Sicily reminded me of a few of the guys I was on the inside with. Some of the smaller guys, ones who knew they couldn’t defend themselves through traditional means, had to make themselves useful in other ways. It probably should have alarmed me how like prison school was, but I decided not to think too much about it.
“What about information?” I asked.
Sicily jumped up and down. “Information is my bread and butter, my friend! I’m nothin’ without it! There ain’t a soul in this school I couldn’t tell you all about.”
“Can you tell me about The Royal Court?”
A hollow whistle escaped Sicily’s lips. “The big ‘un, huh? Yeah, guy. I can tell you. Let’s get our food and find a table first, though. Away from the fray. You saw how they had me strung up.”
There was no reason to argue, so I didn’t. We got our food, all while Sicily prattled on about a bunch of insignificant things, and when we came out of the lunch line on the other side, Sicily led me to a table way in the back of the cafeteria, near one of the doors that led in and out.
We sat, and after Sicily took a few bites, he slapped the table and pointed at me. “All right. What do you wanna know?”
“Everything,” I replied. “Can you tell me about all the members? What do they do around here? Why were those two bullying you?”
“I like to call it a tense conversation,” Sicily replied. “Being a bully victim isn’t good for business.”
I shrugged. “Whatever. Just tell me what you know.”
“All right,” he replied. “Well, the basics first. The court’s got nine members.”
Nine was a much larger number than I was expecting. Obviously, Nathan was in it, along with Cherri and Nikita. I recognized Avery, but back when Cherri and I used to mock The Royal Court, it only had four members, and Cherri wasn’t one of them back then. Nathan’s numbers had grown, not that it made me any more or less comfortable.
“Okay,” I confirmed.
“The two you saw me having a conversation with earlier, that was Nikita and Jaxon. They’re the Knights of The Royal Court. They’re responsible for making sure people are bending to the court’s will, ensuring all enterprises are running through them, protecting the king. That sort of thing.”
“Flunkies?” I asked.
Sicily bobbled his head from side to side. “Sure. I suppose you could say that. I wouldn’t say it to their faces.”
“Does it look like I’m worried?”
Sicily snapped his fingers. “Good point.”
“There’s a prince, the only junior, named Brayden. He’s the king’s flunkie. It’s kinda sad to say, if you ask me. Brayden runs around after Nathan like an abandoned dog or something. Needless to say, he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty for the king if he thinks it’ll improve his position.” That thought made me sick to my stomach. That Nathan had anyone running around after him was deplorable enough, but some poor kid’s whole goal in life was to impress him? That was downright tragic. “There’s a princess too. She’s not with the prince, though. They’re just titles. Colette. She’s the senior class president and the school valedictorian.”
“Aren’t those things voted on by the students?” I asked.
“Sure, but you know, The Royal Court rules all, so she’ll get it again this year.”
I rolled my eyes. “Great.”
“There’s another prince named Alistair, and honestly, he’s a good guy. Never had any trouble with him. If you ask me, he doesn’t really want to be in The Royal Court. Got no idea why he stays, though. Maybe for Avery.”
“The one with the curly hair?” I asked, recognizing her as one of the original members, though I never knew her name.
“Yeah. Avery and the king go back a ways, so she’s the princess in line. If anything happened to the queen, she’d take over. I don’t really know what that means, you know, sexually, but I don’t really want to know, to be honest.”
I took a bite of my hamburger. “Me either.”
Sicily looked to the ceiling as he thought and then brought his gaze back to me. “Then there’s Kyle, the prince in line and the king’s right-hand man. As far as I know, he’s the real decision-maker in the group. He and Avery used to be an item, but not anymore.”
Kyle was another one who I recognized, but much like Nikita, I knew him personally. He was one of the friends who Nathan and I had made together during my year as a Loche. Kyle must have stuck around after I left.
“Uh, that just brings us to the king and queen,” Sicily said with a shrug, and everything in me went cold. “Hey, you all right there, buddy?”
“Is… Is Cherri the queen?” I asked, terrified of the answer.
“Yeah. You know her?” His head dropped back. “She is fine. I can’t blame the king for keeping her around.”
“Are they a couple? Nathan and Cherri?”
“Yeah,” Sicily said as he popped one of his fries into his mouth. “I mean, they’ve been on and off over the years, but they’ve been together for a long time now. Four years I think? Always homecoming king and queen, always voted cutest couple. They’ve been caught getting freaky a few times too.” Sicily held up his hands. “Hey, I’m not judging. If I had a girl like that, I’d have trouble keeping my hands off her too.”
My appetite fled from my body. Cherri was dating Nathan? My brother?
Sicily slid my bottle of water a little closer to me. “You may wanna drink up, pal. You don’t look so good.”
“I’m fine,” I huffed, though even I could hear how unconvincing it sounded.
“Nathan’s the king, but you know that already, it seems. Rules the roost.” He laughed. “What money won’t buy, I tell ya.”
“Yeah.” I took a deep breath in and then let it out. “What about his family? Does he have any siblings?”
Sicily started to laugh. “You think a kid like that is anything other than a
