Her gaze locked with mine, and I could see she was silently telling me that this time he was going to kill me.
I smiled back, and it was enough to wipe that look off her face.
She didn’t even know she’d handed me everything I’d been waiting for—a chance to kill the son of a bitch.
When they were out of earshot, I swung my palm reader up and typed the same message to Rafe, Jordan, and Nolan.
Me: When is the next event? I need in. Also, I need Brandon in.
Mattie was reading over my shoulder, and we both waited for the replies.
Jordan: You don’t have to take that bastard on alone. We got your back.
Swoonie fucker. But also, he needed to come to terms with the fact that I was no princess in need of a savior. No white knights needed apply. I had this shit handled on my own. Although it was nice to have someone at my back, as long as they didn’t want me to run and hide.
Nolan: No.
Angel: If I help you with this, what are you going to do for me, Cinderella?
Jesus.
“Why are we friends with them again?” I asked Mattie. “I have to go to this fucking special study session in a minute, and I really don’t need their shit on top of it.”
She patted my shoulder. “I’ll handle them. I’ll also be close by if Alex tries anything. Let’s just get this out of the way.”
It was Thursday, and since Alex had missed Tuesday—thank you whoever had kept him busy—this was the first of my "special study sessions."
My new classes had been okay so far because I’d managed to ignore Alex, even when he’d been sitting right beside me. I couldn’t keep up with any of the subject matter though, mostly because I’d just been dropped into third year classes. But no one seemed to give a fuck. I’d actually gotten an A on a quiz that I’d only written in half the answers for.
Dean Morgan was taking this shit way too far, but I was on the ride now and couldn’t just jump off. I needed to see it through. Arbon was no longer the dream of a better future I’d hoped for, but I’d be damned if I ran off now.
“Come on,” I said quickly, ignoring the next few buzzes of my palm reader as the guys sent more messages. “I don’t want to be late. I can’t have the dean thinking I’m not taking this seriously.”
I also wanted them all to live in a false sense of security, thinking I’d just buckled under their pressure. It would make it so much sweeter when I wiped them from the face of the Earth.
Mattie followed me into the room I’d been assigned for private study sessions with Alex. The prince was already there, sprawled back in his chair, a decent spread going on. Normally that would be my undoing, but he was literally repulsive to me now. My skin crawled at the sight of him.
“You can leave, Matisse,” he drawled, not looking up from his palm reader. Whatever he was typing into it had almost all of his attention, but he somehow knew I wasn’t alone.
Mattie snorted out some fake laughter, like this was hilarious. “Yeah, not gonna happen. I seriously need to study as well, and since this is a study session, there’s no reason I can’t be here.”
Alex got to his feet, his eyes lifting from his palm reader for the first time. They were cold and hard. “I’m not going to ask you again. Leave, Matisse, before I have to hurt Violet.”
It was my turn to snort out some laughter. But mine was genuine.
Alex shot a look in my direction. “Yeah, I know you’re Violence, a fucking psycho, according to the gossip. But remember, I control every aspect of your life. The dean… he’d be happy to remove you from Arbon if pushed a little.”
His words cut off my amusement. Not the threat, but the fact that he knew I was Violence.
Gossip?
Was that why people had been treating me a little different lately? I’d thought it was the whole Alex thing—she’s with a crown prince, be nice to her. But maybe, just maybe, that small amount of respect had been because of my purple persona.
“You won’t get her kicked out,” Mattie drawled. “You need her.”
Alex took a step closer, and I sidled in front of my friend. She shot me a withering look but didn’t argue. “If Violet is no longer in Arbon, she’ll be stuck in the Switzerlands with no money and no way to get back to New America. She’ll need me, and I will put her right where she belongs.” His eyes met mine. “In Australasia. In my bed.”
I shook my head. “Yeah, I’d rather sleep in the snow, thanks.”
Mattie pushed up behind me. “And she will always have options now. I have plenty of money; I can fly her wherever she wants.”
Alex growled at her. “You’d start a war? Over this…” He waved his hand at me, and I tried really hard not to be insulted.
