Boys of King Academy

by Rose, Louise

  For a moment I think he is going to kiss me, but the DJ puts on a more up-tempo song, killing the mood.

  “Is this a private party or can anyone join?”

  “Archer!” I give him a huge hug as Romy steps back to make way for Archer Knight. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “It’s good to see you too, Ivy,” he replies. “I’ve been worried about you all week.”

  We start dancing together, Archer surprising me with how well he moves. There is a natural grace to his dancing, and he has an innate sense of rhythm that makes me see him in a new light.

  “Where’s your date?” I ask.

  “Haven’t got one,” he replies. “There wasn’t anyone who I wanted to bring, and it seemed pointless dragging a girl along just to keep up appearances. The one person I wanted to ask was already taken.”

  I blush, knowing exactly who he meant.

  “I came with Milly instead,” Archer went on. “By the looks of it, we’ve swapped partners.” He nods over to one side of the dance floor and I look over to see Lucas and Milly dancing together. Milly looks pissed off, a rare sight on her, while Lucas seems amused.

  “It’s nice to see Lucas finally settling in,” I say. “It’s not been easy for him coming to the Academy with everyone so hostile towards him.”

  “Can you blame us?” Archer’s eyes flash with anger. “We thought we’d found a way to keep you safe from your father. If he hadn’t come along, you’d be with Romy right now. Tell me you wouldn’t be happier engaged to him than married to Lucas.”

  I open my mouth to reply, but Archer talks over me.

  “And if you were still engaged to Romy, I might have been able to find a way to get you out of that engagement. I was working on it, you know. I had plans. None of them matter now. Instead, I’m reduced to snatching what little time I can with you. It’s not enough. It’ll never be enough.”

  “I know,” I whisper, knowing exactly how he feels. “But what can we do? I’m married and my father has me well and truly trapped.”

  “We’ll just have to take each moment as it comes, I guess.” Archer shrugs as the song comes to an end and the DJ puts on another slow song. Archer moves to get close, but someone pulls him back.

  “I think it’s my turn now, don’t you?” Declan asks. “Unless Ivy has any objections?”

  “No.” I beam. “It’s good to see you, Declan.”

  “See you later, Ivy.” Archer bows and kisses my hand before disappearing off into the crowd, leaving me with Declan.

  I put my arms around his neck, and he put his around my waist. Taller than me, I have to look up to talk as we dance. He really is gorgeous.

  “Who did you bring to the ball?” I ask. “Won’t she mind you slow dancing with me?”

  “The only person who might mind is Lucas and I don’t care about his opinion,” Declan smoothly replies. “I decided not to bring a date with me tonight. I had a few people dropping some heavy hints, including Ally and Taylor, but I wasn’t interested. Even though I knew you’d be here with Lucas, I wanted to be free to spend time with you if the opportunity came up and look at us now. Dancing like we haven’t got a care in the world.”

  “I don’t know that I’d go that far…” I smile up at Declan, feeling all warm inside. My boys are all here on their own, and I didn’t have to cope with seeing them in someone else’s arms. It’s selfish of me when I am with Lucas, but I don’t care. I love all my boys and it will kill me when the time eventually came for them to move on and find someone else. Someone who didn’t come with my complications.

  “Lucas seems to be having a good time.” Declan nods over to where Milly and Lucas were slow dancing together. “Him and Milly look good together.”

  “They do, don’t they?” I rest my head on Declan’s shoulder as I watch my husband with Milly. He’s acting like the perfect gentleman he always is; one arm around Milly’s waist, their hands clasped, like they are ballroom dancing together. They seem deep in conversation. Knowing Lucas, he is likely pumping her for information about the Knights and sweet Milly is naïve enough to give it to him.

  Declan runs his hand over my hair, kissing me gently on the top of my head. I close my eyes and lean into him more. I desperately want to leave with him, spend some quiet time together, but with my father here, not to mention all his guards, I have no choice but to stay at the dance until it’s time to go back to the Archaic mansion.

