My heart did a flip in my chest. “Arthur, you don’t have to.”
“I want to,” he interrupted. “Get in, Anna.”
I kept the hoodie and sweats I had on but placed the dagger on my nightstand before doing as he asked. He turned off the light and climbed in, pulling me against his warm body. “Sleep.”
I laid my hand on his stomach, my head buried in his shoulder. “Thank you, Arthur.”
That was the last coherent thought I had before I drifted off.
Chapter 6
Anna
Sunday came early. After a restful night’s sleep in Arthur’s arms, I woke to breakfast already waiting for me on my desk and a note from Arthur to check in throughout the day so that he knew I was okay.
I had to admit, it had been some good sleep knowing that Arthur was watching over me.
I started to feel marginally better, so I ventured out for lunch, even speaking to a few of the students that were gathered in the freshman commons room, playing video games and watching TV. They invited me to stay, likely to get information out of me, but I passed and went back to my dorm room, not really wanting to be chatty.
When I got back to my room, Max was leaned up against the wall beside the door. “Anna, surprised to see you out and about.”
“The same could be said of you,” I stated, tucking my hands inside the pocket on my hoodie. Was I wearing the same one from last night?
Yes, I was.
“I want to help.”
Well, that wasn’t the first time I had heard that from a king in the last twenty-four hours. I had one in my bed, one giving me dangerous weapons, and now one wanting to help.
It was all very odd. “All right,” I said. “What do you want to help with?”
“I think I can help you with Isauros,” he said in a low voice, looking around the hall. “But I don’t want to talk about it here.”
A glimmer of hope emerged that I dared to cling to. “All right. Where do you want to go?”
“My place.”
Max’s mansion? It was the only mansion I hadn’t stepped foot in and despite my best efforts, I was insanely curious to see it. I wasn’t scared of Max after everything I had been through.
I mean, what was the worst he could do to me? Out of the kings, Royce had been the scariest and now, well, I didn’t want to think about him right now. “Okay,” I finally said. “Lead the way.”
Max pushed away from the wall and we walked down the hall together, I ignoring the stares as we passed. I could only imagine what they were saying, what rumors would fly after I walked out and climbed into Max’s car.
It wasn’t anything that I hadn’t heard before.
In the parking lot sat a Mercedes and I just shook my head. The cars that I had ridden in were crazy expensive and no one would believe me when I said what I had seen in this place.
Well, no one was going to believe that I was attending an ultra-exclusive academy in the Swiss Alps either.
Max opened the passenger side door for me, and I climbed into the leather interior as he slid into the driver’s seat. Max threw the car in drive and we were off, peeling out of the parking lot.
I leaned back on the headrest as he turned down a familiar road, passing both Arthur’s and Royce’s mansions along the way. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“How in the world do you move out here?”
Max chuckled. “You mean in the mansions? Well, we are royalty, after all.”
“Oh my God,” I laughed. “The entire academy is royalty. They all should have mansions.”
“Some are higher than others,” he explained as he pulled into the driveway. Unlike Royce’s, Max’s mansion was smaller and without a garage. An imposing brick structure, its stately presence was more like the traditional mansions I had seen back in the States. Max climbed out of the car and I followed, walking up to the front door as he opened it. Stepping inside, I took in the traditional look, with a wide, sweeping staircase that led to the second level.
“You want something to drink?” he asked as he shut the door.
I shook my head. “I’m good, thanks.”
Max shrugged as he showed me into the living room that had a comfortable-looking couch and a massive TV hung on the wall over the stone fireplace. “Have a seat.”
I did, curling my legs under me. Max sat on the other end of the couch, resting his arm along the back of the couch. “So, I’ve been thinking about this,” he started. “You need to figure out how to turn the tide of the royal families in your direction. Isauros has stepped up her game. It’s time for you to do the same, Anna.”
“How the heck am I going to do that?” I asked, groaning. “I’m an American. They already don’t like me and don’t think I belong here. What would make them want to be on my side?”
Max rubbed his forehead. “I haven’t thought that out quite yet.”
“You brought me all the way here just to tell me you don’t have a plan?” I asked, arching a brow.
“I thought you needed to get out. Everyone’s treating you like you are going to break. I’m proving you aren’t.”
So, he did know about my visits with the other kings. “I’m not going to break. I’m past that.”
Max looked at me, his expression full of understanding. “I know. Go ahead, tell me you didn’t need to get out.”
“Oh no, I needed to get out. Thanks.”
He smirked. “Told you.”
I looked around the living room. Just like the other kings, Max didn’t have any personal effects hanging around. I had come to learn that anything personal with the kings they kept close to them, not wanting to show any weakness to anyone, apparently.
But they each had their own weakness. I was rapidly understanding that with each time I visited with one of them.
“Do you have any thoughts?” he asked lightly.
I did, actually. My sleepless night had given me a chance to think about my issues with the headmistress and what I could do to elicit some help and get rid of her for good.
It didn’t contain killing her. As much as I would love to see her suffer, I didn’t wish for her death, even if she wanted mine. “What about that girl you told me about?” I asked. “The one that she killed.”
Max sighed. “It’s alleged, Anna.”
I faced him. “Even if it is, it proves that she’s unable to protect some of the world’s most important royal heirs. Surely the other families wouldn’t want to send their children to an academy that can’t protect them.”