by Nora Cobb
“Come on,” Royce was saying. “We need to have a serious talk about our friendship—or lack thereof.”
I glanced back at the sidewalk, seeing that Anna was already gone. What choice did I have anyway? She wasn’t going to talk to me right now, that was clear, and I hadn’t said the right things to her to have her melting into my arms.
It was like I wasn’t myself and something told me I wouldn’t be again. “Shit,” I muttered, raking my hand through my hair for the hundredth time today. I didn’t have time to deal with this shit, these feelings that happened whenever Anna was around.
“Shit is right,” Royce remarked, his eyes hard. “You didn’t invite us over to watch you fight with the pauper. Come on, we need to talk.”
I fell in step behind him, heading back to my house.
What the hell was I going to do?
Chapter 16
I cried all the way to the academy, my heart broken. Arthur had not said the things I wanted him to say, not given me any indication that he ever cared about me.
I was mad at him for what he had put me through.
But I was also mad at myself, wishing I had been strong enough to recognize the red flags when it came to Arthur. I had been blinded by the stars in my eyes and it had cost me my heart.
Somehow, I made it to my room without being stopped and Johanna looked up as I walked through the door, her face expressing concern. “What happened?” she asked immediately, pushing her laptop aside.
I put my face in my hand, tears still flowing. “I hate him. I hate all of them!”
“Oh dear,” Johanna muttered as she took me by the shoulders and guided me to my bed, forcing me to sit on the mattress. “What did Arthur do?”
“He used me,” I said bitterly. “And he didn’t even try to hide it! I thought he cared for me.”
Johanna squeezed my shoulders, her expensive perfume assaulting my nostrils as she did so. “I’m so sorry, Anna. I really am. You don’t know this world.”
I looked at her, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “I don’t know this world, but I guess I am going to have to learn it.”
My friend arched a brow. “Why is that?”
Drawing in a breath, I clasped my hands in my lap. “I met with Headmistress Isauros over the weekend. My father is apparently Alexei Kameno.”
“No!” Johanna gasped, bring her hand up to her open mouth. “You must be joking!”
I shook my head, remembering the headmistress’ harsh words from that meeting. “Not even close.”
“Shit,” Johanna said. “There’s old royalty, and then there’s old royalty. His family outranks just about every other family here in this academy. No wonder the kings have been all over you.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, not feeling any better about the recent turn of events.
“Oh I’m sorry,” Johanna said apologetically. “I just—I knew you had to be someone. I just hadn’t expected you to be related to that family. I mean, that changes everything for you!” She then let out a little laugh. “You’re far more important than I could ever be.”
“I don’t feel very important,” I grumbled, lying back on the bed, my hands folded over my stomach, which was still in knots from my meeting with Arthur. I didn’t. To me, I was still the orphan that had never expected to make a dent in the world.
Now I was a damn princess. While some would be ecstatic at the prospect of the fame, fortune, and titles, I wasn’t. I was scared to death and didn’t even know who I could trust, who wasn’t an enemy.
One thing was for certain, I didn’t have many friends.
She lay down next to me. “I know you don’t. I was born into this life, so I never have known anything different. Do you know how lucky you are, Anna? You have seen the real world, able to walk down the street without hordes of security because someone might take a shot at you. I can’t even go to the movies back home. My father prefers to bring the movie to our home theater in case there’s some crazy person out there wanting to make a statement against him. Do you know how lonely that is?”
I couldn’t imagine it. Johanna was right. I still had my freedom and was still able to walk out of this academy and go on with my life if I really wanted to.
But once the word got out, I was likely to lose all sorts of freedom.
“Not only that,” Johanna continued, lost in her own words. “I can’t do anything that could cause a scandal. You know the last time I tried to do something like cut my hair, my mother nearly had a heart attack? I’m told to wear certain clothes, act a certain way, and eat certain foods. Only here can I have a small measure of freedom, and trust me, it’s not much.”
I reached over and grasped her hand in mine, squeezing it gently. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so cynical about this.”
“No, you have every right to be cynical,” Johanna sighed, squeezing back. “I’m sorry. I sound like a spoiled brat telling you all my issues that most people would be happy to have.”
“Not me,” I answered. “We all have our own issues. Money and power doesn’t stop that.”
“You’re right about that,” she laughed. “Those just create more problems. The scandals, the backstabbing… They only grow when your worth grows, Anna. Don’t ever forget that.”
“How do you do it?” I asked softly, intrigued by her life.