  Before I even realise it, a tear is trickling down my cheek. I dash it away with the back of my hand, hoping it hasn’t ruined the beautiful makeup Nola had worked so hard on.

  “Hey.” Declan put his hand under my chin, tilting my head to make me look at him. “It’s okay, Ivy. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  He leans forward, kissing the tear away. Then he kisses the tip of my nose and I can’t hold myself back any longer. I stand on tiptoes and kiss him. Properly. In front of the whole room.

  But I don’t care. I want to be with Declan. I want to be with Archer. I want to be with Romy. I want to be with all of them, men who aren’t beholden to my father and who saw me for me, not a pawn to be used to further their own ambitions.

  “What the hell’s going on?”

  Declan and I break apart as I feel someone grab my arm to pull me away.

  “Lucas!” I gasp as I realise my husband has seen us and he is not happy.

  “Hey, man. It’s okay.” Declan puts his arms out in a gesture of placation. “We weren’t doing anything.”

  “Didn’t look like it to me,” snarls Lucas. “That’s my wife, you had no right to kiss her.”

  “I’d say that was up to Ivy to decide, wouldn’t you?” Declan gazes at him coolly, daring him to do something. “It’s not like you weren’t having fun with someone else.”

  “I was just dancing with Milly. I didn’t kiss her,” Lucas points out. “I would never kiss her.”

  “And you can never kiss Ivy. A piece of paper isn’t going to make her fall for you. Sorry to break this to you, but her heart is taken,” he replies with a cold glare. “and we are not fucking giving her back.”

  “How dare you!” Lucas pulls back a fist to punch Declan, but I get between them, yanking Lucas’s arm down.

  “Stop it!” I look at Declan over my shoulder. “The pair of you. Let’s go to our private room to cool down, Lucas. It seems like we could all do with some time out.”

  Lucas glares at Declan, who smirks back, but he allows himself to be guided off the dance floor and back to my father’s private room.

  “What were you thinking, Ivy?” he asks, as we walk up the stairs. “You made me look stupid out there.”

  “I wasn’t thinking at all,” I told him. “I hoped you were distracted with Milly.”

  “That was business,” says Lucas, confirming what I’d suspected. “Milly can be a useful source of information if you know how to read between the lines. Anyway, this isn’t about me. It’s about you. You need to learn how to behave as a married woman. Don’t make me talk to your father about teaching you appropriate behaviour.”

  “That sounds uncannily like a threat.” I narrow my eyes.

  “Just a promise, Ivy. It’s just a promise.”

  The guards outside my father’s private room step aside to let us in. My father is out on the balcony watching the action on the dance floor, so the room is practically empty other than a few guards.

  Lucas immediately goes to the bar and orders a whiskey. He downs it in one gulp and grabs a bottle of beer before coming back to me.

  “Where’s mine?” I don’t really care that he didn’t get me a drink. I could get my own, but if Lucas is going to make a big deal about my behaviour, I am going to point out every little thing he is doing wrong too. I can be petty if I wanted.

  “We’re at a ball, Ivy,” Lucas says. “Standing around with a bottle in your hand doesn’t exactly fit with the sophisticated image you’re supposed to project.”

  “Is that so?”

  I stomp
over to the bar and help myself to one of the bottles laid out.

  “Put that back, Ivy.”

  I scowl as my father comes back in from the balcony.

  “It’s a party, Dad,” I say. “I’m allowed to drink if I want. And I am eighteen, remember?”

  “How could I forget?” My father smiles but his eyes are stone cold. “Still, you’ll need a cool head and a steady hand for what I want you to do.”

  “Oh really? What’s that?”

  “Come with me.”

  Lucas slumps on a couch as I follow my father out to the balcony. My cheeks redden as I realise there is a good chance he’d seen me dancing with the boys-–and kissing Declan.

  “Look down there, Ivy. Tell me what you see.” He gestures expansively across the dance floor.

  “People having fun?”

  “That’s the surface view. Look closer.”

  “I don’t know.” I shrug. “People talking. People dancing.”

