'm totally bucked up," Zoe lies. We laugh.

  "Zoe, since you have a bag, would you mind putting my keys in there?" I ask. "I didn't bring one, but I don't want weird lumps in my boobs from my keys."

  Lucy eyes me up and down. "You decided to use your boobs as a purse tonight?" I shrug. "By the way, we were totally right. Your dress is absolutely gorgeous. As usual."

  "Mom did really good with this one," I admit, proud of my beautiful floor-length gown.

  "She did!" Zoe agrees with a smile. "Do you think I could get her to make a graduation dress for me?"

  "Oh, and for me, too?" Lucy's face lights up at the idea.

  "Yeah, I can ask her. If she says yes, she'll most likely need you guys to come over for fittings to get your sizes down."

  "Perfect!" Zoe exclaims happily.

  Lucy jabs my ribs with her elbow. "You've got admirers again. How the hell did they get tickets so last minute?"

  I frown and look in the direction Lucy's referring to. Sure enough, there's Kade and his friends, Xander and Andrei. I haven’t talked with Xander or Andrei, but I've talked to Kade the one time before I got suspended since he sits next to me in one of my classes. Weirdly, I've got at least one of them in each of my afternoon classes according to Zoe and Lucy, but only Kade in one of my classes in the morning.

  "I'm not sure, I thought the tickets were sold out," Zoe says thoughtfully.

  Lucy snorts. "Oh my god. We're not the only ones who noticed their interest in you either." She lifts her chin to the entrance of the school where Adam's standing. His face is twisted in an angry scowl as his head goes from me to Kade, Xander, and Andrei. He does not look happy.

  "He looks supremely pissed off by the attention the three new guys are giving you," Zoe says, her head tilting to the side. "Weird."

  I take my eyes off the group of hot-ass guys watching me and swivel my gaze to Zoe. "What do you mean weird?" I ask, though admittedly, I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying.

  "It's weird because he cheated on you, but he's acting like he's jealous. You think that maybe he doesn't want to see anyone else show any interest in you?"

  We get to the entrance to the school and Zoe hands our tickets over to the attendants and we continue through. We had her keep them since there's less likely of a chance that she'd lose the damn things. If it were at my house, it would have been thrown away on accident. If it were at Lucy's house it would have probably just been lost in a mountain of papers.

  Ignoring Adam, we walk past him and into the school. I can’t help but smile at the bandage at the bridge of his nose and bruising from when I punched him.

  “Let’s go dance!” Lucy shouts excitedly, practically dragging Zoe and me into the gym that they had transformed for prom.

  When we get inside we spot the area where the other girls had put their shoes to the side and ditch ours the same way. I’ve never understood the whole point of wearing the shoes if we’re just going to take them off to dance in the first place, but it works.

  The music pulses around us, and I feel a wave of apprehension shiver down my spine. I turn and watch everyone on the dance floor for a long minute before Lucy grabs my hand and pulls me out of my daze.

  “You okay?” she shouts over the music, hips swaying to the beat.

  I nod and flash her a smile, not wanting to lie out loud that I have a bad feeling about tonight.

  Lucy twirls me around, making me laugh as I spin. “C’mon! It’s prom night! Dance, Cherish!”

  I laugh and bump my hip against Zoe’s as she comes close, almost making her stumble because I startled her. Lucy points at Zoe and laughs at the irritated ex
pression on her face.

  We lose ourselves in the music, our bodies moving to the beat. I freeze when I feel a pair of hands settle on my hips, and a hard body lines themselves up against my back. Turning my head slightly, I smile softly when I see Kade’s grinning face.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, feeling breathless.

  “Dancing,” he says with a shrug. He brings his mouth down to my ear. “You look absolutely stunning, Cherish.” Heat rushes to my cheeks. He grabs my hand and twirls me out in front of him before pulling me back into his body.

  “Where are your friends?” I ask after several minutes of dancing with Kade.

  He nods his head to the side, bringing my attention to the two gods leaning against the wall, watching Kade and me very, very closely.

  “They’re not going to dance?”

  He shakes his head. “Nah, they’d rather just watch you dance.”

