LOVE ME
Chapter 1
Anna
I looked up at the academy with a sigh, wishing I felt the same way I had when I first arrived at Weissmore. So many things had changed, and I was not the same innocent person I had been nearly a year ago.
Now I was older, if not a bit wiser, and the blinders had been taken off my eyes at the harsh reality of the world around me. I didn’t want to admit to anyone that I had been naive, but I was. I hated to think of the dreams that I had when I had first learned about Weissmore and how those dreams had been easily shattered in the span of a few weeks.
Another long semester at the academy. I was teetering on the edge of a major decision in my life, one that could shape my future or destroy me completely. As much as I knew the kings wanted me to make a decision, I couldn’t. I felt sick to my stomach every time I thought about making one and what it would mean for the people I had come to care about, as well as who it would destroy in the end.
For that reason, I was holding off until I was completely sure.
But there was another dark cloud looming over me. The headmistress likely had heard what I had done on our break. I had gone to visit my mom’s grave, proving to myself that she truly was dead and gone from this world. There was nothing I could learn from her, no information I could gain. I couldn’t find out why she had decided to give me up or if she had ever had feelings for my father, even though he had raped her because of his crazy wife.
Seeing her grave, however, had given me the peace I hadn’t known I needed, clicking that puzzle piece into place. I knew who I was and how I had gotten here.
Not to mention the additional family members I had found along the way. I had an entire family to get to know, a genuine group of people that didn’t care if I was royalty or not. Now I had a place to go if needed, a place I could get away from it all.
I could have stayed, of course. It would have been easier on everyone if I had. I would have avoided the building confrontation with Isauros as well as the decision that I needed to make regarding my father’s will and which sovereign I was going to marry.
I could have simply walked away from it all.
But I was no quitter. I didn’t know who I had gotten that trait from, but it was likely going to get me killed in the end. What if it did? Was it something to die for?
Did I really want to leave this earth now that I had just opened my whole life up?
I wasn’t about to die. I would fight to the bitter end, and hopefully I would come out victorious. Isauros was just like me, a person. She wasn’t an immortal and though she held a measure of power, I had three kings who had taken their stand with me, three kings that belonged to powerful families.
I couldn’t let Isauros get away with ruining other lives any longer. I could stop her; I just had to keep her out of my head in the process. Last time I had talked with her, she had broken me so badly that I had nearly slit my wrists afterward. A weak moment that nearly cost me everything.
Never again. She wasn’t going to get into my head like that and attempt to tell me how worthless I was any longer. I wasn’t worthless. I had a family now, a purpose in life. I had friends who genuinely cared about me.
And I knew who I was. That was perhaps the most important thing of all. Even though my father had been a cruel tyrant who had ruined my mother’s life, he was still my father and would always be.
My mother had been a strong woman who fought to the bitter end to keep me safe. I wasn’t about to throw that away either.
I finally stepped inside, twisting the charm bracelet that my grandmother had given me before we had left the States. It had been my mom’s and now I wore it on my wrist as a reminder that there was more to fight for than just me. I needed to avenge her death, all her hopes and dreams that had been crushed because of the woman who ran this academy.
My father’s ex-wife, at that. If this shit weren’t so twisted, it would make for great TV.
The halls were quiet, and I figured I probably was one of the first students back from break. The kings and Johanna had gone their separate ways when we had landed back in Switzerland and since there were a few days left before classes started, it would be quiet around here.
Considering I didn’t have a cent to my name and no private jet to call, I really had nowhere else to go.
“Miss Komita.”
I counted to ten before I turned around, pasting a fake smile on my face. “Headmistress. How lovely to see you.”
She walked down the remaining steps before stopping in front of me, her lips pulled in a disapproving frown. “I’m surprised to see you here.”
I hefted my bag on my shoulder. “Why is that? Did you think I would quit?”
She let out a laugh. “If you were smart you would have. Tell me, Miss Komita, did you enjoy your visits? I hear you were quite the traveler, and with the kings no less.”
“I did, actually,” I said, not wanting to show her how I really felt. “Seeing my mother’s grave gave me renewed purpose, but I am sure that you already heard I was there. Oh, and the States; I’m sure you heard all about that trip. How much does it cost to follow me around? Am I really worth your time?”
Isauros’ eyes narrowed. “My my, someone has grown cocky during her trip. I believe, Miss Komita, that it’s my business what I know about you.”
“Apparently you know a lot,” I said evenly. “And I think it’s bothering you that I am learning more about myself now. I guess you can’t dangle that carrot forever.” I didn’t care if I was pissing her off. She needed to know that I wasn’t taking this lying down and was not going to just allow her to berate me any longer. I might be toeing a line, but it was going to be a line that she would have to cross, not me.
“You remind me of that whore that you call a mother,” she seethed. “Cocky and so self-assured. Well, Miss Komita, how did you feel when you held that blade in your hand, knowing you could end it all right then and there? Did you feel powerful? Did you feel like the world was at your feet?”
I had, actually, but I had also felt a soul-rending sadness that I hadn’t found anything out about my mother. Now that I was armed with the information I had learned, the sadness had abated, and I imagined it would continue to do so. “It was an eye-opening experience,” I decided on, not giving her the satisfaction of knowing how much she had broken me that night. “One that I will not be repeating.”
The headmistress stepped closer and I nervously waited for her to do something crazy, like slash my throat or club me over the head and drown my body in the lake. The woman had a serious taste for blood. My blood. “You will never live up to your father’s legacy,” she said, surprising me. “Your father, though he was a bastard, was a great leader and people respected him. No one is ever going to accept a bastard American child. You would be smart to tear up that will of his and forget that you were ever connected to royalty.”