Anna’s hand tightened on mine and I nearly dropped the flashlight. “So you are saying that I should marry you.”
This was the moment I had been waiting for, bowing my head as a sign of respect. “Your Imperial Majesty, I humbly ask for your hand in marriage.”
A sound escaped her and she wrenched her hand away from mine, taking a few steps backward. “This is crazy, Royce! I mean, oh my God, this is not happening.”
I rose from the dusty floor, pointing the flashlight at her. Damn, she looked like she was going to bolt at any moment. “This has to happen, Anna.”
“You called me Anna again,” she whispered.
“That’s a shitload of money,” I reminded her, taking a step toward her. “All for you. I won’t touch a fucking cent.” I wouldn’t need to once we made it official.
Was I really considering marrying my pauper? I had to. The will deemed it necessary.
That meant Anna would be in my bed, her long hair spread across my pillow, those eyes wide-eyed as she watched everything I did.
She would be mine. “You need to consider this,” I tried again.
“I-I can’t do this right now,” she stammered, hastily gathering up the paperwork. “I mean we don’t even like each other like that.”
“I can learn,” I murmured, knowing that I was already halfway there. “Please.”
Anna gave me a look before she hurried back in the direction we came, leaving me in the crypt.
Great. Just fucking great.
Chapter 5
Anna
I hurried down the hall, keeping my head down and desperately hoping that Royce was not following me. Had he really just asked me to marry him? He hated me and I hated him.
Okay, maybe not hated, not anymore, but he wasn’t in my top ten people I liked either.
I crushed the papers to my chest, my heart pounding in my ears. My father’s will. I had found it. The pieces were falling into place, just like I wanted them to, but his words had muddied the waters once more and had me more confused than ever.
I had to marry a sovereign, and by the way Royce had made it sound, he was the only one for the job.
Royce. It had to be Royce.
Turning the corner, I found one of the many alcoves that were used by students as a place to lounge and ducked inside, pulling the curtain before cutting on the low light attached to the wall. With shaking hands, I sat on the comfortable chair and laid the papers in my lap, scanning the words again.
Most of it was legal jargon, but it was clearly spelled out what I had to do to get the inheritance that he had set aside for me.
The child of Alexei and I. Komita.
My mother. It was a heck of a lot of money he was leaving me, further bolstering my suspicions that he actually did love my mother. A warmth spread over me as I thought about them together, about how excited he must have been to know she was pregnant with me. Clearly, by the words he had put in this will, he thought my birth was a good thing.
Well, right up until the point where he wanted me to marry a sovereign leader. I was too young to be married, no matter how much money he was throwing my way. I mean, I was barely out of high school and my most recent relationship had fallen to pieces.
Heck, I wasn’t even ready to have sex again, much less have someone put a ring on my finger.
“This is crazy,” I whispered, rereading the words that were clearly printed on the paper. The money was more than I had ever seen before and I knew that it was even more in US dollars. I could do anything I wanted to with that kind of money and never have to rely on anyone.
The problem was, I would be married, with a husband.
Johanna was never going to believe this.
Carefully, I folded the papers back into the envelope, biting my lip as I did so. The look on Royce’s face had been so earnest when he had asked for my hand, something I hadn’t seen on him before. It was as if he truly believed that he was the only one who could fit the description that my father had set forth.
And he had called me Anna. I hated when he did so, making him seem real. When he called me “pauper” there was a barrier between us, that wall I had carefully built still intact.
But my name on his lips threatened the very foundation.
I placed my head in my hands, not believing this turn of events. This was crazy. This wasn’t what I had been expecting.
And now, I didn’t know what to do about it.
**
It didn’t take long for Arthur to find me. One minute I was walking along with Johanna, heading to dinner, the next I was pulled into one of the alcoves by a fuming Arthur, slamming the curtain closed. “What the hell, Anna?” he asked, his expression furious.
I shook off his hand, glaring at him. “What are you doing?”
“You went with Royce anyway, even after I told you not to.”
“You told me not to?” I asked, my head hurting. “I don’t remember asking for your permission, Arthur. I was asking for your advice.”
He slammed a hand above my head. “Dammit, I told you it was not a good idea to do so, yet you did it anyway.”
I wasn’t about to ask how he knew I had gone with Royce. Was Royce already touting what he had found out in
