by Nora Cobb
There was no way I was going to. Not now. They all could kiss my ass, but I was going to uncover my family’s secrets and find out why I had been placed in that shelter. Had it been because of Katarina? Had she threatened my mom so much that she feared for my safety?
What had happened to my mom anyway? Who was she, and how had she gotten tangled up in this royal mess?
There were far too many questions!
Standing, I walked over to Johanna’s closet, pulling out an expensive pair of jeans and shirt that I would feel comfortable in. Why I wasn’t wearing my own clothes, I didn’t know, but the black turtleneck and jeans made me feel like I was putting on armor this time around. I had just become a different person and I wanted Arthur to realize that when I paid him a visit.
Johanna’s words returned to me and I let go of the clothes, reminding myself that the kings were not in residence this weekend. Well, that would give me time to put my thoughts together so that I could confront him on Monday, to tell him what I had learned and ask for the rest of the story.
There had to be more, though I didn’t know how much of it I wanted to know. Every piece that I uncovered was changing my life little by little and there could come a time where I would slowly morph into one of them.
I didn’t want to be one of them. I wanted to be me, just with a little more knowledge of who I truly was.
I had to be careful. I had already screwed up by allowing Arthur to get under my skin and that wasn’t turning out so well.
I had to remember that I wasn’t a royal, nor would I ever be one, no matter what I learned.
I was Anna Komita, the pauper and poor little American orphan. I wasn’t this princess that many in the academy had gotten wind of. I wasn’t special nor did I have royal blood running through my veins.
But I was a woman who had been used and manipulated, but refused to lie down and die. I had been used by the one person that I had started to have real feelings for: a person that I thought might have a place in my future.
What an idiot I had been.
Drawing in a tortured breath, I stared at the open closet. I was tired of feeling this way, tired of people just throwing words back at me like I was a nobody. Even the headmistress thought that and somehow, I had ruined her life, even though I didn’t have any part in it.
If it was true what she had said, she should be mad at her husband—my father—for stepping out on her.
But if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be sitting here.
Rubbing a hand over my face, I felt my resolve weaken just a little. I was just a person with wants and I wanted to be loved by someone. I wanted to know where I belonged, who I belonged to, and if I had a family out there, wanting to meet me.
I wanted to know if anyone cared, just a little. It was a lonely place to be sometimes and to know that someone did, well, it would be nice.
Chapter 14
On Monday I plodded through my classes, keeping my head down and hoping that I would not run into the headmistress as I turned every corner. I was concerned that she would try to stifle her secret now that she had spilled it to me, so much so that I barely left my room on Sunday, only going out to get food. Katarina scared the hell out of me, her powers even more. Based on what she had told me in her office, she really wanted me dead.
Why she wasn’t doing it now, I didn’t know, and I doubted I would know for a while at least. It would likely be when I least expected it, which could be any point in time.
Which meant I had to keep my guard up at all times. I couldn’t trust anyone.
Not even Johanna. The thought didn’t make me feel any better, but she was one of them, a royal. I didn’t know what she knew or even how she could be manipulated. She could have a political need to be my friend, though I hoped she didn’t. I really wasn’t sure what her play was or what her family needed but from what everyone had hinted about, her family wasn’t in the best of situations to begin with. Were they looking to make an alliance that would put them back on top?
Or was she truly being genuine in everything she did, and I was just a friend?
Only time would tell but right now, I was just glad to have her on my side.
On Sunday, Johanna had come in her usual cheery self, sticking true to her promise to bring gifts back, and I had spent the afternoon attempting to give them back.
She had refused, of course, and now I had a nice shoulder bag instead of my book bag and the most expensive set of drawing tools that I had ever seen in my life. Though we couldn’t be farther from each other in terms of how we had grown up, I really was glad that she had chosen to be my friend instead of my enemy.
Still, I didn’t tell her anything about what I had learned from Katarina and if Johanna had picked up on any difference in my mood, she didn’t say anything. I wanted to confirm the rest with Arthur, to put the entire story together and process it myself. I still wasn’t so sure how to process the fact that I could be a descendant from an emperor to begin with, nor did I know exactly what it would mean if I had been born outside of my father’s marriage, but there was something that scared Katarina about me being here.
Something I was going to find out.
After my classes were done, I walked out of the academy and took a taxi to Arthur’s mansion, my heart beating fast in my chest. I wasn’t ready for a showdown with him, a part of me wanting to just give in and forgive him for what he had tried to do to me.
Still, though, I didn’t want to be a pawn in anyone’s games, least of all the kings. I was tired of them eyeing me like some sort of future political alliance and now that I knew part of the truth, I was beginning to realize that I must be more powerful than they could dream of.
