“Well I need a fucking drink.”
I watched as Royce headed to the bar, picking up the decanter of whiskey, and poured a healthy swallow before throwing the entire thing back. I could have easily told him last night of my decision, but I didn’t want for him to tell the other kings before I had a chance to.
Now there was no going back.
Arthur approached me, disappointment obvious in his expression. “So, you aren’t choosing any of us.”
I shook my head. “I can’t live in this life you have. I don’t want to and if I have a choice, I would rather have my freedom than anything my father’s world can give me.”
Arthur knelt on one knee before me. “I promise you, Anna, that you will always have me.”
Max joined him. “Me too. We care about you, Anna, and if it means we need to turn our backs on our own families, we will. We had already decided to do so.”
I caught Royce’s gaze. He didn’t kneel along with the other kings, but he didn’t have to. He had said enough last night. “I don’t need you to do that,” I said, reaching for their hands. “But I do appreciate the fact that you will always be a part of me and my future.”
They both kissed my hands like I was some sort of queen and I smiled tenderly, knowing that these kings had my utter devotion for the rest of my days. Because of them I could stand here, still largely whole. Because of them, I had experienced my first sexual encounters and learned a bit about each of them along the way.
I cared about them and owed them my life.
Both Arthur and Max took their turns giving me hugs, whispering their own pledge of devotion to me, so much so that I was weak in the knees by the time Royce approached me. His jaw was clenched tightly, but I could see the devotion in his eyes, never breaking that connection as he lowered to one knee. I held out my trembling hand to him and he pressed his lips on it, caressing the underside with his own hand. “I pledge my devotion to you,” he said softly, only for my ears to hear. “And to no one else save the queen.”
There were so many things I wanted to say to him but refrained, saving it for the goodbye I would have to give him. He rose and took me into his arms, his lips above my ear. “I’m proud of you, pauper. You’ve chosen your future, not the other way around.”
I clung to him, emotional at the unexpected turn of events. No one was upset, no one was begging for me to change my mind.
I was once again Anna Komita.
***
Royce
She hadn’t chosen anyone.
I sat in my own living room that night, thinking about Anna’s speech to the kings and her ripping up her father’s will in the process. I wasn’t upset that she had done so. It was Anna’s life to decide what she wanted to do and what future she wanted.
Clearly, she didn’t want to join our shitty world and hell, I couldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t either if I didn’t have to.
But she was leaving and the ache in my chest had only grown since I had left Arthur’s. Anna wasn’t going to be right down the road, or even within reach. I would stay here at Weissmore and she would go to the States, to live the life she was meant to live.
I brought the glass to my lips, my mind numb from the amount of alcohol I had consumed this afternoon and evening. I wanted to numb my entire fucking body against the onslaught of emotions that was being thrown at me.
Anna was leaving.
Taking the glass, I threw it at the fireplace, rewarded with the shattering of glass against the stone façade. I knew I could offer her the world, but she wouldn’t stay. Anna wanted her freedom above all else and if I was willing to give her that, then I would have to let her go.
I had had days with her, days to soak in her happiness and bury myself in her unfailing warmth. I had had days to soften my heart, to hear those three words come out of her mouth, directed at me.
At me, a bastard king who hadn’t given a shit about anyone or anything until I had met Anna.
“Bloody hell,” I said, dragging a hand through my hair roughly. How the hell did she expect me to go on with the rest of this senior year without her here?
At least she was safe from Isauros and any other danger that her true birthright had brought. That was a consolation, at least, and I knew she had to be excited about going back home.
Back where she belonged. Anna was never meant for our world. She was far too good to be the likes of a royal and if she had chosen any of us, we would have spent a lifetime protecting that goodness from those that were around us.
It would have been one hell of a fight.
Frowning, I stared into the darkness. I had days left with her, days that I needed to truly put into perspective. Because if I didn’t, I could lose her forever. She had told me she loved me, had given me her heart with nothing expected in return.
The least I could do was give her something meaningful before she left.
Chapter 20
Anna
“Are you certain you wish to do this?”
I clenched my hands tightly in my lap, wanting to turn and run away from what I was about to do. My time at Weissmore was drawing to a close rapidly, but before I left this country, I needed to bring closure to one part of my life if I truly wished to be happy.
That part was my fighting with the person who had almost been my stepmother.
How ironic that my stepmother would be the one who had given me these bruises, the one who had tried to kill my mother, giving me a razorblade for me to kill myself. She never once accepted me as her husband’s bastard but instead chose to make me miserable because she was miserable on the inside.
And now she would rot in prison for the rest of her life because of her own hatred.
Squaring my shoulders, I nodded to the lawyer that Royce had brought in to help me navigate through the legal aspects of this case so I could return home. The police had given me a hard time when I had announced my intentions, but whatever this brilliant lawyer had said to them in their native tongue had made them grudgingly accept that I would be going back to the States at the end of the week and could be available when the time came for Isauros’ trial.
I never wanted her to see the light of day again for what she had done to me, my family, and my friends. “Yes,” I finally said. “I’m ready.”
The lawyer translated for me and the detective let out a heavy sigh before standing and motioning for us to follow him. I had thought about bringing one of the kings instead, but I was afraid of what they would do, as well as the distraction they might be for Isauros. I wanted it to be the two of us so I could say what I needed to say to her.
And then I would be done with the headmistress.
We walked down a long hallway before being allowed entrance into another room, where I was again checked for any contraband and my lawyer was forced to give up his briefcase. This would be Isauros’ life now, with no freedom, no ability to see the world outside of the four walls of her cell. She would be reduced to nothing, just another number in the sea of people that could not care less who she had been married to or the connections she had.