by Nora Cobb
Luckily, he was tied up in the match itself and didn’t once glance in my direction. Still, he was a formidable player and very easy on the eyes, his strong forearms handling his polo stick expertly as he charged about the field. I had wished once upon a time that things were different between us, but now, watching Arthur play, I realized I didn’t have strong feelings for him any longer.
Maybe some of it had to do with the lies between us, but it also made me wonder if I really liked him that much to begin with. Our time together had been crazy, but also so brief that if he hadn’t taken my virginity, I might not even remember it now.
That and Johanna’s words were not something I could forget. Arthur needed me, or rather my title. He needed me to want to keep him close.
I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to be friends with someone like that.
A small laugh escaped me, and I was grateful that Johanna was immersed in the match and not paying much attention to me. Didn’t they all need something? I hadn’t figured out exactly what the other two kings wanted, but I was one hundred percent positive that they wanted something.
Arthur just had been far too transparent and couldn’t hide it any longer.
But as I had with Max, I cheered Arthur on to victory, wondering the exact same thing about Arthur’s future and what he would do if I didn’t help him by marrying him.
Which I wasn’t going to do.
***
The final king of the day was Royce and I was actually looking forward to seeing him.
Surprise, surprise. I didn’t want to feel this way about Royce. He had been a pain in my side since the moment I had gotten to Weissmore, but he was also the only one who had actually helped me along in my search for both my father and my mother.
Plus, he had helped me find my father’s will, which had opened up all sorts of questions.
Royce was giving a fencing demonstration in the gym and I was grateful for the warmer seating as we piled into the cushioned bleachers with our hot chocolate warming our hands through the cups. “I could have really used this outside,” Johanna muttered as the demonstrations began. “And why do they have to wear those complete bodysuits? Talk about putting a damper on the eye candy.”
I gave her a rueful smile. “Maybe because they know your eyes have been doing double time today.”
She laughed and I turned my attention back to the mat, where Royce was warming up. It was easy to pick him out amongst the others and I tried not to get excited by the sheer sight of him.
I mean, this guy had been my enemy for so long, yet he was now my partner in crime, the only person that I could rely on to help me find out about my past.
The match started and Royce dropped the helmet over his head but not before I saw his cocky grin as he did so. The guy was so cocky and sure of himself and I was drawn to it, wanting to have the same level of confidence myself. Could I ever be that way? I was a relatively nice person, not one to step on others as I had been stepped on for most of my life.
But the kings didn’t care who they stepped on or what had to be done to elevate their status.
And as a member of the royal family, I would be required to do the same. Maybe I should ask Royce for pointers for the crap that Arthur was teaching me, I was never going to be like them.
Royce started to toy with his opponent, his body moving fluidly with each step and I smiled, thinking of when he had knelt before me in the crypt. He must really want to be aligned with my family’s tree to do so, for I imagined Royce never knelt before anyone.
But I couldn’t marry him either, no matter how much he attempted to get me to agree to his crazy plan. By the looks of the other girls in attendance, they would likely tell me that I was crazy to turn him down.
I just couldn’t. I wasn’t ready and since there was no age limitation on my father’s decree, I could take all the time I needed to gain that money.
Or not take it at all.
I watched Royce thrust the blunted fencing sword at his opponent in rapid succession, taking him down in a matter of minutes. The place went crazy when he removed his helmet and did a bow, his cocky grin present.
Royce was a wild card I hadn’t expected, nor did I know what to do with.
After Johanna and made it back to her dorm, I was still thinking about the kings and each one’s needs from me. “Can I ask you a question?”
She looked at me. “Sure. You know you can.”
“You promise you won’t get mad?”
“Oh for God’s sake, just ask the question, Anna.”
“What is your family’s story?”
Johanna paused. “What do you want to know?”
I fiddled with the pillow in my lap, knowing I shouldn’t pry. “Arthur brought up something a while back about your family.”
She laughed harshly. “About us being outcasts as well?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “I’m just trying to figure out the difference between you and Max.”
Johanna sighed. “There is no difference, Anna. We are both outcasts, just him a little more than me. My family can still get into some good political parties and my father has been working his ass off to make our family one of the greats again. There’s not a family in this world that would have done anything different than we did back then.”
I could see that the conversation pained Johanna, so I didn’t ask any more questions and she excused herself a moment later, hurrying out of the room.
I groaned, knowing that I had brought up something she didn’t care to talk about and why I had, I really didn’t know, but I had to group Johanna in the same bucket as the kings. If what she was saying was the truth, then Johanna needed to have strong political and social connections, meaning that she had hit the lottery by getting me as a roommate.
