His eyes narrowed. “This isn’t a joke, Royce. This is our future; my family’s damn future, and that future lies with Anna.”
I moved closer to him, cocking my head to the side. “And you think just because you stole her virginity that you can lay claim to her? The girl has a damn good mind. She knows what she has to do.”
“She can’t choose with you in her damn ear filling her mind with this shit,” Arthur said in a deadly calm voice. “I’m telling you once and only once, Royce. Back the fuck up.”
I rolled my neck, feeling the crack of my bones. “I’m not gonna. Despite what you try to do to my pauper, what brats you plant in her belly, she’s meant for me and me only.” I was the royalty she needed for her future and her father’s will had outlined it quite plainly.
I hadn’t expected her to accept my hand the first time, but I wasn’t giving up. I would wear her down, show her what she could do with that money and who she could become because of it. Anna had no choice.
And I wasn’t lying to myself either. That was her fucking money, not mine, and if she wanted to blow it all on shoes, I wasn’t gonna stop her. I had my own fucking money, unlike the man before me. Arthur was desperate and it was starting to show. “Besides,” I said, matching his voice with one of my own. “It’s Anna’s fucking choice and you tried to take it away from her the moment you laid eyes on her. I am going to be her choice in the end, not you, not Max.”
I thought he was going to hit me, but Arthur thought better about it and backed off, pointing his finger in my direction. “We’ll see about that, fucker. Keep those eyes in the back of your head, because you are going to fucking need them.”
I watched as Arthur exited the room, waiting until he was gone before I ran a hand through my hair. I wasn’t worried about Arthur. He had his chance with Anna and had screwed it up—well, with some help.
No, I was worried about what Anna might or might not do. She wasn’t one of us. She didn’t thrive on money or power, so if she decided to take the easy way out and walk away from that will, there was nothing she would miss.
While I didn’t need her money, I sure as hell could use her connections.
But I would be lying if I didn’t want her for myself.
No, want was not strong enough. I craved her, and damn if I was going to let this pass by and not have a taste of my future bride. I had to be careful for I truly wanted to help Anna out. She had shown toughness I never thought she would have; the true makings of an empress, and I was going to open that piece of her up so she could fuck the rest of this academy and show them what I knew was hidden there.
I just had to get her to trust me.
**
It didn’t take long for the next king to find me. I was lounging in the senior hall commons area, surrounded by others that wanted to be like me. My cunning grin was plastered on my face, a beer in my hand when Max walked in, his hands shoved into his pants pockets. Someone passed him a beer and he took it, making his way over to me like I knew he would.
I didn’t know what to think of Maximillian Karling sometimes. Sure, we had partied together, shared women together, and gone on some wild vacations together, but he was the wild card that I still hadn’t figured out.
His family on the other hand, that was easy to figure out. Everyone, and I mean everyone, knew about the Karling clan. The German monarchy was a strong one, but not the Karling family. They were the whispers in every party, the ones that you walked on the opposite of the road if you saw them because of the wicked scandals attached to their name.
They were poison, in both the business and political sense.
Just now the other students that had been fawning over me were looking at him warily, some even moving away when he joined me on the sofa. “Always one to clear a room,” I joked, lifting up my beer.
“It’s a gift,” he answered, no smile on his face. “I hear you’ve found a new plaything.”
“I’m just helping her,” I answered evenly before taking a swig of my beer. “What’s it to you?”
“She was supposed to be shared.”
My grin was quick. “Yeah, but polo boy fucking screwed that shit all up, didn’t he?”
Max frowned, still not touching his beer. “There’s still two of us.”
I let out a laugh. “You are wanting a piece of the pauper?”
Something passed over Max’s expression before he looked away. “That was the fucking plan, Royce.”
I leaned in closer, so only Max could hear my words. “What do you want with her, Max? You think that it will bring your family back to their rightful place in royalty?”
He was on me so quick that I didn’t have time to block his first blow, his fist colliding with my chin. An explosion of pain shot through my jaw, but I fired back, landing a punch to his cheek as we rolled onto the floor, cheers and gasps going up around us. “Take that shit back,” he growled as he locked me into a hold.
“Never,” I wheezed, clearing my mind so I could figure out a way out of his hold. “It’s the fucking truth and you know it, Max.”
He rolled over and I found my out, pushing against him with
