“Well, I hope none of that is present now,” Anna stated as she carefully walked down the stairs next to me.
“Nah,” I answered, the corridor becoming tighter and forcing her shoulder to brush up against mine. If I moved my hand just a fraction of an inch, we would be holding hands.
She was fucking killing me being so close.
I half jogged the rest of the way to the next door, using the same key to open it as well. “I sure hope you know where you are going,” Anna commented as I held it open for her.
“Not really,” I teased, joining her in the room. “But I think we have arrived.”
Anna took my flashlight and illuminated the wall next to us. “It’s a crypt.”
I looked around, seeing the cutouts of the stone wall around us. Though most of the cutouts were empty, there were a few that had been sealed tight, the inscription slabs depicting who had found their final resting place here. “Well, there’s definitely no blood here.”
“Or grates in the floor,” she mused, shining the light between us.
“Both myths busted,” I grinned. “Too bad.”
She shared my smile and I wanted to pull her toward me and kiss the hell out of her. What the hell was this connection I felt with her? Was this how Arthur had gotten suckered in with her, finding the need to not share her with the rest of us?
If it was, then I could understand why he had done it. “Let’s poke around,” I said, turning away from her. “You’re looking for some papers.”
“Papers?” she asked.
“Yeah.” That was all I could offer her. There was something down here, I just knew it.
It didn’t take us long. “I found something,” Anna said, reaching into one of the empty catacombs. I sauntered over and grinned as I saw the name across the top of the envelope.
Alexei Kameno.
“My father,” she breathed, looking up at me. “This is from my father.”
I tried not to get suckered in by that look on her face, swallowing hard. “Well are you just gonna fucking stare at it or open it?”
She frowned, shining the flashlight on the envelope. “Of course I am going to open it.”
The tone of her voice told me that I had pissed her off with my own tone, which was what I would like to keep it like between us. She was getting to me and I fucking hated it. “Over there,” I offered, pointing at the flat slab in the corner, almost like a long shelf. “I’ll hold the light.”
Anna pushed the flashlight into my chest before walking over and forcing me to follow behind her. I watched as she slid the packet of papers from the envelope and smoothed them on the slab, the papers looking fairly new compared to everything else in sight. “It’s a will,” she breathed.
Just as my father had thought. A fucking will.
I forced the flashlight to remain steady as she skimmed the first page, then the second before gasping. I watched as she ran her finger over the page, seeing it tremble slightly. “I’m in here.”
Peering over her shoulder, I saw that there was a paragraph added under beneficiary. The child of I. Komita is entitled to the following: to be recognized as the legitimate child of Alexei Kameno and entitled to all the rights as such. The child will also be enrolled in Weissmore Academy when it comes of age, with the tuition and any further expenses paid by the funds directed in this will to be set aside for the complete duration of those years.
“Now I know how I got here,” she murmured, more to herself than to me. Hell, it answered a great deal of questions I had for myself, but in those words, Anna was now truly the heir to the Alexei Kameno name.
No wonder Isauros hated her.
“Look at this, Royce!” Anna said suddenly, pointing further down on the page. “In the event that the child has come of age, he or she will receive the sum of 30,000,000 pounds if they marry from the lines of sovereign.” I cleared my throat as she looked over at me. “What is that? The lines of sovereign?”
Her question was easy to answer really, but I was struggling to find the words, my throat suddenly tight. She wasn’t going to like my answer, but fuck, that was a lot of money. I hadn’t anticipated this sudden turn of events, but I was glad I was the one here to find out first.
“Royce?”
I met her eyes as I lowered myself to one knee, remembering the words that I had been taught long ago, before I had ever set eyes on Anna. “Give me your hand, Anna.”
“What the hell are you doing?” she whispered furiously, complete shock on her face. “What does all this mean?”
“Your hand,” I insisted. “Then I will tell you.”
“Fine,” she muttered, thrusting out her hand toward me. I took it in mine, holding it lightly while trying to ignore the fire it ignited in my gut by just a light touch. “The sovereigns are high-ranking members of their political governments,” I explained, my thumb rubbing over the back of her hand lightly. It wasn’t necessary, but I couldn’t help it. “There are very few in the world left.”
“Royce,” she said in a small voice. “What are you saying?”
I drew in a sharp breath. “France hasn’t had one in years, since probably before we were born. The Karlings were destroyed generations ago, no longer
