by Nora Cobb
While I had hoped that Arthur was different, he wasn’t. After all, the students at this academy had given him the title of king for a reason, and I had just been too blind to see why until it was too late. Now my guard was up, and it would take a complete change of heart before he would be allowed to breach any sort of walls around my heart again.
Reaching my room, I was glad to see that Johanna wasn’t there. I dumped my books on the bed before rubbing my face with my hands.
What a hellish day.
***
Later that evening, I lay on my bed, tapping my pencil against my lips as I stared at the Greek I was supposed to be translating.
“Ugh,” Johanna sighed, looking up from her laptop. “A ten-page essay on the reorganization of power in European politics after the Franco-Prussian War using only French sources? What kind of cruel joke is this? Did they forget that my family won that war?”
I pointed to the stack of books awaiting my attention. “At least you don’t have to translate the first two books of the Alexiad from the original Medieval Greek and write a follow-up essay about the Komnenian Restoration. They aren’t kidding around when it comes to academics, are they?”
Johanna shook her head. “Not at all. But I also wasn’t kidding about their perfect pass rate. They’ll make up some reason to pass us, no matter how horrid our work actually is. No one will bat an eye.”
I looked down at the paltry four lines I’ve translated. “Well I guess that’s a plus for me.”
“A plus for all of us,” Johanna added with a grin. “How do you think my brothers got their degrees? They’re both dumber than a bag of bricks.”
I laughed as a knock sounded on the door. Johanna and I exchanged looks before she rose from the bed and opened it, finding a wide-eyed blonde standing in the doorway. “Senior in the hall!” she giggled before running.
I left my sitting position to join Johanna at the door, curious to know why a senior would be visiting a freshman hall. “Great,” Johanna muttered as a familiar form came into view. “It’s the Frenchmen.”
Arthur. I thought about his words earlier, how he had stated that we would have a date tonight and I had promptly forgotten all about it after starting on my homework. “He’s coming for me.”
She glanced in my direction, surprise filtering in her expression. “Excuse me?”
I looked down at my T-shirt and yoga pants, knowing that my hair was pulled up in a messy bun on top of my head and I had no makeup on.
Clearly not date ready. “He told me so earlier.”
Johanna pulled me back into the room and promptly shut the door, her arms across her chest. “Tell me more.”
So, I did. I told her about my confrontation with him on the trail and how he had told me that he was going to take me out tonight. “I didn’t believe him,” I finished lamely. “I didn’t think he was serious about it.”
“Oh Anna,” Johanna sighed, leaning against the door heavily. “All the kings are serious. If they say they are going to do something, then they are going to do something. Trust me.”
Before I could answer, a knock sounded on the door again and Johanna wrenched it open, revealing Arthur. He was dressed casually this evening, a polo shirt and a pair of khakis, his blond hair swept to one side of his head. He looked nothing like the man from the library or even the one who was on the horse earlier.
“Evening Jo,” he said, his eyes finding mine. “Anna. Are you ready?”
“Do I look ready?” I asked him, not wanting him to see how he was affecting me. “I didn’t think you were serious.”
He arched a brow. “Anything I do or say is a guarantee. If you want to go like that, I don’t care.”
Johanna leaned against the doorframe. “She shouldn’t go with you at all, Arthur.”
Arthur winked at Johanna. “Come on, Jo. You know I’m not a bad guy. I just want to take Anna out and I promise to be a perfect gentleman the entire night. She’s safe with me.”
“Like she was in the library that night?” she challenged. “You going to tear her down to make your feel special again, Arthur?”
“I’ve apologized,” he answered evenly, his eyes on me. “Haven’t I, Anna?”
I dropped my arms. “Give me five minutes, okay?”
Arthur held up his hand, showing me five minutes. “I will go entertain the rest of the freshmen then.”
Johanna shut the door in his face. “God, he’s annoying.”
I was already reaching for a pair of jeans. “Why do you act like you know him?”
She sighed. “Because I do know him. Arthur and I used to be betrothed for quite a while.”
I froze, looking at my friend. “But you are the same age as I am. How does that even happen?”
Johanna gave me a faint smile. “Arranged marriages, my naïve American friend, are the nobility’s bread and butter. They happen all the time in our world. I was sixteen and Arthur was twenty when we broke it off. I met him a few times before just to get used to seeing him, but it was clear to my father that Arthur had no intention of settling down any time soon. Plus, I think grandpapa would rather die than see House Hohenzollern’s prize flower end up in the clutches of a Frenchman.” She then laughed softly. “It’s probably a good thing. The two of us probably would’ve killed each other—unless my brothers killed him first.”
I swallowed, wondering what other secrets Johanna was withholding from me. “Here,” she said, pulling a midnight blue silk top from her closet. “Put this on. Blue is Arthur’s favorite color.”
