by Nora Cobb
The academy wouldn’t feel the same without them.
“I never pegged you for an art lover.”
I took another sip of my wine as I stared up at a painting of a field. “Hush. I’m trying to let the art speak to me.”
Royce chuckled as he came to stand beside me, his presence no longer scary to me. How that had happened, I wasn’t sure. “The art always screams a shit-ton of money to me.”
“These are pretty pricey,” I admitted, turning to face him. “How was your return home?”
His expression hardened. “I don’t want to talk about it with you, pauper.”
“Jeez, casual conversation,” I muttered, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. He apparently had the same idea and our hands collided, a spark shooting up my arm as they did. His hand captured my fingers and I was forced to stare into his fathomless eyes and hard expression, wondering what made Royce tick.
He stared at my hand for the span of a minute before dropping it, resuming his standoffish stance. “And how was your lonely existence?”
“It was quiet,” I answered, tucking my hand in my elbow to lessen the friction from his touch. “Real quiet.”
“Probably a good thing,” he remarked as he walked off. “Enjoy the art.”
I blew out a breath. Two kings down. Would the third one make an appearance?”
I didn’t have to wait for long.
Max found me out in the backyard, admiring the pool that was filled with partygoers. Some had clothes on, some didn’t, but all looked like they were having a blast. “You should join them,” he said a glass in his hand. “I’ll even hold your dress.”
I turned to him, trying not to pay too close attention to his rakish good looks. “You first.”
He smirked, downing the remaining contents of his glass. “I don’t swim.”
“You could have fooled me the other night,” I reminded him. “Besides, you row. If you row, you swim, right?”
“Touché,” he answered, setting his glass down and removing his jacket. “I’ll go in if you do.”
My heart went pitter-patter as his hands started to work on the buttons of his shirt, each button undone revealing another section of olive skin.
He really was going to do it. Suddenly my palms were sweaty, my tongue thick in my mouth. Did Max wear any sort of boxers or was he a commando-type guy?
I didn’t want to see him naked, yet I really wanted to see him naked at the same time.
He reached to take off his shirt before stopping, a careless grin on his face. “You really should see your face, Anna.”
Flustered, I tried to recover. God, I had been ogling his body and thinking about his naked form! What was wrong with me? “I just wanted to see how far you would go.”
His eyes flashed as he leaned forward, plucking the wineglass from my hand. “Not fucking far enough.”
My heart was still racing in my chest as he downed my glass too before stalking off, his shirt flapping with the movement.
Oh my God.
Chapter 21
“Are you really going to go? I thought you were trying to distance yourself from him. This is not distancing yourself.”
I grabbed my jacket, tying it around my waist in case the wind turned cool before looking at Johanna. “He’s helping me find my family. We are just friends.”
Johanna crossed her arms over her chest as she glowered at me. “I don’t get it. The dude took your virginity, humiliated you by making a stupid pact with his friends, and you are going to prance off to the city with him like nothing happened. What happened to your tortured heart?”
“It’s still there, trust me,” I muttered, reaching for the blouse that I would wear today.
When I had gotten the note from Arthur about going into the city to see if we could find anything else about my mother, I hadn’t hesitated to accept his invite. I needed help. Now that I knew who my father was, my thoughts had turned to who my mother was and what her backstory had been to have her cross paths with my father.
I wanted to know why she had abandoned me, why she had thought it fine to leave me in that shelter and let me suffer for nearly eighteen years alone.
I wasn’t about to let my wounded heart hold me back from finding my past and working on my future.
“You’re making a mistake,” Johanna called out as I walked to the door. “Keep your guard up, girl.”
“I will,” I promised, though the thought of seeing Arthur did have my heart racing just a little bit.
I hurried to the front of the academy and nearly fell over my feet as I noticed the headmistress up ahead, my palms sweating for an altogether different reason. I hadn’t seen her since that incident in her office and now that she was merely feet in front of me, I still didn’t want to see her.
Had she found out about my searches in the archives? Had she realized that I was doing my research regardless of what she had threatened?
I hoped not.
Swallowing the bile that rose in my throat, I walked toward the door, seeing her eyes flare with recognition as I grew closer. “Miss Komita.”
“Headmistress,” I said, inclining my head as a sign of respect that I didn’t feel.
She eyed my outfit. “Are you going somewhere?”
“To the city,” I replied evenly, not giving her any more than she needed to know.
“And what do you plan to do in the city?”
“She’s going out with me.”
At that moment, I could have kissed Arthur square on the lips for stepping in. He slid an arm around my waist, something that felt both familiar and foreign, and pressed his lips to my temple. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic.”
“No worries,” I replied, giving him a faint smile. “I just got here.”
“Well then,” the headmistress sniffed, displeasure written all over her face. “I guess you ought to be leaving.”
