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“Those mouths are going to run straight into my fist,” I snapped. “You gossipy harpies will have heard what I did to Saylor Burkhardt, so am I bluffing?”
I charged them, fist raised. They took off running, screaming and flinging curses back at me.
Dusting off my hands, I fell in step with Cato. “On to English.”
The building came into sight as four shadows fell over us.
“Luna Sinclair. Daughter of Elise Sinclair. Father unnamed.”
Saylor, Everleigh, Piper, and Gabriella stepped in front of me, pulling me up short. A piece of paper clutched in one of Saylor’s hands and an iced latte in the other. It brought me an unkind amount of joy seeing the makeup she caked on to conceal her bruised, swollen lip.
Her glee faded when she noticed Cato. “Ugh, what are you doing here— Wait.” Suddenly, she perked up, lifting her cleavage and fussing with her hair. The other girls did the same. “Is your brother here?”
“No,” I said. “Rafael is off having sex with anyone who isn’t the four of you. He’s not that picky. I hear that’s his only requirement.”
Everleigh snorted. “Jealousy looks as good on you as that hideous rayon disaster. But what can you expect from the illiterate daughter of a housekeeper?”
I rolled my eyes. “If I’m illiterate, what does it say that we got into the same school? Think your insults through, Barbie doll. See? That works because you’re pretty, fake, and empty-headed.”
Cato laughed out loud as Everleigh’s cheeks stained red. “Watch your mouth, bitch! I could ruin your stepfather with one phone call.”
I shrugged. “I barely like the guy. Go for it.”
I didn’t mean that of course, but in my experience, people who were actually going to carry out a threat, didn’t waste time shouting about it.
Saylor held up a hand, cutting off Everleigh’s reply. “All this fighting is a distraction when—”
I got a look at what was in her hand. “Is that my birth certificate?”
“That it is,” Saylor said, beaming. “You were born right here in good ole Regalia, so it was no sweat getting my hands on it. A shame Mommy didn’t know who your dad was, but she was illiterate, a housekeeper, and trash dumped off a fishing boat. We’ve established she didn’t have much going for her. Sleeping with anything that moves to numb the pain was her best option.”
My knuckles cracked. “You really want a black eye to match that lip.”
“You’re going to hit me? Go ahead.” Saylor slid off me, glancing to our right. I followed her line of sight to the campus security guard hovering near a bench, and looking right at us. “Get yourself expelled and make my year.”
“Not today, Burkhardt.” I forced my fist to unclench. “You’ll have to masturbate to someone else’s pain today. May I suggest visiting a terminally ill ward or watching a vet put down puppies? That oughta get you going.”
“Aww, how sweet, but I think I’ll let Rafael take care of my needs tonight... again.”
Something must’ve flashed on my face because her grin widened.
“I’m late for class.” I tried sidestepping them, but they moved with me.
“Not so fast,” Piper said. “We walked all over campus looking for you. Don’t you want to know why?”
“Not particularly.”
“It’s about your status,” Gabriella said.
“And about your fiancé,” added Everleigh.
That stopped me. “What about Victor?”
Saylor opened her mouth. “If you’ve learned anything, you know— Cato, go away. You’re freaking me out.”
Growling, he advanced on them, moving the Royals back quicker than I did.
“Fine, stay,” Saylor snapped. “Like I was saying, if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know how the rules and rank work around here—and who decides it.”
“No, but I can guess: you.”
“So you can be taught.” Saylor tucked my birth certificate in her Fendi bag, pink lips wrapping around her straw. She drew a long, needlessly drawn-out sip, proving she could demand my attention.
“Victor Wilson is ranked almost as high as it gets—status that passes to you if you get married.”
Why does everyone keep saying if?
“I say if,” Saylor continued, speaking to my unspoken question, “because my father had a talk with his parents the other night, urging them to rethink this ill-suited match.”
A thick sludge coated my mouth, sticking my tongue to the roof. What did she just say?
“Obviously, there’s some reason why the Wilsons need to marry their son off this soon. Probably because the stepson is a dud— I don’t give a shit. What I do care about is a respected, important family in our community forced to add a maid’s bastard to their family to get out of whatever trouble they’re in.”
It was almost impressive Saylor’s ability to say the most horrible, bitchy things with a smile and sweet, charming twang.
“Katie banged on and on about how you’re not that bad and the Dreg can be wrung out of you. She thinks you should be allowed to stay here and I may be persuaded to let you off—granted you do a few things for me. But first things first, Victor Wilson is not for the likes of you. So, here’s what’s going to happen: you’re going to dump Victor publicly and brutally.”
