He sat back, the smile on his face telling me he wasn’t giving up just yet.
I really didn’t know how much I would be able to handle from him.
“Well then,” he stated. “Let’s try something different.”
“All right,” I said slowly. “I’ll bite.”
“I bet you do, pauper.”
My cheeks heated. “Stop it and tell me why you are here wasting my time.”
His grin remained on his gorgeous face. Were his eyelashes really that long?
Where did he get that small scar near his left eyebrow?
I really, really shouldn’t be looking at him like I was, but it was hard with him being so close and not threatening me with a sword.
“The first question you should be asking yourself is why you are at the fine Weissmore Academy in the first place,” he finally said.
I let out a laugh. “No shit. What do you think I’m trying to do?”
“Listen to me, pauper,” he said, clenching his jaw. “I’m trying to fucking help you out.”
“You? Help me?” I asked, shaking my head. “Come on, Royce. You don’t even like me. You can’t even say my name. Why do you care what I found out?”
His jaw clenched and unclenched several times and I realized that the king was trying to control himself, from doing what I didn’t know. “Anna.”
I gasped, unable to help it. “What?”
“Your fucking name is Anna,” he ground out. “Though I prefer pauper.”
My name sounded foreign on his tongue and I wished he hadn’t said it.
Maybe I did like pauper better. Royce saying my name sounded far too intimate. “Go back to the first question,” I squeaked out, hoping my voice didn’t sound as bad as it had to my ears. “What are you getting at?”
He let out a breath. “Think about it, pauper. There’s a reason you are here and if Isauros hates you as much as I have heard, she would never have let you in this place.”
Royce was actually making sense. I knew she hated me, but why would she want me in her academy, causing an uproar as I had?
Royce was right. She could have denied my entry the moment she saw my name, but for some reason, she had allowed me to come here.
“There’s got to be something that forced her hand,” Royce continued as I thought about his words. “Something that she couldn’t fight.”
“It does make sense,” I said slowly.
“You’re a bastard,” he said, his voice deadly calm. “Entitled to nothing.”
“Gee, thanks,” I muttered, his words hurting me more than they should.
“I don’t mean it like that, pauper,” he growled, surprising me. “I mean in the eyes of royal families and shit; you aren’t entitled to anything if you are born out of wedlock.”
I looked at him and giggled then. “That word should never come out of your mouth, ever.”
His eyes crinkled in the corners as he gave me his first real smile and it took my breath away.
It wasn’t a sneer or a fake grin that he wore all the time.
No, this was a true smile that reached his eyes and I was stunned by it.
But before I could breathe again, it was gone, and the same old Royce was back in place. “Concentrate, pauper.”
Back to business. All right. “You’re right,” I finally said. “I’m not entitled to anything.”
He tapped his finger against his lips. “But what if you were? What if something had it in writing? Isauros couldn’t fight you then.”
“What? Like a will?”
When he didn’t grin, I realized that was exactly what he was talking about. Was there a will from my father? What if he had put me in it? That would be the only reason that she would be forced to let me attend this academy. “Oh my God,” I breathed, grabbing his upper arm. “There’s a will.”
“Yeah,” Royce confirmed, eyeing my hand. I quickly removed it, tucking it in my lap so I wouldn’t be tempted to touch him again. “There is. I called my father. He said your father loved to hide his treasures and he loved this academy. There’s a good chance it’s here right now.”
That changed everything. My heart started to pound in my ears as I thought about what I had just learned. If there was a will, that could be the proof that I needed to identify my mother. He would have had to put her on there as the benefactor since I was a minor at the time.
This could be the smoking gun I needed to bust this wide open.
Tamping down my excitement, I forced myself to meet Royce’s steely gaze. “Did he know where to start?”
His grin was back, but not the one that had stolen my breath away. “Maybe.”
“You have to tell me,” I said, borderline begging him to do so. “I know you don’t like me, but this is everything to me, Royce. Surely you can find some shred of decency to do so.”
He leaned closer. “Better yet, I can show you, but you have to come alone, pauper. This isn’t the type of thing you need a shitload of protectors drawing attention to.”
He was right of course, but I didn’t feel comfortable in his presence. He could be leading me right off a cliff for all I knew. “I can’t do that, Royce.”
Royce stood, tsking as he did so. “Well then, I can’t show you where to start. Good luck with your research, pauper.”
I stood as well, grabbing his arm as he turned to go. “Please,” I begged, forcing him to meet my eyes.
He shook his head, pulling out of my grasp. “I already told you my terms. I won’t accept anything less. You know where to find me.”
With that, he walked away, disappearing amongst the rows of books. I let out a frustrated