Which meant they needed me more than I needed them.
The thought carried me all the way to Arthur’s front door, where I knocked instead of walking in like I had done in the past. When he opened the door, his surprise was evident. “Anna.”
“Arthur,” I started, my heart softening at his handsome profile. His hair was tousled, as if he had been running his hands through it, and his customary jeans and T-shirt fit his body so well that I wanted to touch him to ensure that he was really in front of me.
I didn’t, however, tucking my own hands in my pockets so I wouldn’t. “Can I come in?”
He looked at me uncertainly before opening the door wider, giving me entrance into his house. I tried not to think about the things we had done in the entryway, or the living room as I walked in, stopping in my tracks as I found both Royce and Max there, beer bottles in their hands. “Pauper,” Royce acknowledged, a grin on his face. “What a surprise. Did you come to play?”
“No, she didn’t,” Arthur answered for me, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the living room, the other two laughing at our retreat. I allowed this one connection with him, letting down my walls just briefly so I could feel his skin against mine again. Despite everything, I had missed him. It wasn’t just the sex. It was the easy talk we had found with each other, the times that made me forget the chasm of difference that we had between us.
Now, it seemed, I wasn’t so different after all.
Still, I wanted him to pull me into his arms and tell me that everything was going to be okay, that I was freaking out for no reason and that he had seen the error of his ways.
A king on his knees. Yeah, right. I had a better shot with Katarina than I had with Arthur.
Arthur pulled me into his study, shutting the door behind us to give us privacy or so no one would witness what he was about to do to me. Which, I wasn’t sure. I put some distance between us, showing him immediately that I wasn’t here to make up. Arthur stiffened as he realized that I wasn’t here to fall into his arms, and I drummed up the courage to start the conversation.
Luckily, I didn’t have to.
“You talked to the headmistress, didn’t you?”
His words rang in the empty room, resigned more than anything. “I did,” I answered, lifting my chin. I wasn’t going to
lie to him or pretend I hadn’t. Actually, I was damn proud that I had taken that step, even though now I was scared shitless about what she could do to me in the future. I was literally her number one public enemy.
To my surprise, Arthur looked sad about my declaration, swallowing thickly. What was going through his mind? Had he just realized that I no longer needed for him to hold that over my head? He had for so long. “Well, I think I need a drink,” he muttered.
“I need answers,” I said, watching as he crossed the room and poured a healthy amount of scotch in the crystal-cut glass.
His favorite drink.
He took a sip before facing me, his expression wary. “I can’t tell you everything. “
“I’m so tired of this!” I exploded, throwing my hands in the air. “Why is everything such a secret with you? I thought you cared, Arthur.”
His hand tightened on the glass and his expression became hard. “I can’t tell you because I don’t fucking know it all, Anna! Yes, I knew your father’s name and who you could be, but that’s it.”
I died a little inside, half hoping that he could tell me everything so that I wouldn’t have to go back to Katarina or anyone else for that matter. All of his cryptic words hadn’t really meant anything then. “So you knew he was a direct descendant of Alexios Komenos.”
“I did,” Arthur replied, his jaw tight. “I knew that but that was it. I swear it. Your father is something of a mystery, Anna, and all the money in the world couldn’t find the truth about him.”
I took a step closer, my anger starting to build. “And that was why you made that stupid-ass pact with your friends.”
“It’s not what you think,” he said in a deadly calm voice. “You have no idea what we are going through.”
“Oh my God,” I laughed harshly, not believing that he would think I would feel sorry for him. “What you are going through? A bunch of spoiled rich princes with nothing better to do than to ruin my life?”
“This spoiled prince has his own damn problems to worry about,” Arthur growled, his eyes flashing anger that I was feeling myself. “Bigger problems than you could even imagine, Anna. You don’t know how much pressure we are under from our families.”
“I don’t give a shit,” I shot back, tired of him thinking he had issues. At least he knew where he was from, who his family was. I was still struggling to find my place, not only in this hellhole I had found myself in the middle of but also in my life. “What you did, what you tried to do with me was wrong, Arthur.”
“I stopped it.”
I stared at him. Well, I hadn’t expected that to come out of his mouth. What did he mean by stopping it? What had he done?
“What?”
“The agreement,” he replied, looking everywhere but at me as if he was embarrassed about what he was saying. “I stopped it the moment I met you. Royce and Max were pissed, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to share you any longer.”
“Why?” I asked in a small voice, hope flaring in my chest. Maybe he did care. Maybe I had broken through the façade of the king image and found something within him that was real and true.
