He stilled, his jaw working. “You’re right. You don’t owe me anything.”
His words stung and I fought the urge to press my hand against my chest to dull the pain. Why did I feel this way around him? I didn’t want to hurt him.
Maybe piss him off a little, but not hurt him. “Is that why are you here?” I forced out.
Royce stared at me for a long moment. “Will you answer one question for me, pauper?”
I swallowed. “Depends on the question.”
His jaw clenched tightly, Royce met my eyes. “Are you putting yourself in danger? Because I really would hate to fucking kill Max.”
I loosened a breath. “No, I’m not putting myself in danger. I have a good plan, Royce, one that Max is going to help me with.”
Royce jerked as if I had shot him, not recovering quickly enough for me not to see his reaction. “Fine then, don’t tell me. I don’t fucking care.”
He stalked to the door, his head dropping the moment he reached the doorknob. “Remember one thing, pauper. Max was part of that pact too. He’s an asshole like the rest of us and not a knight in shining armor.”
“Are you?” I whispered, unable to trust my own voice.
His laugh was torturous. “What do you think, pauper?”
His question hung around long after he had left my room. Royce was no knight in shining armor, no matter how much he toted a sword around.
But a small piece of me wanted him to be.
***
After another uneventful day of classes, I found myself walking to Max’s place and hoping that he was home. He had sent me a cryptic text message, alluding to the fact that he had an idea based on our conversation and I was dying to know what it was.
Sure enough, Max’s car was in the driveway and when I knocked on the door, he opened it, not at all surprised to see me standing there.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t help but stare at his bare chest, the way his gym shorts hung low on his hips.
“Should I do some poses for you?”
Mortified, I shook my head. “Move out of the way and let me in.”
His grin was quick as he did as I asked. “You look like you could use a drink, Anna.”
A drink was exactly what I needed. I followed Max to the kitchen, where he pulled down two glasses from the cabinet. “What’s your poison?” he asked, opening the freaking bar that was built into his kitchen.
“Something strong,” I said quickly, hoping that the red would die down from my face at any moment. Had I been shamelessly ogling his body like that?
When had I turned into a person that would just go all hot from the sight of a well-defined chest, anyway?
Probably since I got tangled up with the kings, that’s when.
Max poured fingerfuls of a dark liquid in two glasses, passing one over to me. “This is barenjager,” he explained. “It’s a smooth vodka, just sip it slow. I don’t know what your alcohol tolerance is.”
I sniffed the liquor, finding it pleasantly sweet-smelling. My first sip tasted like a bit of honey, the slow burn racing down my throat. “It’s not bad.”
“Drink it slow,” he warned, crossing back over to the island with his glass in his hand. “I’m not a huge fan of people puking.”
“Got it,” I laughed, placing the glass on the island. “What is the plan you’ve been concocting?”
Max took a small sip out of his glass. “I think it should be something I know very well.”
I arched a brow. “I’m not sure whether to be insulted by that or excited.”
He waved a hand at me. “Boats, Anna, boats. I think if you are going to stage an accident, boats and drowning are the best ways to go.”
I hadn’t thought about a drowning or in our case, near-drowning with no injury. “What are you thinking?”
Max downed the rest of his glass. “Isauros is in charge of her students’ safety, right? She’s also in charge of everything on this property that we utilize, including the boats.”
I was starting to catch on. “So, if something was to happen to one of the students on a boat, then she would be held liable.”
Max slowly nodded. “You’ve got it now. I know for a fact that she signs off on every boat every year. The academy dictates that she must visually inspect the boats for any wear and give her approval for them to be put into service.”
I arched a brow. “How would you know that?”
“Because I am a rower, that’s how,” he replied, smirking. “Who do you think has gotten the documents signed year after year?”
Maybe this king was going to actually help me out. “Which means that if something happened to the boat …”
“She would go down in flames,” Max finished, walking over to the bar again. “Never recover. The royals would turn their back on her, and the academy would be forced to remove her.”
I drummed my fingers on the island as he poured himself another drink. It sounded good, but what if it failed? What if someone truly got hurt? I could never forgive myself. I couldn’t believe I was having this conversation, honestly. “So how would you sabotage the boat?”
“Small cracks,” Max said, turning back toward me. “Invisible to the naked eye. It won’t take much to make the boat sink. Take on a little water and the boat will go down like a rock.”
I ran a hand through my hair, contemplating what Max had just thrown down. “And the person?”
“The person only pretends to drown,” he said. “We save their life and it’s all done. Isauros goes down for faulty equipment that endangered the life of a royal and she’s off your tail, Anna. Simple as that.”
It sounded simple, but there were a lot of things that could go wrong in the same breath. “I don’t know, Max,” I finally said, worry in my voice. “We would be putting a lot on the line and what if it doesn’t work? Then I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing.”
“But if you don’t,” Max countered. “Then you will never know if you could have succeeded, Anna. You have to be willing to take risks if you want your future.”
Despite my reservations, Max was right. If I didn’t try, then who knew what would happen.
Besides, I had already thought about who needed to be in that boat. I couldn’t be. I was an American orphan, and no one would care if I were to die in some freak boating accident.
But someone who had ties to a powerful family, now that would raise all sorts of red flags.