Chapter 7
I hurried and got dressed, meeting my five-minute time frame and throwing open the door. Arthur was lounging against the stone wall, his eyes roving over my body in approval. “You look great, Anna.”
I flushed, unable to help it. “I met my time frame.”
He chuckled, pushing away from the wall. “That you did. Come on, I have a surprise for you.”
I fell in step beside him, a swirl of emotions in my gut. What would he have in store for me? “Forgive me if I don’t get excited.”
Arthur surprised me by reaching for my hand, wrapping his around mine. “Anna, please. I want to make this a great night for us. I swear there’s nothing I’m trying to hide, all right?”
“You know why I can’t trust you right now,” I answered.
“I know,” he said simply as he led me out front. His horse waited at the bottom of the stairs, his reins held by a groom. Arthur let go of my hand and effortlessly swung up into the saddle, reaching back for me. “I only require that you trust me enough to come with me.”
I hesitated, staring at his hand. If I were being honest, I didn’t trust him enough to go with him. Yet a curious piece of me wanted to have Arthur all to myself, to see what he was like outside of the academy and away from others. I mean what was the worst he could do to me now? I was already a ruined woman in the eyes of the entire academy and if he took advantage of me tonight, it would change nothing other than my sanity.
“Anna,” Arthur said softly, seeing my hesitation. “Be my date for tonight. We will worry about the rest later.”
Against my better judgment, I took his hand, allowing him to help me on to the horse and seat me in front of him. Immediately I was surrounded by the spicy scent of his cologne, acutely aware of his strong chest pressing into my back.
Amongst other things. There was no mistaking the bulge nestled against my ass and I gasped as one of his arms went around my waist, pulling me even closer against him. “Hold on,” he said near my ear before the horse took off in the direction of the lake, the hooves pounding against the dirt. I had never ridden a horse before, but as the wind tore through my hair, I found that I liked the adrenaline rush.
And the backrest. Arthur was warm on my back, his hand flexing against my waist as he guided the horse in the direction that he wanted him to go.
Honestly, I could have stayed like that forever.
But the trip was short and before I knew it, we had
arrived at the lake, the moonlight bouncing off the inky black water. Arthur climbed down first, reaching up for me and helping me down easily, my body sliding against his as my feet touched the ground. “How was that?” he asked, his hands holding at my waist.
“It was amazing,” I said honestly, smoothing down my hair. “I’ve never been on a horse.”
Arthur’s grin was hard to ignore. “Well I hope that’s one of many firsts that I can give you.”
I didn’t like the confidence in his voice and pulled away from his touch, my skin on fire.
He didn’t miss a beat however, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the banks of the lake, where a blanket and a cooler awaited. “I’m glad that the weather warmed up,” he said as I sat on the blanket before he handed me another to wrap myself in. “Or else we would be building snowmen by the lake.”
“You really have thought this through, haven’t you?” I asked, surprised that he had put this together.
Arthur joined me on the blanket, reaching for the cooler. “I’m not a bad guy, Anna. I know how to woo a woman.”
“Is that what you are doing with me?” I replied smoothly, trying to keep a cool exterior even if on the inside I was a hot mess.
Arthur opened the cooler and pulled out a bottle of champagne. “I know what I like, and I like you, Anna.”
A small laugh escaped me. “You have a funny way of showing it.”
Arthur popped the cork on the champagne and poured it into a plastic cup before handing it to me. “I will say it again. I’m sorry for what happened to you, Anna.”
I took the champagne, taking a healthy swallow before coughing against the bubbles tickling my throat. “God, that’s horrible.”
He stuck the bottle back in the cooler. “You just told me that a two hundred Euro bottle of champagne was horrible, Anna.”
I held out my cup, swallowing the bubbly liquid. “Well, it is. I don’t care how much it is. Here, you drink it.”
Arthur took the cup from me and set them both aside. “You never cease to surprise me.”
I pulled my knees to my chest, watching him. “Nor you me. Why are you being so nice to me now, Arthur? I’m not an idiot.”
“I never said you were,” he answered, a pensive look on his face. “Is it that hard to believe that I like you, Anna?”
I didn’t want to think about how he had shown that he liked me. “I find it hard to believe that you want me over the others here, like Johanna.”
To my surprise, he chuckled. “So, she told you about our betrothal then.”
I nodded.
He looked out over the lake, his handsome profile framed by the moonlight. “Did she also tell you that her family’s name is a black smear amongst the remaining European royals?”
“We haven’t discussed anything about her family, but I’ve heard bits and pieces.” I said slowly. I knew she was a princess, but given my own lack of heritage, I really didn’t care what her family had done, to be honest.