That is, if I decided to take my rightful place.
Sighing, I leaned back on my pillows, staring at Johanna’s empty bed. I just wanted to find out what happened to my mother. That was my first goal. I didn’t care about the money that my father had left or anything else in that will, even if I had read it a million times since we had found it.
I just wanted to know what sort of life my mother had endured or if she was truly my father’s love. I wanted to know how I came about and if I meant anything to either one of them.
I wanted to feel wanted, to feel loved, even if it was beyond the grave.
My phone buzzed and I picked it up, smiling as I saw the text.
I saw you.
No, you didn’t. There were like a hundred people in that gym today. There’s no way you could have seen me.
The three little dots appeared, and I breathlessly awaited Royce’s response. This was crazy. I couldn’t have this sort of attraction to him right now. I had just gotten out of my mess with Arthur and the last thing I needed was another man in my life trying to dictate my future.
What are you doing?
Texting you.
What else?
I rolled my eyes. The man was like a dog with a bone. And thinking about my mom’s identity. I was surprised that I had even told him that, something so personal to the one person who had been my enemy.
I will help you find your mother’s identity, pauper. There’s no need to ask.
That caught me off guard. I set my phone on the table and stared at it. Royce was really going to help me. Was his help going to be like Arthur’s though?
Because if so, I didn’t need his help. Heck, I was better off.
But what if it wasn’t? What if Royce, for whatever reason, was willing to help me out and get some good, concrete information about my mom? I knew he had connections, likely wider ranging than any I could get my hands on. After all, hadn’t his father been the one to point us to the will?
This could be the thing I needed to add to the already growing pile of questions that I couldn’t answer.
Which meant I would have to trust Royce.
Picking up the phone again, I fired off a text to him, hoping that I wasn’t maki
ng a huge mistake. I needed his help and if it fell flat, then I guessed I would push on until I found something.
All right, let’s meet tomorrow to discuss.
I stared at the waiting screen for Royce’s response, my heart hammering in my chest. He had offered, hadn’t he? Royce had so far proven to not be the same guy that had driven me crazy when I had first arrived.
No, he had helped me, which was going to do nothing but piss Arthur off, but I didn’t care.
In fact, he didn’t have to know. I didn’t owe him anything. I didn’t even have to tell Johanna if I didn’t want to. This was my life, my future, and not theirs.
It was high time that I remembered that. No one was going to truly live this future except me. My phone buzzed and my breath caught as I saw his words.
See you tomorrow, pauper.
Chapter 8
Royce
I was prepared for when Anna walked in the room the next afternoon, leaning up against the wall with my lazy-ass grin on my face.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the actual sight of her.
Hell, I didn’t think I would ever be prepared when she walked in the room.
“Royce,” she said, her expression wary.
“Pauper,” I nodded, pushing away from the wall and ignoring the jump of my cock inside my workout pants. “Glad you could make it.”
She rubbed her hands on her arms, looking around. “Why are we here?”
I looked around my domain, my sanctuary. “Because you need to know how to handle yourself as an empress and I’m just the person to teach you.”
“But Arthur has been teaching me,” she said, eyeing the weapons. “And I don’t think that an empress goes around chopping heads off with her sword.”
I laughed. “So, what has dear old Art been teaching you?” I picked up the sword and started toward her, palming the cold steel handle in my hand. It felt at home in my hand, like an old friend that never had done me wrong. “How to publicly acknowledge someone? Which family is the right one to align yourself with? Which fork to use on the appetizers?”
The dull flush of her cheeks told me I had guessed right. I did a slow circle around Anna, seeing the slight tremble in her body as I did so. Once I was at her back, I leaned in, taking a whiff of her clean scent guiltily.
That was the scent that haunted me at night.
“W-what are you doing?” she asked.
Get a fucking grip. “I want to teach you everything that Arthur is not,” I answered, coming around to the front, the sword still in my hand. “When you are a royal, your life is in constant danger.”
Anna tipped her chin upward, that defiance in her eyes warming my black heart. “It is when you are dirt poor as well.”
I cocked my head to the side, surprised by her words. “What do you mean by that?”
Her fist came out of nowhere, colliding in the same fucking spot as Max’s had a few days ago. Stumbling back, I dropped the sword on the mat, nearly losing my balance in the process.
“Oh my God. I am so sorry, Royce. I didn’t think I hit you that hard.”
“You fucking hit me,” I answered, righting myself as I rubbed my jaw.