“I honestly don’t know,” she sighed. “You learn to put on your armor constantly, never letting anyone under your skin. You have to be careful about whom you share your secrets with. There is no such thing as love in our world, Anna. You might care for people, even respect them, but love is the four-letter word that has no place in the equation. Everything is done to make some sort of political alliance or to benefit your family. Love comes later, if it even comes at all.”
That was my problem. I still believed in love and affection. I still believed that people were good regardless of what they showed on the outside. I thought about the kings: Arthur, Royce, and Max, and how it was easy to see how they hid behind their titles. It must make them feel powerful to use people like me, to be on top of their mountain and know that there were so many of us at the bottom wanting to climb the mountain and take their crowns.
It would never happen of course, but Johanna’s comments about thick armor did make some sense. These kids that were here with me had grown that armor from birth and if the rumors were true about their lives growing up, then it was amazing that they had survived this long.
Suddenly they didn’t seem to be much different than me.
But it didn’t excuse their behavior, their ridiculous plans to get me with child so that they could claim my supposed title for themselves.
A political game. I hated the thought. Was I just a pawn in everyone’s game?
In the kings, or in Katarina’s games?
If I was, this was only the beginning.
“I’m sorry,” Johanna said after a few moments of silence between us. “For not protecting you better.”
“Oh, Johanna,” I sighed. “It’s not your fault. I’m a grown adult and should have known better than to let Arthur turn my head. You did try to warn me, and I just didn’t listen.”
Johanna squeezed my hand lightly. “Trust me, we have all been there. It’s harder with a title. You don’t know if they like you or if they’re just using you to get to your father or to your brother.”
“Well, I like you,” I said, turning toward her. “You have been a great friend to me, and I hope that this sudden knowledge doesn’t make you look at me as anything but a friend.”
Johanna tucked her hand under her head, a smile on her face. “Of course not. I have enough people in my life that use me for everything you could possibly think of. It’s nice to know that I have a true friend.”
I smiled at her, some of the tension leaving my shoulders. I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into, or if anything the headmistress told me was true. Without proof, I was hanging on to the small thread of hope that it could all still be a l
ie.
The problem was, I felt it in my bones. My father’s name didn’t sound so unfamiliar to me even though I hadn’t heard it before. Being here at the academy didn’t seem so intimidating now and I felt like I could actually go toe to toe with anyone at the academy.
And not because of my title or presumed title. Even if I was still the little orphan American—or pauper—as Royce liked to call me, I felt like I had a little sway over the group. Even the kings seemed to be wary of me now and I was starting to come into my own, starting to find my footing here.
“What are you going to do about Arthur now?” Johanna was asking, a frown marring her face.
“I’m going to move on like he doesn’t really exist,” I replied, my heart heavy. I had to move on and not show him that he had affected me in such a way that I wasn’t sure I would ever get over it. I wanted to show him and the kings that I was stronger than they ever thought I could be and that I was going to run them over one day.
Maybe not today, maybe not next week or next month, but it was all going to come together for me and when it did, I imagined that the kings would take notice.
***
Later on that evening, I found myself unable to sleep. I didn’t really know if it was from what I had learned or if it was from my heartache with Arthur, but I put my shoes on anyway, wandering down the quiet freshman hall and outside, where the weather felt perfect to clear my head. I had all sorts of thoughts, but no plans on what I really was going to do with the information that I had learned. Should I start delving into my father’s past, my family’s past?
What would I find? It was clear that Johanna had heard of my father and the kings definitely had. What was so special about him, besides his family ties?
Where had I come in his life? Clearly, I had pissed Katarina off with my appearance, and thank God she hadn’t said she was my mother.
So there had been something about my mother that had angered her, meaning she was angered at me in return.
I tucked my hands in my jacket pockets as I followed the path that led to the sports fields, the Swiss Alps rising in the distance. I kept forgetting that I wasn’t in America and had been so wrapped up with starting out in the academy and with Arthur that I had yet to explore the country around me.
Well, no longer. I was going to branch out past the academy, take full advantage of the fact that I was in a place that most could only dream about. I needed to take this opportunity and start to live, for during my time here I hadn’t lived at all.
There were so many people who expected for me to fail miserably, and I was going to prove them wrong.
As I turned the corner, I smacked into a wet wall, stumbling back on the path in surprise. Something grabbed my arm and hauled me upright, the grip pressing against my skin painfully. “Well, well. Who have I managed to save tonight?”
Max. I drew in a breath as his grip lessened, the smell of the lake coming from his body. “You should have some sort of light on you or something.”