  I frown at his choice of words. An idea comes to mind, and I hold my finger up to him in a one minute gesture. He nods and steps back. I ignore Lucy’s shit-eating grin and make my way to Andrei and Xander.

  “Hey, you guys going to come dance, too?” I ask sweetly.

  They exchange a look before Andrei shakes his head. “No. I’m fine right here.”

  “I’m good,” Xander says, a hint of amusement in his gaze as he watches me.

  I purse my lips and grab their hands and start dragging them to where my friends are dancing next to Kade. “You’re dancing,” I announce, not giving them a choice.

  Kade bites his lip, almost like he’s fighting a laugh.

  Andrei glares at him while Xander outright laughs. “You’re sure a bossy one, aren’t you, Princess?” Xander asks.

  “There’s no one more bossy than I am,” I admit proudly, smiling at the nickname. “Now dance!”

  Andrei groans, seeming pained. Guess he doesn’t really like dancing. Xander and Kade start dancing next to us with Lucy and Zoe. We alternate between the guys, laughing and dancing, just having fun. I laugh everytime Andrei has to dance with one of us because his eyes keep darting off to the side, like he’s looking for an escape.

  After at least an hour of dancing without stopping I finally grab hold of Lucy and Zoe’s hands, pulling them away from the guys and to me. “Drinks and bathroom.” The girls nod and Kade raises a brow at us.

  “Everything okay?” he asks.

  “Yeah, we’re going to get drinks and use the restroom,” I assure him. “We’ll be back.”

  We turn to leave without waiting for a response and rush out to the bathroom.

  After using the restroom we walk out and stop at the sight of Gloria glaring at me.

  I inwardly roll my eyes. “Hello, Gloria.”

  “Stay away from them,” she snarls.

  Lucy steps forward, stopping only when I place a hand on her shoulder and shake my head at her.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say calmly.

  “Adam and the new guys. Stay away from them.”

  I raise a brow at her. “I don’t want Adam, Gloria. You’re more than welcome to have my leftovers. Do you even know the new guys’ names?” I ask, curious.

  “Of course I do! Their names are Kaden, Xavier, and Andrew.”

  Lucy laughs outright, a loud–almost giddy–sound. Zoe snickers behind me and I have to fight the urge to laugh. Although from the flush starting on Gloria’s face I can’t stop the smile from gracing my lips.

  “Their names are Kade, Xander, and Andrei,” I say slowly, like I’m talking to a toddler.

  Gloria’s fists clench at her sides. “They’re not for you to have,” she growls, not acknowledging that she got their names wrong. She was close. But it was still wrong.

  I point to myself. “Does this look like the face of someone who gives a shit about your twisted little head and what it deems is yours?”

  Gloria glares at me. “Just stay away. They’re mine.” She turns to walk away, and as soon as she’s out of sight, I lose the battle. I laugh. I laugh hard.

  “What the fuck has gotten into her?” Zoe asks.

  “I don’t know, but it was entertaining as fuck.” Lucy gives us a thumbs up while she’s doubled over from laughing. “That was awesome!”

  I roll my eyes at my friend. “We should get ba-“ I start but my words are cut off by me bumping into none other than Adam. I groan loudly. “What the fuck? Is it shit on Cherish night?” I ask no one in particular.

  Adam flicks his gaze across Lucy and Zoe before facing me again. “Can I talk to you outside, Cherish?”

  I blink at him. What? “I’m sorry, what?”

  “Can I talk to you outside?” His eyes flit back to the girls, and he adds, “Alone?”

  I raise a brow at him. “That’s what I thought you said. Are you serious right now?

  “Deadly,” he says softly.

  I roll my eyes. “Fine. Whatever.”

  Chapter Eight

  Cherish

  It takes a few minutes to get Lucy and Zoe to leave me with Adam before they finally agree to leave. They leave with a warning to Adam that they’d be back in five minutes if I’m not back in the gym by then.

  I cross my arms and meet his eyes when they’re back inside the gym. “What do you want?”

  Adam looks around for a minute. “Can we talk over there?” He gestures to the end of the hallway. I roll my eyes and walk over to the lockers and lean against them.

  “This is as far as I’m going. Talk.”

  “I, uh, I wanted to apologize,” he says, looking at the floor. “I shouldn’t have talked to you the way I did.”