  “I see opportunity,” my father says. “I see networks. I see the chance to take things a step further without anyone even knowing what’s about to hit them.”

  He nods to one of his guards who steps forward and hands him a gun. My father opens up the barrel to check it is loaded. Satisfied, he snaps it shut with a flick of the wrist and offers it to me, handle first.

  “Take it,” he says.

  I frown and shake my head.

  “It wasn’t a suggestion,” my father states, offering the gun to me.

  Reluctantly, I take it.

  My father stands behind me and grabs my shoulders. He turns me to face the crowd. Leaning forward, he speaks directly into my ear. “Can you see the man standing by the bar with brown hair going grey at the temples?”

  I look in the direction of the bar and spot Claude Dauphin, Declan’s father. I nod.

  “Shoot him.”

  “What?” I try to turn but my father grips my shoulders, holding me in place.

  “You heard.”

  “I’m not going to do that.” I hold the gun away from me as far as I could. “Someone take this thing because I’m not using it.”

  “Oh, yes, you are.”

  “You’re crazy. There’s no way I’m shooting anyone, let alone Declan’s dad. I’d rather die first.”

  A guard steps forward and grabs my other hand.

  “That would be far too easy,” my father tells me. “No, Ivy. What I have in mind is a much simpler solution. Either you shoot Claude Dauphin, or Martin here will run his knife right through your hand. I’d love to see you playing guitar when you’ve lost the use of your left hand.”

  “You wouldn’t!” I gasp, as Martin pulls out a wicked looking blade and holds it up against the back of my hand, ready to run it through the moment my father gives the command.

  “You and I both know I will,” my father says. “Now do as I tell you and shoot Claude.”

  “I can’t do it with Martin holding my hand.” I fight hard to keep the quiver out of my voice, but I don’t quite manage it.

  “Fine.” I feel rather than see my father nod at his guard, who lets go of my hand and steps away. “But if you don’t shoot him, Martin will stab you.”

  Hands shaking, I grip the gun and point it at Claude. I close one eye, aiming at his chest, but lower the gun as I see Declan go over to talk to his dad.

  “I can’t,” I say. “I can’t risk hitting Declan.”

  “That’s a shame.” My father sighs. “All right, Martin. Do your thing.”

  Martin steps forward and, in that moment, I know I can’t do it. I can’t lose my hand.

  Sorry, Declan.

  I swing the gun up and pull the trigger.

  It feels like time stands still for a moment. The shot is so loud, it can be heard over the music. The noise of the crowd falls silent for a moment before screams break out.

  Claude crumples to the floor. Declan looks round for who is responsible, as people rush to help his father. Our eyes meet and I see the shock in his eyes. I feel the guilt like a knife to the heart.

  “Come on, people. The party’s over.” Someone shouts but I don’t see who.

  Bodyguards crowd around my father, me, and Lucas as we hurry out to the back exit. The Dauphins will be out for blood, and if they catch up to us, we are dead.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  “I can’t do it. I won’t do it.”

  I stay in my seat, secure in the safety of the car. My father insisted Lucas and I go to school the Monday after the ball and there is no way I am ever going to step foot in that place, not when everyone would know by now who was responsible for shooting Claude.

  “Yes, you can.” Lucas is patient, even after reassuring me a million times. “It won’t be as bad as you think. Claude’s okay.”

  “He’s in a hospital wired up to a machine to keep him alive, Lucas,” I wail. “How can you possibly think that’s okay?”

  “He’s still alive,” Lucas reminds me. “And he’s in the hands of the best doctors in the country. He might be in bad shape now, but our intelligence tells us that he’s going to pull through. Ivy, much as I know it hurt you to do what you did, that shot has raised your profile big time. You might hate your father for forcing you into it, but trust me. He did you a favour. He’s established you as a force to be reckoned with.” He smiles reassuringly. “No one’s going to judge you. It’s just business, another day in this crazy town. Come on. I’ll be right by your side. I’m in all your classes. You won’t have to face anyone alone, not unless you want to.”