A girl could hope, and I needed a lot of hope in my life.
“Because,” he sighed, staring down at his drink, his mouth twisted in a sad smile. “There’s something about you, Anna. Something that is special. And I didn’t want to share. I had found something with you, and they would only take that away.”
No words of caring or even love coming out of his mouth. Why wasn’t I surprised at the fact? I was starting to think the kings didn’t know how to care for anyone else but themselves and love was out of the question. They were so full of themselves, thinking that the world and this academy revolved around them, but in reality, all they did was hurt.
And I hoped that one day they felt the same hurt they had caused me.
“Your father,” Arthur said after a moment, not realizing the thoughts I was having about him and how much I hated him at that moment for what he was implying. “He was a powerful man, Anna. I don’t think you understand the gravity of what this means for you.”
“No, I don’t,” I answered tightly, surprised I was even able to talk at the moment. I wanted to throw something. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to curl up in a ball and never see anyone ever again. “But no one is helping me understand it either. You royals and your secrets. I can’t—I don’t even know how you live with yourselves sometimes.”
He looked at me for a long moment, no expression on his handsome face. How many times had I gazed at his features and felt like I was the luckiest girl in the world? Why hadn’t he told me from the beginning what his plans were and what he was feeling then? If he had been truthful, I might have been a little more forgiving, but not now. I couldn’t be.
“We are doing what we know how to do best,” Arthur finally said. “We didn’t grow up like you.”
Like a pauper, a nobody. A sucker that had fallen for everything he had dished out to me. “Well it sucks.” I countered, my heart breaking.
“Yes,” he murmured, looking away. “It does.”
I needed to get out, but before I did, I needed to know if I had ever stood a chance with Arthur beyond being his baby’s mama. “Did you ever care for me? Even once?”
Something passed over his face before it was gone, and I knew he wasn’t going to answer that question. All other hope withered and died with the look he was giving me, and I suddenly felt like an idiot for even coming here. I thought he had something real to tell me, but in reality, he had only been another roadblock, another heartbreak that I couldn’t afford. “Well then,” I forced out, keeping my emotion at bay. I would process this later when I was by myself and could let my guard down. “I guess we are done here.”
“Anna,” he started as I brushed past him for the door, feeling his hand on my arm. “Wait.”
I faced him, no longer enamored by him or his wealth. “What is it, Arthur?”
His jaw worked; his eyes boring into mine. “I wish you would let me talk.”
“I’m listening,” I stated. “Whenever you are ready.”
“I didn’t mean for it to be this way,” he said, the words clearly foreign to him. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I laughed hollowly, not believing any of his words. This guy before me was a manipulator, along with his friends, and he could be telling me this just to keep me interested in him. “I don’t believe you, Arthur. You’ve hurt me and I don’t think I can ever trust anything you say ever again.”
He flinched and I pulled out of his grasp, grabbing the door and yanking it open. I was done here. There was nothing more to say, nothing more between us.
Royce was lounging at the entrance to the living room, his eyes on me as I passed. “You have a good visit, pauper?”
I turned to him, tired of his bullying too. “You know what? You’re an asshole.”
He grinned. “You aren’t telling me anything that I don’t already know, Anna.”
I pulled open the front door and walked out into the warm sunshine, my heart impossibly heavy in my chest.
I hated him.
I hated Royce.
I hated Max.
I hated the kings and all their bullshit.
Chapter 15
ARTHUR
I watched her start down the sidewalk, reaching the front step before Royce grabbed my arm and swung me around. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked.
I ignored him, pushing at his chest so that I could go after her. I didn’t want it to be this way between us. This had nothing to do with the fucking agreement between friends, nor did it have to do with who Anna was.
I wanted her to know that I did care.
Royce grabbed my shoulder and I whirled around again; my fist raised. “I’m going after her.”
He tightened his grip, his expression hard. “Like hell you are. Get back into the house. You’ve panted after her enough and now that you have blown our fucking plans, there’s nothing else
left for you to do.”
I pushed his hand off my shoulder, wanting to hit him so hard I could taste it. “You are the reason she’s leaving me.”
He laughed. “No, I’m not. You are. If only you had done what we had agreed to, then none of this would be happening.”
I glared at my friend. Royce was the one who had held onto the damn agreement longer than me or Max, for reasons that I didn’t understand completely. We all had our fucking issues, topped with what our families were pressuring us to do.
But I wasn’t about to put Anna in the middle, not now. That girl, she had done something to me, to my friendship with the other two kings, and I didn’t know what to do about it.