He chuckled, not releasing me, but pulling me closer, until I could make out the harsh planes of his face. “You’re lucky it’s me. I could be someone trying to hurt you, Anna.”
I wanted to laugh in his face. He had already hurt me, him and his friends, and the wounds were still fresh. “You don’t scare me any longer, Max,” I said softly. He didn’t. He was just a guy, like everyone else at this academy.
He went still, his fingers caressing the skin at my elbow now. My body hummed with need at his touch and I tried not to think too far into it, wondering what game he was trying to play. “You should be in bed, Anna,” he finally said, dropping his touch.
“I couldn’t sleep,” I admitted. “Why aren’t you in bed and why are you soaking wet?”
“Rowing,” he growled.
“At night?” I asked, surprised he had even answered me. I had half expected him to make some sort of smart-ass statement and move on, but he seemed to not be in any hurry to do so.
“There are sometimes I like to be myself,” he answered, crossing his arms over his chest. I mourned as he did so, surprising myself at wanting his hand back on my elbow. Oh my God. This was Max, one of the plotters of my future and a guy I should hate.
Not crave his touch.
Yet here I was, wondering what he would do if I stepped closer and touched him.
I was really losing it.
“So, you found out who you are,” he said after a moment, shattering the still night.
“Not yet,” I answered, not even sure why I was telling him anything. He would only use it against me in the end, but I was lonely. I could only talk to Johanna so much and without Arthur now, I really didn’t have anyone else to talk to. “I need to do some research, to find out who he was.”
“Careful, Anna,” Max said, his voice taking on an edge to it. “Some things are better off buried.”
“I have to try,” I replied. “Surely you can understand that.”
When Max’s hand brushed my cheek, I froze, that same familiar feeling burning in my stomach.
It was need. I wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come, not sure what to think about his simple touch.
I waited to see what he would say, what he might do, but it was just the one brush of his hand before he was walking past me on the path, whistling as he headed toward the academy.
No words, nothing.
I watched him go, confusion setting in as to what I had just witnessed and what Max truly was about. Royce was just a bully, plain and simple.
Arthur was likely the softer one, which was why he hadn’t shared me.
But Max, I wasn’t sure about. He was like a mystery wrapped up in layers, not sure if he was going to push me aside and walk off or do something completely unexpected.
Like touch my cheek in a lover’s caress.
Great, just great. I didn’t need this in my life! I didn’t need the confusion. Arthur had been enough, but now Max was confusing me, making me think that he wasn’t the king everyone thought he was.
Ugh.
Sighing, I waited until I couldn’t see him any longer before I started back toward the academy, my mood now busted and my body tired. Maybe that was what Max had done to me; drained my body to the point where I could sleep.
If so, I was very grateful.
Chapter 17
I walked out of the classroom with a smile on my face, glad to have yet another exam done with and behind me. The last few days had been particularly stressful for everyone and despite all the hostility I had experienced in the beginning, it seemed that all the freshmen had decided that there was safety in numbers. Johanna and I pulled a few all-nighters with some of the others in our hall, fueled by junk food and the drive to prove ourselves to the professors who enjoyed picking us apart.
Now I had people smile at me when I passed them or they asked me how I had done on my exam before giving me words of encouragement for the next one.
It was a crazy turn of events.
The exams were rough. I wasn’t going to lie. Usually I did pretty decently on tests, especially those I had prepared for, but these were hard, and the professors were not as forgiving as the teachers had been in high school.
Still, I felt good about the exams and my answers. I knew from the headmistress down to the lowliest professor that they expected me to fail. They expected me to be gone after the first semester and the academy would then get back to normal, catering to the top families in the world.
Well I had news for them. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere, no matter how much they pushed me.
I was going to treat all of them like the kings and show them I wouldn’t go away so quietly.
I walked into my room and found Johanna waiting for me, a grin on her face. “Put on some clothes, girl!” she exclaimed, showing off her jeans and T-shirt for the warmer weather outside. “There are a bunch of freshmen going to the lake.”
I thought about the exams I needed to prep for tomorrow and decided a
gainst it. I did need a break and I was just now starting to fit in with the rest of them. If I didn’t show up, then it would only add fuel to the fire that I wasn’t one of them.
Little did they know, I was.
So, I changed clothes and we headed down to the lake, noting the large group that was already gathered there. A few of them waved as we passed and I waved back, a real smile on my face for the first time in a long time. There were a few glares, some whispers, but overall, it was a heck of a lot less than it had been when I had arrived.