“It’s the best way to learn,” Arthur stated, his eyes dancing with laughter. “All you have to do is memorize the entire thing and you are good.”
I flipped through the pages, shaking my head. “I just won’t go to court then.”
“That’s not an option.”
“Surely I can make up my own rules at some point.” I mean, I was going to rule a nation or something like that if the rumors were true.
“Not these,” Arthur said, joining me. “There are some things you just have to do, Anna, and this is one, unfortunately. It sucks, I’m not going to lie. It’s long hours, and not even good alcohol to drown your sorrows in.”
I laid the book on the desk before me. “Tell me about your first experience.”
Arthur chuckled. “I was twelve. My mom wanted me to have my first true experience in court and put all that expensive-ass training to use. I lasted ten minutes before she was turning me around and giving me back to my tutor.”
“Oh my God,” I laughed, covering my mouth with my hand. “What did you do?”
“I stole a glass of champagne and proceeded to drink it in front of the king of Austria,” he said solemnly. “Apparently when she said putting my lessons to use, she didn’t mean drinking alcohol.”
We shared a smile as I tried to picture him as a twelve-year-old to begin with. It was hard to think that at one time, the kings were just kids.
Bad kids, apparently.
Arthur’s smile faded. “I’ve heard rumors, Anna.”
I shifted in my chair. Here it comes. I knew he couldn’t hold out for long. “What kind of rumors, Arthur?”
His eyes darkened. “You fucking Royce.”
Well then. I thought he would use a better way to ask. “That’s none of your business, Arthur.”
“Isn’t it?” he asked, arching a brow. “I had you first. Technically, we are still together.”
Together? We weren’t together! We were barely friends at this moment! “Arthur, I think you have that confused.”
“Do I?” he asked lightly, his jaw clenched. “If I remember right, you were a fucking virgin before I touched you. Now you are bed hopping? That’s something Johanna would do, not you, Anna.”
I just stared at him. Was he really lecturing me about this? “Weren’t you the one who made a pact to take my virginity in the first place?”
“That’s different and you know it.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Is it really, Arthur? Please explain that to me, because I’m not seeing it right now and I would really like to know how that’s different.”
He stared at me. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
I pushed out of the chair, now wishing I hadn’t even attempted to come today. It was clear to me that Arthur was still struggling to accept the fact that one, we weren’t together, and two, he had no hold over me.
He just couldn’t get it. “You can’t accept the fact that you were actually going to share me,” I told him. “And now that it’s happening, it’s killing you inside.”
His face turned red. “It was fucking stupid for me to even think I could share you, Anna. The moment I decided not to, I told you.”
“Yet you still lied to me.”
Arthur ran a hand through his hair roughly, clearly angry now. “Hell, I already explained to you what happened with that. It was a stupid bet. We didn’t know what or who you would be, and I couldn’t share you after meeting you. I couldn’t.”
I should have been touched by his words. They should have warmed my insides and made me feel all gooey inside.
Instead I felt cold. It reminded me that I was just another pawn in the kings’ games, one that hadn’t quite learned her lesson.
I didn’t even know why I was fighting with Arthur. It didn’t matter any longer and it sure as hell didn’t matter that I had slept with Royce. At least I knew where I stood with him.
With Arthur, he had broken my heart, pretending to be someone I thought I could trust, that I thought I could love.
Only to find out he had been lying in wait the entire time for his moment. People who truly cared about others did not do that. “I’m done here.”
“Anna, wait,” Arthur started as I turned to go. “I’m sorry. Just come back. We need to go through this lesson. You need to be prepared.”
I turned to look at him. “Why? What if I decide not to take my rightful place?” It was the first time I had voiced it to a king aloud and the shock on Arthur’s face was evident.
“You’re shitting me, right?”
I shook my head. “I could just walk away, just be Anna Komita.”
“And you would be fucking stupid to turn your back on what you have done so far. You are here for a reason, Anna.”
“I don’t care!” I exploded, really wanting to throw something. “I don’t care that I am supposedly the next empress of Rome! I just want a normal life. I want to wake up and not have to worry about being stabbed in the back or lied to or hated. I want to fade into existence and just live, Arthur. Is that so wrong?”
He stared at me like I had suddenly sprouted two heads. “But Anna, you have no idea what’s out there for you with this title. This is your chance to live a life you can only dream of. I mean, you would never have to worry about where you live, or what you are going to eat, or even if you want to work again. Half this academy would take your place in a minute.”
“Maybe they should, then,” I shot back, suddenly weary of this conversation. I had wrestled with it enough myself, wondering what