Her mouth was dropped open, horror on her face. “I’m sorry. I just … Why didn’t you block it?”
I glowered at her. Why the hell hadn’t I blocked it?
Because I wasn’t expecting her to throw a mean right hook, that’s why. “Ouch.”
She walked to me and swatted my hand away, her fingers lightly touching the bruise on my jawline. “I didn’t do that,” she said softly.
She was so close I could see the flecks in her eyes, the small mole that was right beside her eye, and my body seized up, not even wanting to fucking breathe lest I scare her back.
Damn if she didn’t smell like vanilla and coconut, two of my favorites.
I tried and failed to remember when Anna had ever been this close to me before without me coercing her to be.
When had I ever thought her to be plain? Up close, Anna had the classic beauty that even without makeup, she could still pull off a polished look.
Realizing she was waiting for me to respond, I cleared my throat. “No, you didn’t. Max did.”
“Max?” she asked, looking up at me, her brow furrowed. “Why would he hit you?”
“Because I insulted him,” I answered, my voice tight. What would she do if I leaned down and kissed the hell out of her? Would she shrink away?
Or would she do something completely unexpected again and kiss me back?
Hell, she was driving me crazy.
To both my relief and disappointment, Anna backed off, dropping her hand. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
Her words hurt more than I thought they would, but I didn’t let her in on my feelings, giving her my cocky grin that matched my rock-hard cock. “Yeah, you shouldn’t be. We kings fight like fucking dogs sometimes.”
“It’s interesting you know,” Anna mused as she picked up my sword. “That you are actually friends to begin with.”
“We have a mutual understanding,” I said, nodding to that sword. “You want to learn how to handle that thing?”
She turned it over in her hands. “It’s heavy.”
“Yeah, it is,” I answered, trying not to think of everything else she could do with those hands of hers. “But once you learn how to handle it, it’s very generous to you in return.”
“Huh,” Anna replied, her fingers touching the steel. I groaned inwardly. I was a fucking king, yet this pauper was destroying me just by touching my sword.
Not my cock, my sword!
No wonder Arthur was panting over her. “Do you want to learn?” I forced out.
Anna shook her head, carefully handing over the sword to me. “No, I’m good. I don’t think I would be any good.”
I didn’t take it. “I think you will be fucking awesome.”
She arched a brow. “A compliment? From a king? I think I will die from shock.”
Her words caused me to laugh aloud. “I’ve been known to give out a compliment or two.”
“But to your pauper?” she asked, carefully placing the sword on the mat. “I mean, that’s like an anomaly.”
Fuck yeah, she was my pauper and I felt like the baddest fucking man on the planet when she said it like that. A primal urge to take her now swept through me, but I knew I was treading on fragile ground to begin with. “I like to throw you a bone so that you will keep coming back for more,” I finally answered.
She shook her head, but there was a smile playing on her lips.
“What?” I asked, my voice coming out more desperate than I liked. I wanted to know what she was thinking, what made Anna tick. Somehow, I felt like there was no one who knew Anna, not really anyway.
Anna sighed, looking down at the sword at her feet. “Nothing. I think I would like to learn sword fighting. That way if I screw up this whole princess slash empress thing, then I can go on the road.”
I choked on my laughter. “Is there anything that comes out of your mouth that will not shock me, pauper?”
She winked at me. “Isn’t that the point, Royce?”
I couldn’t help it; I gave her a real grin, one that was reserved for no one but myself. In my world, I didn’t let people inside. I didn’t let them see the real Royce Whitehall. I couldn’t afford them to see that lest they use it against me or my family.
But Anna, she could drag it out with just a few words and that damn smile of hers and that scared the shit out of me.
Clearing my throat, I reached down and swiped the sword off the mat. “Where did you learn how to fight, pauper?”
“In the orphanage,” she answered, her voice soft. “I don’t know how much you know about orphan kids, but they are the first ones to be picked on in school. We are the first ones to get shoved in lockers, or have food randomly thrown at us because of our hand-me-down clothes.” I watched as she started to walk around the mat, looking at all the weapons that were di
splayed on the wall for fighting. There were all sorts of weapons and I was well versed in all of them, making it a point to learn how to use them all effectively.
It was a thing of mine to never hesitate to pick up a weapon and know how to handle it.
“And then when I was fostered a few times,” Anna continued, drawing in a breath. “I had to protect myself from, well, you know.”
Shit. I hadn’t expected her to say that. Her words reminded me of how differently we had grown up and what I had done to her since her arrival here at the academy, first in the bathroom, and then in the hallway.