  I raise a brow. “You needed to talk to me alone… to apologize?” I shake my head. “I’m not buying it. What do you want, Adam?”

  “I want you back.”

  I bark out a laugh. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? Why? Is this because I broke your nose?”

  “It has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with the fact that I miss yo–”

  I cut him off with a shake of my head. “Try again.”

  “I-I don’t like how the new guys watch you. You were mine first. You are mine,” he finally says.

  I double-blink at him, my mouth open in shock. “You want me back,” I say slowly, “because you’re jealous?” I don’t believe this shit. I wave a hand in front of me dismissively. “Not happening, Adam. You fucked up when you cheated on me with Gloria. I’m not taking you back.”

  “I won’t cheat on you again,” he swears, an almost desperate gleam in his eyes.

  “Are you kidding? There’s no way in hell that there’s any guarantee that you won’t cheat on me again. We’re not getting back together. Get that through your head!”

  I push off the lockers and stalk past him. He grabs my arm tightly and twirls me around to face him, his fingers biting into my skin hard enough that I know I’ll have bruises. I try to shake off his hand but can’t. Looking in his eyes, I swallow at the unadulterated rage I see there.

  “Are you fucking them?” he spits. “Is that why you won’t come back to me?”

  “I won’t come back to you because you’re a fucking asshole.” I wrench my arm away again, with no luck. “Let me go, Adam. You’re hurting me.”

  He steps closer to me, pressing into my personal space and grabs my other arm, just as tightly as he has the other. He has me so close that I have no way of getting out of his grip without somehow losing my balance and hurting myself in the process. He shakes me violently. “It’s true! You’re fucking them! You’re such a goddamn whore, Cherish. How could you do that to me?”

  I whimper as his grip tightens more. I didn’t think that was possible. “Adam. Please. You’re hurting me,” I whisper.

  I can't believe this is happening right now. Adam's never hurt me before. He's never even come close to hurting me.

  "You're mine, Cherish!" he growls a second before slamming his mouth against mine, painfully and punishingly. He bites my lip hard when I strugg
le to get out away from him.

  "What are you doing?" The question Xander asks is delivered with a lethal tone that brings chills down my back.

  Adam tears his mouth from mine, his nails start to dig into my flesh as he glares at Xander at my back. I wince, biting the inside of my cheek to hold in the whimper of pain.

  "She's mine," Adam repeats his words from earlier. "She'll never be yours. Leave. Now."

  A dark chuckle. "Let her go, you're hurting her," Andrei says, shocking me. I thought that it was just Xander out here. I turn my head to see that along with Xander and Andrei, Kade, Lucy, and Zoe are here too. They all look murderous.

  Adam scoffs. "I'm not hurting her."

  I glare at him. "I've already told you that you're hurting me, Adam. Please let me go," I ask again. Now that he's not close enough that I can't move my legs if he doesn't let me go, I can actually fight him off, but I'm giving him the chance to do the right thing.

  Adam's eyes flare in anger, something else shimmers there, but it's gone before I realize what it is, and I hear Kade curse under his breath.

  "I've asked you to let me go twice now," I say softly, my tone flat. "I will not ask again." That's the only warning I give him and when he doesn’t let me go after a few heartbeats, I bring my knee up and connect with his groin. Thank god this dress has that opening, I wouldn't have been able to do this in one of the dresses from the store I had tried on.

  Instantly, his hands drop from my arms as he goes to cup himself before dropping to the floor. I feel someone's hands wrap around my waist and pull me back, so I'm plastered against a hard body. I peek up and see Xander holding me protectively against his body. Andrei and Kade move in front of us, stepping between Adam and me.

  "You okay?" Xander asks softly.

  I nod. "I'm okay. I'm going to have some wicked bruising though," I mutter, eyeing my arms where there's already bruises forming.

  "Xander, Kade, take the girls back to the gym, I want a word with Adam," Andrei says quietly, his voice vibrating with anger.

  I shake my head. "I uh, I just want to go home." I can't wrap my mind around the fact that Adam had actually hurt me. Tried forcing himself on me. No, he did force himself on me. I'm just lucky he didn't get farther.