  He holds out a hand to me and I know I don’t have a choice. My father has dictated that we go back to the Academy, so that’s what we are going to do.

  Hand in hand, Lucas and I slowly walk up the steps to the Academy. Is it my imagination, or are people giving me weird looks?

  “Keep your head high, Ivy,” Lucas whispers, squeezing my hand. “You haven’t done anything wrong, not as far as the Houses are concerned. Everyone’s going to respect you.”

  “Still.” I shake my head. “I feel really uncomfortable being here.”

  “Why don’t we go to one of the practice rooms?” Lucas suggests. “We can hide out there until classes start.”

  “Okay.”

  I feel a little more relaxed as Lucas leads the way to the practice rooms. A-level music students are allowed to go there whenever we like to work on our assignments, which means that we have keys to the rooms to unlock them-–and lock them behind us. In the past, those locks had allowed me and Declan to have some privacy while we explored each other’s bodies. Now I am grateful for that privacy for a completely different reason-–it means I can delay the moment when I have to face Declan. How on earth am I going to look him in the eye knowing I am the one responsible for putting his father in the hospital.

  The music rooms are fully soundproof, so you can’t hear whether someone is practising inside. Instead, there are red and green lights mounted over the doors so you could immediately see which ones were available.

  The first couple of rooms have their red lights lit, but the third one is green, so Lucas pushes the door open. The room should have been empty, but then I see who is sitting at the piano waiting for us.

  “Declan!” I try to back out, but Lucas grips my hand tightly and practically drags me into the room to confront the one person I don’t want to see.

  “What’s she doing here?” Declan stands up, fists clenched. “I thought you said you wanted to talk. If I’d known you were going to bring her along, I’d never have agreed to meet you.”

  “She’s the one you need to talk to though,” Lucas tells him.

  “She shot my dad. I’ve got nothing to say to her.”

  My heart shatters into a million pieces as Declan turns away from me.

  “It wasn’t her fault,” Lucas says. “Her father forced her to do it.”

  “She could have said no.”

  “Declan, her father was going to have his guard stick a knife in her hand. She would nev
er have been able to play guitar again. And I don’t think that would have been the end of it, either. She did what she did out of pure fear. You and I both know that Solomon would have found a way to punish her beyond that.”

  “Is this true, Ivy?” Declan finally looks at me.

  “Yes.” I drop my head, unable to meet his gaze. “I didn’t want to do it, I really didn’t. But Martin was about to shove a knife through my hand. My instincts took over and I pulled the trigger. I aimed to miss though. I’m such a bad shot, I hit the target, but I really didn’t mean to. If I could turn back time, I would. I’d take a stabbing over hurting you, hurting your dad.”

  I burst into tears, burying my face in my hands to hide my shame. I hate myself for being so weak, but it’s all too much. I hate my father for putting me in this situation.

  I feel arms around me, I relax into the hug... thinking it’s Lucas. But when I look up, I see Declan is the one comforting me.

  “I’ll leave you two alone,” Lucas says.

  Declan follows him to the door, and I am sure I hear him thank Lucas. As my husband leaves, Declan locks the door behind him so we won’t be disturbed.

  “Lucas arranged for us to meet here,” he tells me, coming back to me. “But I thought it was going to be just me and him. I was prepared to give him the beating of his life for what you did to my father.”

  “None of this was Lucas’s fault,” I say. “He doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment.”

  “I know,” Declan says. “But you have no idea how much I hate him for taking you away from me. I knew the moment I saw you up on that balcony with your father behind you that you’d been forced to fire that gun. I never blamed you for one second. But Lucas? He married you, taking you away from the protection of Romy’s family. Worse, he took you away from me. It drives me wild thinking about you with him. Ivy, I love you.”

  My breath catches in my throat when I hear those three little words.

  “I mean it, Ivy,” Declan goes on, mistaking my silence for doubt. “I can’t stop thinking about you. Ever since I first saw you, I knew I wanted you, but I’m not like Romy or Archer. For all my confidence on stage, I’ve always been shy around women.