Sometimes I was on the side of the royals because at least it was the evil I knew. The other was too unpredictable.
“Both resistance, regular people, and royals fight,” Nolan reminded his sister. “There’s no evidence that it’s orchestrated by the resistance.” He cleared his throat. “Not that I fight. I’ve actually never heard of it.”
For the second time in five minutes he got punched. This time by his twin.
With a sigh, she turned to me. “Please just promise that you’re being safe.”
Her eyes flicked to Jordan and then back to me. “With everything. Please be safe. And let me know when you need backup, because I will straight up destroy anyone who tries to mess with you.”
I believed her. Leaning across Jordan, I wrapped my arms around Mattie. “I promise. I’ve been through a ton of shit in my life, and I’m not about to allow Alex or Arbon Academy to take me down.”
Mattie pushed the pizza box aside so she could shift closer to me. Her palm reader was out in the same instant. “What’s our plan of attack?” she asked, all business. “These assholes can’t be allowed to get away with this. We need to take them down and make it hurt.”
An image appeared on her palm; it looked like old-school lined paper. Names were written on it: Alex, Claudette, Brandon.
“Anyone else we need to add?”
She was serious, and my heart swelled. I’d never had anyone in my corner, not like this. My sensei had guided me, but he’d made me fight my own battles. Always. He’d also come down hard on me when I didn’t live up to his very rigid expectations. It had been the discipline I needed, but it meant that unconditional support was a gift I did not expect. These fuckers were gonna make me cry.
Discreetly, I cleared my throat and blinked away any moisture that was trying to make an appearance. Crying was not a luxury I allowed myself. At least it hadn’t been before I’d won the princess ballot.
Mattie noticed, squeezing my hand, and then we were back to planning the demise of three people.
“Claudette is tricky,” she started.
“Because of Rafe,” Nolan cut in.
“Right.” She nodded. “Rafe’s betrothal to her is causing him no shortage of political headaches, and he’s been unable to move his parents on their stance.”
“It’s not just his parents,” Jordan added. “They’re usually pretty agreeable. It has to be Claudette’s. They’re holding something over King Felipe and Queen Jacinta—something large enough that if Rafe’s parents forced the dissolution of this betrothal, it could upset the political balance in an extreme way.”
“Does Rafe know what it is?” I asked.
Nolan and Mattie shook their heads. Jordan did too, but there was a beat of hesitation before he did.
“Jords?” I pushed, slipping into the nickname zone. “Give me something, America.”
His eyes darkened, the brown turning into a burnt toffee, delicious and mesmerizing. When he focused on me like this, it was as if no one else in the world existed. And I legit should not be having these dark, sexy thoughts when I’d just found out about Alex and the scale of his betrayal.
But damn, I was only human.
“Rafe suspects what it is,” Jordan confirmed, “from some shit Claudette told him when he broke off their betrothal, after you got hurt. She pointed out that if it weren’t for the support of the Britains, Rafe’s parents would not have so much control over former Europe. He thinks it’s because of their warships and satellite technology.”
“Arghh!” Mattie actually growled. “We should have destroyed that archaic bullshit a long time ago. The Guays’ technology is so much more sophisticated, and thankfully it’s slowly seeping into the rest of the world.”
“But so many of our royal protocols still work off the original series of satellites—satellites owned and controlled by Britain,” Nolan finished.
“So, how can we usurp their control over the Swiss province?” Mattie mused. “Without causing an international incident.”
“You have a way that would cause an incident?” I asked.
She smiled. “Why, yes. Our technology can obliterate theirs, and I’ve been wanting to do it for so long because they do nothing but abuse their power.”
“But our parents would kill us, and we’d probably start another World War,” Nolan chimed in, sprawled back on the bed, hands across his flat stomach as his eyes closed.
There had to be a way. “What if we use your technology but pin it on someone else?”
Nolan’s eyes were no longer closed. “How could we get close enough to any of the royals to pin it on them?” he asked, leaning forward. “And even if we did, who are we wanting to take down? Alex, right? Violet has the direct path to him as his future wife.”
