I knew I shouldn’t trust any of them, but eventually I was going to have to trust one of them to get through this.
Which one should it be?
Pulling the blanket over my shoulder, I knew I couldn’t make that decision yet. I was just finding out what Arthur wanted from me, which meant there were two other kings that I had to figure out before I could make any decision.
I sure as hell wasn’t going to marry Royce though. No matter what kind of money was sitting on the table, ripe for the picking, I wasn’t about to put myself in any sort of alliance just yet. Maybe I would get there eventually, but while Royce was gorgeous in a brooding sense, I wasn’t about to marry a man I didn’t know.
Ugh, how had my life become so crazy? What would have happened if I had refused to go into that crypt with Royce, and never found that will? God, it had been less than twenty-four hours and I was already regretting my decision!
Wasn’t that what I wanted to find out? What had I been expecting to see in that will, anyway?
I had seen exactly what I had been expecting, and now the truth was slapping me in the face.
Well, with a heck of a lot of stipulations.
I turned over in the bed, staring up at the darkened ceiling. I would have to figure out what I was going to do when this was all said and done, but until then, I needed to remember to keep my head up and my walls strong. I had learned my lesson with Arthur.
Now, I only wanted to look out for myself.
Chapter 6
Royce
I pulled myself up to my chin, grunting as my arms screamed for release. I held the position for a few moments before slowly letting my body back down to the ground, shaking out the burn in my shoulders. One important rule of a sword fighter was to be both strong and agile and not just good with a sword.
I trained hard, honing my body to the best shape possible.
Mainly because when I did party, I did it hard and it took me a hell of a long time to recover. Working out was a way for me to get away, to forget who I was for a little while and pretend that I didn’t have the fucking weight of the world on my shoulders. My father hated it, which made me want to do it more just to spite him.
My mother didn’t care what I did as long as I didn’t embarrass the family name and ruin our royal bloodline. She held onto the fact that we were direct descendants of the queen herself like a lifeline and now it was going to pay off with Anna and her will. I hadn’t lied. I was the only one out of the three kings that was a true sovereign, or at least the closest anyone was going to get unless Anna suddenly married the son of the queen.
I doubted that was going to happen.
No, I had come into play at the fucking right time. I really did want to help Anna, but I also had my own family’s future on the back burner, waiting until the right moment that I would cross that off my list as well.
It was only going to be a matter of time. I just had to wait it out.
“What the fuck, Royce?”
I grinned to myself, taking my time before I faced him. Gee, that hadn’t taken long at all.
Finally turning around, I found Arthur in the doorway of the gym, his arms crossed over his chest. “What?” I asked, grabbing a towel so that I could wipe the sweat off my face and arms. “Am I holding you up from something?”
“What are you doing with Anna?”
Ah, there it was. I knew it wouldn’t be long before lover boy found out that I had moved into his grounds. “Did you ask her?”
“Stop playing fucking games with me, Royce,” Arthur growled, baring his teeth like he was some sort of alpha male. “I want to know what the hell you are doing with her.”
I smiled smugly, knowing that every question I evaded pushed the dagger just a bit tighter in Arthur’s gut. “At this moment I haven’t done anything but given her what you couldn’t.”
“What I wasn’t willing to give her,” Arthur replied, stalking into the gym. I kept my stance casual, but inside I wanted to tear him limb from limb until he understood that I was the only sovereign in the room.
In this whole fucking academy.
“I had my reasons,” he stated, coming within a few feet of where I was standing. I could easily attack him from here, the first flying punch catching him off guard and giving me the advantage. Arthur was solid muscle from his time on the polo field, but I was agile as hell and could dance circles around him. “None of them that she will ever understand.”
I laughed harshly, shoving my hands in the pockets of my warm-up pants so that I wouldn’t wrap them around his neck. “No, she wouldn’t. Do you know what that will said? It said she can only marry a true sovereign. Last time I looked, Art, you were nowhere near being one.”
“Neither are you.”
“I’m a hell of a lot closer than you are,” I shot back. “Hell, do they even let your fucking family in polite society any longer?”
“I should deck you for that comment,” he seethed, his hands balling into fists at his sides. “My family didn’t steal their way into royalty.”
“Neither did mine,” I laughed. “I think you got your history screwed up there, Art. You might need to pay more attention
