Fucker.
This was a test though, this moment with Brandon, and however I handled it would probably set the tone for the rest of my time at the academy. I could not let them win. Not now. This school was my ticket out.
“Okay,” I said casually, dropping my bag. I saw the surprise in his eyes. I took a step closer. “Whip this little dick out, and I’ll spare you the half a minute I’m sure it’ll take.”
He blinked at me.
“Come on,” I pushed, my breath fogging in the frosty air, “chop-chop. Dicks don’t suck themselves, you know.”
Red was rising from his neck into his cheeks—he was pissed—but before I could find out if he was going to call my bluff—
“Mr. Morgan, your father wants us back before the morning assembly,” Mr. Wainwright said from behind the asshole, interrupting us.
I refused to take my gaze off Brandon Morgan, but I sensed the older man was very close. Brandon suddenly spun, and I glimpsed the generous and warm smile back on his face. Dude was well-versed at faking his humanity. “Oh, George, old man. Thanks so much for retrieving the lovely Violet for us. But I can take it from here.”
“No,” I said. Both men turned to me. “I’d prefer to ride with Mr. Wainwright. He’s been very thorough in updating me about this new world.”
If Brandon pushed, I’d push back. I wasn’t completely defenseless, even though the secret hidden in the bottom of my luggage was enough to get me incarcerated. Or worse. Good thing security screening in airports was a thing of an older, more violent time.
Brandon opened his mouth, but Mr. Wainwright cut him off. “As Dean Morgan’s personal assistant, I can assure you that I am capable of escorting Ms. Violet to the academy. Your father did not tell me to hand this over to you, Brandon.”
Brandon sneered. “I’ve told you more than once to call me Mr. Morgan. My authority is not much below my father’s. I will graduate next year, and from then on I will help him control the academy.”
Mr. Wainwright didn’t say much, but I could have sworn he murmured, “We’ll see about that,”under his breath.
“Why exactly are you here?” I asked Brandon bluntly. “If your father expected Mr. Wainwright to escort me, it seems a littleoddthat you’re here.”
I had no idea why I continued to poke at this asshole. He’d already proven that there was a sinister, evil streak running through him, and instead of taking his advice about blending, I was doing the opposite.
His grin was long gone now. “At my school nothing happens without me knowing about it. You are a situation I plan on being in control of.”
Throwing back my shoulders, I grabbed my bag and checked him out of the way.
“Take care, Violet,” Brandon said as I moved past him, and only an idiot would miss the threat there. He strolled off then, sliding into a low-slung red car, the engine powerful and loud when it roared to life.
Cars had disappeared for a while after the Monarch War—all technology and computers had faded away. When everything was rebuilt from the ashes, cars were one of the first things to get an overhaul. Now they ran solely from sun energy and water power. Well, a salty water with multiple other properties that I didn’t understand.
Suffice it to say, only the mega-rich—the royals and equally wealthy—got cars.
Swallowing hard, I finally made my way off the stairs, joining Mr. Wainwright as we strolled toward another car, this one black and larger than Brandon’s with very dark tinted windows. It was aMercondor,formerly known as Mercedes; that company had risen up to be the premier provider of cars in the new age.
“Is Mr. Morgan a royal?” I asked Mr. Wainwright.
The older man let out a low sigh, rubbing a hand across tired eyes. “No. His family has no royal blood at all. But there is a certain prestige from running Arbon Academy, a legacy he will inherit from his father. It’s given him an inflated sense of self-worth.”
Understatement of the year. “So he answers to the royals?”
The older man chuckled humorlessly. “Don’t we all?”
So true.
There were fifty royal families, each ruling large sections of the world. Country boundaries were not the same as they had been before the last world war. A lot of the world had been destroyed, rendered totally uninhabitable by heavy chemical warfare, resulting in just fifty distinct kingdoms, all varying in size and power—power being the control of technology, clean drinking water, food, and fossil fuels.
All the former democracies crashed when the world did, ushering in an age of monarchs. Two of the most powerful were the province of Switzerland and New America. They were allies, which gave them a strong ruling power, but close behind was Australasia and Denmark. Our enemies.
“How many crown heirs are at Arbon Academy right now?” Because although there were many,manyroyals, each monarch only had one crown heir, successor to the throne.
We were in the car, the driver smoothly leaving the airport, and I tried to remember the last time I’d been in a vehicle. I’d been a small child.
