After all, my father was dead and so was my mother. It wasn’t going to bring either of them back.
But it could bring me others, family members that might actually be happy to know I existed.
Or it could bring me family members that wanted me dead, like Isauros. Still, I wasn’t going to find out unless I pushed the envelope and tried to dig into the places that no one wanted me in. I wasn’t going to let this go. They could threaten me all they wanted, but I wasn’t about to just walk away from finding out what happened to my parents.
“Hey.”
I watched as Arthur slid into the seat next to me, flashing me his cocky smile. My traitorous heart went pitter-patter as I took in his button-down collared shirt and jeans, the casual way he lounged in the chair like he owned the place.
Well, he kind of did and it was still hard for me to believe that he had taken an interest in me.
Oh wait, he had done it so that he could become part of one of the largest and most powerful families in the world.
Yeah, that wasn’t hard to remember at all.
His grin faded. “Why did you just look at me like I kicked a dog or something?”
“Nothing,” I muttered, not wanting to dredge up old memories right now. “I need to tell you something.”
“Okay,” he said warily, looking at my stomach.
I knew instantly what he was thinking. “Oh my God! No.”
He shrugged. “I could at least hope some of those little guys won the race, right?”
I hit him on the shoulder, my hand colliding with the solid muscle. “Concentrate, will you, and get your head out of your ass for a minute?”
“Fine, fine,” he conceded, holding up his hand. “What is it?”
Quickly I told him the abbreviated version of my conversation with Isauros, making sure to get all her threats in a few words.
“Shit,” Arthur said after I finished, his eyes darkening. “She will follow through on her threats, Anna. I hope you understand that.”
“I don’t care,” I said hotly. “She can if she wants, but I’m not going to stop.”
“Anna,” Arthur said quietly, true concern in his expression. “You can’t go up against her.”
I stared at him. “What would you do if you were in my shoes? What if you didn’t know what happened to your parents and desperately wanted to know, Arthur? Would you just stop? Don’t you understand? I don’t belong to anyone, anywhere! What’s wrong with me wanting to know who I am?”
He took my hand in his and I didn’t fight him, seeing the pleading in his gorgeous eyes. “Anna, please. I know you are frustrated about this, but she will hurt you. You are messing with her life too, by pulling up the past, and if she feels threatened …”
“Then I will pay for it,” I finished for him, withdrawing my hand from his. “And I need to know that you will help me until you can’t any longer, Arthur. I need my friends.”
“Friends,” Arthur said slowly, pushing out of the chair. “You know I want more. We had more.”
“Under an illusion you mean,” I said softly, looking up at him.
He ran a hand roughly through his hair. “Come on, Anna. You know it wasn’t all an illusion.”
Maybe not, but he had still done it, end of story. “I’m too set on finding my lineage at the moment,” I said instead. “To be involved with anyone.”
Arthur looked as if he wanted to say more, but instead blew out a breath and walked away. Well, that had gone just as well as it had with Johanna.
It looked like I was on my own.
Chapter 2
Royce
The swords clashed hard in the empty room, the sound bouncing off the walls as I blocked Max’s thrust. “You left your left open,” he growled, resetting his feet.
“The fuck I did,” I answered, doing the same. Sweat poured down my chest and pooled in the waistband of my shorts, my muscles screaming for a break, but I couldn’t stop until one of us finally yielded. It was how we played this game, proving that we were the true king.
Even if it was for a few hours.
Max grinned and the sword was thrust in my direction again, the tip blunted so we wouldn’t kill each other accidentally. While I preferred the weight of my own sword, I was using one of the academy’s for this purpose. The weight was off, and I was having a devil of a time trying to control my skills against my opponent.
Though Max’s true passion was rowing, he did love a damn good sword fight, which was why I picked him over Arthur to join me here. Arthur, well, I didn’t know what was up with him. We were barely speaking, which was fucking fine with me.
I blocked Max’s blow easily and fought him into a corner, his grunts loud in my ears as he expertly got himself out of it, something that normally wasn’t the case. “Your fucking game is off,” he said, tossing the sword back and forth between his hands. “Get your shit together, Royce.”
I narrowed my gaze, attempting to clear my mind. He was right. My game was off, more than I cared to admit. Using a series of maneuvers, I was able to get Max off his feet. Somehow, he kept ahold of his sword and I jumped as he tried to sweep my feet from under me, landing easily on the balls of my feet while he recovered to a fighting stance. “Try again, fucker,” I grinned, mimicking his