“That’s why you need someone like me to steer you—both through this academy and towards the right people to associate yourself with,” Arthur replied, looking at me. “Her family was responsible for the destruction of the monarchy on the continent.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, confused as to why that was important now.
Arthur made a sound of disgust. “Kaiser Wilhelm II of House Hohenzollern was the final emperor of Germany in 1914. His stubbornness and inability to lead his people unleashed the hell of World War I upon us. The war ended imperial rule in Europe for good, and led to death of his own cousin’s family in Russia.”
I breathed, remembering Disney’s Anastasia. “Her family killed the Czar?”
“In a way,” Arthur finished. “Wilhelm’s advisors thought it would be a good idea to send a certain Russian revolutionary back to Russia as a way to take Russia out of the war so that Germany could focus her full attention on the Western Front. Against my people.”
“You mean—”
Arthur nodded darkly. “Vladimir Lenin. Well, he certainly kicked off the revolution. And a little after a year of returning to Russia, Lenin’s Bolsheviks lined the Czar’s family up in a dark basement in the deep interior of Russia, and had them shot. The Czar, his wife, and even the little children.
“She is lucky that her family is still accepted at the academy,” Arthur continued. “She might be a princess, but her family has lost almost all of the political ties and influence they used to hold. The only houses still groveling at House Hohenzollern’s feet are landless minors. Nobodies.”
This was crazy. It was like a living lesson in history but with people I knew. But as I thought about Arthur and Johanna, I realized I was staring at the future rulers of this world. “Where do you fall in this?” I asked, curious to know. “I mean, who will you be one day?”
“That’s for another time,” he said, waving a hand at me. “I want to teach you, Anna, teach you about what it means to be one of us. You are here for a reason. Don’t let this opportunity go by.”
I listened to his words, some of them making sense. I was here for a reason, though I had yet to uncover what that meant.
But it wasn’t going to make anyone like me more just because I attempted to fit in. He scooted closer to me on the blanket, until he could reach out and touch my knee. “First lesson, a courtly kiss.”
I arched a brow. “You want me to kiss you?”
“No,” he said, his hand sliding up to my cheek. I gasped as his warmth soaked through my skin, his thumb sliding over my cheek. “I want to kiss you, Anna. May I kiss you under the stars?”
My first true kiss. I wasn’t about to let him in on that secret but just the thought of his lips brushing over mine had my nerves in a frenzy. What would be the harm? Everyone already thought I was sleeping with all the kings, so a kiss wasn’t going to be a big deal.
Besides, it was just us out here, under the canopy of stars in the Swiss Alps. If now wasn’t the perfect time for a kiss, I didn’t know what was. “Make it the best kiss ever then, your majesty,” I said softly.
A true smile crossed Arthur’s face before he leaned forward, his lips brushing over mine lightly. I held my breath as the tingle spread over my body, starting in my lips and traveling downward. Arthur murmured something intelligible against my lips and applied more pressure, causing me to lose all focus except the feel of his lips on mine.
His lips were soft and warm, moving over mine in a teasing fashion and I melted into the soft touch, half expecting him to deepen the kiss at any moment. I had watched enough movies, enough TV to know that kisses turned passionate after a few moments.
But not this kiss. Arthur teased the corners of my mouth until I smiled against his lips, disbelieving at how tender he was being with me.
This wasn’t I had expected at all and I was enjoying it far too much.
When he finally pulled back, I sighed in contentment, opening my eyes to find him watching me intently. “That’s a courtly kiss,” he said, his voice rough. “Appropriate in front of any royal noble.”
I could tell he was holding back, the tightness around his eyes and mouth letting me know that he would like to do so much more. Would I let him? I was under some sort of spell with him around and if he started to take off my clothes right at this moment, I didn’t know if I would stop him.
If I wanted to stop him. I should be pissed off at him, not even out here by myself, but Arthur had done nothing more than to talk and kiss me so tenderly that any girl would feel like a princess.
“We should go,” Arthur said abruptly, draining both cups before chucking them back into the cooler. “I need to get the horse stabled.”
The spell was broken, and I slid the blanket off my shoulders, allowing him to pull me to my feet. Our bodies collided briefly, and Arthur groaned, pressing his forehead against mine. “What are you doing to me, Anna?”
“The same could be said of you,” I said shakily, wanting him to grab ahold of me and never le
t go. I didn’t know what was coming over me, but it was clear that my earlier anger toward Arthur was gone. Tonight, I had seen the real Arthur De Bourbon and not the arrogant king of Weissmore.
With a heavy sigh, he let me go and walked to the horse, mounting it before pulling me up. This time I leaned back against his strong form with no issues, feeling the rapid beat of his heart against my back.
If I didn’t know any better, I would think that he really wasn’t putting me on with any of this.