Playboy Princes (Royals of Arbon Academy, #2)(74)

Keeping my eyes locked on the table between us, I started telling them everything. The ballot, meeting Alex, the creepy nurse and the forced IUD insertion. I glossed over the whole relationship I'd had with Alex, back when I’d thought we were in love. I also glossed over the relationship I'd had with Rafe—the one where he was nasty as fuck to me and I took every opportunity to piss him off more.

When I came to the part about overhearing Alex and Claudette, my voice hitched, but a warm hand grasped mine, providing silent strength. So I continued. Only after I got to today, with Alex's parents demanding to meet me, did I trail off and swallow the rest of my peach-flavored firewater.

No one spoke for a moment, then King Felipe made a thoughtful sound and turned to Jordan. "Tell me more about this virus you created. Can you be sure it won't be traced back to you?"

"Yes, sir," Jordan answered with complete confidence. He then went on to explain the more technical specs of his design—details that Felipe seemed to both understand and be interested in—while I tried to calm my body down from the brink of panic.

"Here," Rafe murmured, his voice a soft rumble as he released my hand and passed me another glass of liquor. He took my empty one and replaced it on the tray, while his mother watched us curiously. "You okay, Cinderella?"

"Mm-hmm." I nodded. My cheeks were warm, and for the first time I didn’t care about the stupid nickname. At some point it had stopped being an insult and was now almost a term of… endearment—something his mom seemed to notice too, her gaze lingering longer on us than was comfortable.

Jordan continued his discussion with Felipe about the virus, the hacking, the data... but something kept bugging me—the one part of my story that I'd left out, and I was dying to ask the guys more about it.

The Resistance.

Rafe and Jordan had said they were part of the group to keep an eye on happenings for their parents, but since no one had mentioned it out loud, I wasn’t sure how much their parents actually knew. On instinct I’d decided it was safest not to say anything, no matter how much I wanted more information.

But then King Felipe was the one to bring it up when he asked, “Any new intel about the Society?”

Despite my slightly fuzzy head from the potent drink, I was paying very close attention now.

Rafe stretched his long legs out, relaxing into the couch. “Nothing new from my last report. Their attacks are ramping up, but it seems to be an extremist wing that’s taking some matters into their own hands.”

“Any truth to the rumor that they’ve developed a new version of the natural disaster technology?” Queen Jacinta asked. She was nothing like Alex’s mom, in that she was smart, shrewd, and contributed plenty in the small political discussion I’d been privy to.

Jordan and Rafe both shook their heads. “Nothing in the official channels,” Rafe said.

The king and queen didn’t look reassured by that, and I wondered if a natural disaster technology was good or bad. I’d have to remember to ask about it later.

The conversation moved on to less heavy topics after that, and around halfway through my third peach drink, we wrapped everything up.

"Leave it to me," King Felipe told us with a decisive nod. "I'll do some investigation of my own. In the meantime, I'm sure it goes without saying that I don't want either of you to leave Violet alone at the academy? I get the feeling Steve has something more up his sleeve, and he needs Violet and Alex to make it happen. Nowhere is safe outside these palace grounds. Understood?"

Both Rafe and Jordan nodded their understanding, and I let out a small sigh of relief. There was something so... comforting, knowing we weren't tackling this alone. We had support. Powerful support. This wouldn't just be a case of three teenagers toppling corrupt kings, and thank goodness for that. Those stories were a bit too far fetched, even for a girl living her own fairy-tale adventure.

"Raffa!" A high pitched squeal pierced my ears, and Jordan hauled me out of the way just in time to avoid going down in a tangle of limbs with Rafe. His twin siblings piled on top of him like puppies, and the sound of his laughter touched my soul.





Chapter 32





The next few days passed all too quickly. Queen Jacinta had extended her invitation for the rest of the week, but we all had to return to the academy by Friday, ahead of the Spring Ball on Saturday.

"Is it terrible that I don't want to go back?" I asked Mattie as we changed into our swimsuits in the room we shared. Despite the Swiss palace being enormous, they had very few unused rooms due to the fact that they provided accommodations to all their household staff and security teams. It was surprising, in the best way, and something that I would forever admire Jacinta and Felipe for. It was a measure of their generosity, and seemed to have a very positive impact on their employees’ attitudes.

“It’s understandable,” she said, adjusting the straps on her eight pieces of string masquerading as a swimsuit. We’d had a bunch of clothes and toiletries provided to us, and Mattie had wasted no time grabbing the designer-and-skimpy line of options. I’d gone with more casual.

I mean, I was wearing a bright red bikini, but it covered all of my tits and most of my ass. Mattie could not say the same.

Throwing on coverups and flip flops, we left our room and followed the path that led down to the private springs we’d been using. This was for the royal family only, and we hadn’t run into anyone else in the times we’d used it.