Mattie didn’t even bother to answer, she just stepped around me and dropped her books on the table. “Let’s study,” she said.
I followed, staying as far from Alex as I could. It made no difference; he just moved his shit and sat on my free side, boxing me in between him and Mattie.
No matter how much I shifted, he just followed, so I eventually gave up, choosing to ignore him as best I could.
“You need help with anything?” Mattie asked as she opened her book.
I shook my head. “Nah, my classes seem to be easier than ever.”
Alex grinned beside me, and I clenched my fists as I imagined punching his teeth in.
My palm reader buzzed a bunch of times, but I wasn’t about to read those messages with this leech at my side.
Motherfucker. What I’d give to get Alex in the fight ring. I bet it’d be all kinds of satisfying to slice that smug smile off his pretty face. I’d be totally willing to pay for the cleanup if it meant ridding the world of one of the worst future monarchs around.
“You gonna check those?” he asked, indicating to my palm reader’s flashing lights.
I shook my head. “Nope.”
For lack of any better ideas, I flipped open my shiny new textbook—Econ 302, for fuck’s sake—and started reading. Or I pretended to, anyway. Damn, economics was boring. Or maybe it was the fact that I’d been dumped straight into a third level class with zero understanding of the subject on a basic level.
Ugh. Whatever. I just needed to get through the next hour without giving Alex any reasons to fuck my life up any worse. Then I could meet Jordan in his room and… uh… strategize. Yep. Strategize.
Naked.
“Mattie, just go,” Alex drawled, snapping me out of the decidedly dirty daydream I’d just engaged in. Yet another reason to junk punch the fucker. “I promise I won’t accidentally push Violet down the stairs if you leave us alone.”
Mattie gasped, and even my jaw dropped. The way he so casually referenced Jasmine’s death—sorry, Jasmine’s murder—was legitimately shocking.
“You sick fuck,” Mattie snarled, leaning on the desk to hiss at him over me. “If you think I’d give you even one second alone after a comment like that, you’re more screwed in the head than I gave you credit for.”
Alex just shrugged like her scathing anger meant exactly nothing to him. “Suit yourself.”
Something about the way he said that, then immediately turned to his palm reader to send a message set off alarm bells in my brain.
“Alex,” I snapped. “Don’t.”
He blinked at me with those gorgeous blue eyes, a picture of fucking innocence. It wasn’t hard to see how I’d fallen so hard and so fast for his fake ass.
“Don’t what, sweetheart?”
“Don’t do whatever the fuck you’re doing. Just don’t. You’ve done enough. You’ve changed my whole schedule so that I’m forced into your classes, which totally screws my own degree credits. You’ve forced me into this bullshit study period. You’ve made it abundantly clear that you hold my future and freedom in your slimy grip, so whatever the fuck you just did on your palm reader? Undo it. Mattie sitting here or not doesn’t make any difference to how much I fucking hate you.” My voice remained calm and quiet as I said this, and I gave myself a mental pat on the back for that. Because as much as I despised him now… he’d hurt me. And that wasn’t something that healed overnight.
He grinned, and Mattie’s palm reader lit up with an incoming call.
“Too late,” my psychotic ex said, and Mattie cursed. It only took one look at her pale face to know whatever he’d done was bad news.
She bit her lip, staring at her palm reader before flashing me a distraught look. “It’s my mother,” she told me, her voice edging on panic. “I’m sorry, Vi. I have to—”
“Take it,” I ordered her. “Go. Seriously. I’m a big girl, and Alex knows better than to try and manhandle Violence, right?” I shot a snarky glare in his direction, but he just grinned like the cat who caught the canary.
My bestie scowled, but her hands were shaking as she tossed her things into her bag and hurried out of the library.
“What the fuck was that all about?” I demanded, whirling in my seat to confront Alex. “What the hell did you do, you shady bastard?”
“Me?” He spread his hands out like he had no idea what I was talking about. Damn, I wanted to hurt him. Physically. “I think you’re starting to see monsters in every closet, Violet. Maybe Matisse’s mother just wanted to check in on her daughter.”