“You probably want to know what my angle is.”
Drawing my attention back to Max, I gave him a nod. “You probably have one. I would be surprised if you didn’t, honestly.”
“Mine is simple,” Max said. “What did your father’s will say?”
I knew exactly which part of the will he was talking about. “It says that I must marry a sovereign in order to inherit my trust fund.”
“A sovereign,” Max mused. “Out of the three of us, I am the only sovereign.”
I burst into laughter. “Yeah, okay, try that again. I’ve heard that one before.”
“It’s true,” Max said. “And I can prove it, but first, my damn feet are freezing. Can we go inside?”
I just shook my head and made my way back up to the academy, following Max to the senior hall commons area. After divesting my coat and gloves, I joined him at one of the small tables near the back of the room. Max had already fixed two steaming cups of coffee from the expensive coffee bar that the seniors enjoyed, motioning for me to take a seat. “Relax,” he said as I glanced about the room. “Royce is fighting in a tournament off campus and Arthur is meeting with his professor.”
“I wasn’t looking for them,” I grumbled as I took the seat. “I was wondering if anyone would think it weird for a freshman to be in a senior hall.”
Max shook his head, a grin playing on his lips. “You can’t lie very well, Anna. It’s written all over your face.”
Okay, so I couldn’t lie. I cupped the mug in my hands, letting the warmth thaw out my frozen digits. “So, what did you want to tell me again?”
“My name is the only one that is associated with sovereigns,” he started, picking up his mug. “We are the only ones that have held a true royal title and power before.”
I thought about what I knew of the Karling house. They had been disgraced long ago and from what everyone had told me, they were no longer welcomed in polite social circles.
“I know what you are thinking,” Max said quietly. “We are disgraced. No one is going to allow us entrance, even with your family’s name attached to us, and you’re probably right. You have no idea what my family has gone through, what we have suffered through the generations. I would love nothing more than to fucking get my family back to what they deserve. I’m tired of being the name in the gutter, the one that everyone spits on because they fucking get their kicks out of it.” He then looked at me. “Surely you can understand that, Anna.”
I could, but maybe not to his level. “I’m sorry.”
He let out a chuckle. “There’s no need to apologize, Anna. It’s not your fault.”
“I know,” I answered. “But I’m sorry regardless.”
Something flashed across Max’s handsome face before it was gone, replaced with a look that I had come to associate with the brooding king. They were all so different. Arthur was easy to read; Royce was the player, the jokester; and Max would be the goth friend if there was such a thing amongst the kings.
He was also the hardest one to read, even though he was telling me things that I would never have thought he would share. “You need to decide soon,” he said after a moment as I took several sips of my coffee. “Not because we need to know, but because you need the protection, Anna.”
I arched a brow. “I can very well take care of myself, Max.”
“Not against her.”
I didn’t even have to ask who he was referring to. “What makes you say that?”
He ran a hand over his face, looking around the area near us before settling his gaze on me. “There’s a rumor,” he started, his voice low. “About Katarina Isauros.”
I leaned forward, torn between covering my ears and begging him to continue. I wanted something on the headmistress, anything that would make her seem not so intimidating.
And arm me with information that could be used against her in the very near future.
“There was this girl,” he continued. “The first year I arrived, she was here already. I think she was a sophomore, though I’m not sure how she survived one year in the academy. She was from a minor noble family; no one that anyone gave a damn about.”
“Sounds a lot like me,” I muttered.
Max’s eyes sharpened. “You are cared for, Anna.”
Well, everyone had a fine way of showing it. “The girl,” I prodded, wanting to hear the rest of the story.”
He eyed me for a moment before swallowing. “The girl was low on the food chain, and quiet. She didn’t stand a chance against Katarina.”
“What did she do?” I asked softly, picturing a girl very similar to me.
“Isauros pushed her off the tower.”
I gasped, nearly upsetting my mug in the process. “You’ve got to be joking.”
Max shrugged, picking up his mug. “The official word is that the girl jumped because she couldn’t deal with the pressure any longer, but there are people who swore they saw Katarina arguing with her before her death. She didn’t want her here and that was made known amongst everyone at the academy.”
I sat back in the chair, the air leaving my lungs. “But what about her family? Didn’t they try to investigate?”
Max took a swallow of his coffee. “Some say that her family is the reason that Katarina went off the deep end. The girl told her family of what she was experiencing at the hands of the headmistress and they were starting to make some threats about having an official inquiry into Isauros’ job.” He shook his head. “If that had happened,