“Have a good day, headmistress,” Arthur smiled, tugging me toward the door. I allowed him to do so, afraid that without his arm around my waist I might actually pass out and embarrass myself. Arthur opened the door to a sleek silver car, and I climbed in, leaning against the leather headrest. It was hard to believe that I had approached that very same woman a week or so ago and demanded that she tell me who my parents were.
Now I was afraid at every turn she was going to either kick me out or kill me.
Arthur slid in and shot out of the driveway, shifting gears as he did so. “Care to tell me what that was all about?” he asked lightly.
“She hates me,” I answered with a sigh. “And I think that she might kill me if she has a chance.”
“She doesn’t like anyone,” Arthur stated as he turned the car expertly around a bend in the road.
“But she seems to really hate me,” I replied, my gut twisting. “I’m her husband’s illegitimate child. It doesn’t get any worse than that.”
Arthur let out a laugh. “That is true. She does hate you, but trust me, she won’t do anything about it. If something was to happen to you, there would be so many families beating down her door that she would lose everything. She’s not going to take that risk.”
“I hope not,” I said, looking at the city below. I would be an easy target to take out, with no family or anyone to miss me. She could kill me in my sleep or have someone else do it for her and dump me in the lake. No one save maybe Arthur and Johanna would care if I went missing.
Arthur turned the car around another bend, and I realized we were going down the mountain toward the city, a city I had not even seen, but had heard about. “What is our plan?”
“I figured you would like to see the city library,” he answered, his eyes on the road. “Even if you don’t find anything, you seem to love a good library.”
I sighed wistfully. “I really do. I feel like Beauty when I walk in one.”
Arthur reached over and touched my hand with his free one, just resting his hand on top of mine. I wanted to pull away, to show him that I wasn’t inte
rested but found it very hard to do so. “You are a beauty, Anna,” he said softly.
No, no he couldn’t be doing this to me, twisting my heart all around. So, I slid my hand from under his, the silent but clear message enough for him to sigh loudly and put it back on the gearshift. Things were still strained between us and would likely remain that way for quite some time. I hoped that he understood the reasons why.
***
Later that night, I lay in my bed, staring up at the darkened ceiling yet again. My mind was jumbled from the day’s events, from my run-in with Headmistress Isauros to my time with Arthur, who hadn’t tried to touch me again after the incident in the car. He had taken me to the library, which had yielded nothing, then treated me to lunch, where he had shown off his multiple languages by conversing and ordering my food.
Our lunch had been full of stories from his travels. As I sat there listening, I wondered what it would be like to travel as much as he did. I wagered Arthur didn’t know how lucky he was at the opportunities he had been given.
Would I have those same opportunities? I could only hope so. I wanted to have the carefree yet reserved attitude that I was finding was popular amongst these royals. I wanted to fit in, but with such aloofness that I could keep my heart separate.
That was my problem. I couldn’t keep my heart out of it. It had taken all I had not to grab Arthur’s hand in the car or as we walked around the city a bit, looking for a place for lunch. Had I not been set in my ways, I would have.
Johanna was right. I shouldn’t have gone with him. I didn’t want him to think that I was letting my guard down so much that he could ease himself back into my life, and that we could carry on where we left off.
I couldn’t do that. There was too much hurt still, too much distrust that he would have another reason for everything he did.
Much like today. I thought he was just trying to help me but he had also tried to pick up something that wasn’t completely there. And while I hadn’t made a big deal of it, I was afraid I might have to before it was all over.
Rolling over, I tucked my hands under my cheek, forcing myself to think of something else other than the gorgeous king and his touches. There was still the matter of finding my mother now and learning more about the type of man that my father was. I wanted to trace back their relationship, to understand how they had gotten together and why he had stuck with Katarina Isauros in the end. Was it because of my half brother’s death?
Or was it some sort of duty that he had been bound to, with my mother being his one true love? There was no indication that either was a love match, which was one of the many things I wanted to clear up about them both.
But I had to find out more information in order to do so and I wasn’t about to waltz into Katarina’s office again to ask.
There had to be something out there, something that could blow this apart and give me the answers I needed. Then and only then could I address the weight of the title placed upon my head. Only would I be who I was meant to be:
I would be Anna Komita, Empress of Rome.
END OF BOOK 1
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HATE ME: Weissmore Academy Book 2
They couldn’t ruin me, so they’ll hate me.
I barely survived my first encounter with the three kings.
Try as they could, they couldn’t ruin me.
They know who I really am.
They know the secret to my past.
A secret that goes far deeper than I can expect.
A secret that’ll change my world—and theirs—forever.
But my ordeals are just getting started.
I thought I gained an upper hand.
But they’re about to teach me the consequence of defiance.
This time, they’ll show no mercy.
This time, they’ll pull no punches.
This time, they’ll push me to my breaking point.
Until I know just what it truly means to be hated.
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