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copias-girl · 1 year

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To Catch a Cardinal: Chapter IV

Song recommendation for this fic!

Chapter I, Chapter II, Chapter III, Chapter V

A/N: I don’t need to use google translate for Italian but I can’t say the same about Latin sooo don’t mind the google translate Latin lol

•♥︎𖤐♥︎•

The sun shone high in the pale blue sky, gently beaming down on you as you knelt in the grass outside the ministry. You were on laundry duty today, so you and a handful of other sisters were out doing the wash and hanging it up to dry on the line. With your sleeves rolled up to your elbows, you scrubbed yet another garment up and down on the washboard; sparkling soapy water sloshing over the sides of the basin. You rung it out before standing to hang it on the line, securing it with a couple clothes pins so that it wouldn’t blow away. You grinned in amusement, recalling that particularly windy incident where Papa Nihil’s white chasuble ended up getting blown right into a puddle of mud because it wasn’t pinned to the line.

As you and the other sisters silently scrubbed the clothes, your angelic voice rang out in the open air, singing He Is.

“He is, he’s the shining and the light without whom I cannot see,” Your voice was graceful and melodic as you mindlessly sang, grateful to Satan for this beautiful day.

“And he is, insurrection, he is spite, he’s the force that made me be.” You continued, smiling when the other sisters began joining you; a soft chorus of voices singing praises to your Dark Lord.

You stood once more, hanging another garment on the line as you continued to sing, “He is, nostro dis pater, nostr- Aaaah!” Your dulcet chorus was interrupted by someone tightly grabbing you around the waist, causing you to let out a surprised, high pitched scream.

“Are you singing that about me, Sorellina?” It was Terzo who purred into your ear, his voice dripping with a smirk.

You playfully struggled in his grasp, screaming again- this time in laughter- when he picked you up.

The other sisters looked on in jealousy, always wishing Terzo would pay them as much attention as he paid you. He was constantly fawning over you, always wanting to touch you in some way, always giving you some sort of special treatment.

“Papa!” You kicked into the air a few times before the two of you toppled to the ground, rolling around together in the plush grass as you both struggled against one another.

“Hm? Are you, Sorella? Are you singing for your Papa?” He teased, now on top of you and trying to pin you down.

Sister Emily huffed at the scene, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. She was especially envious, as she had a huge crush on Terzo.

You grasped for a fistful of little wild flowers, ripping them out of the ground and playfully smacking Terzo with them, shoving them in his face.

The sisters were always so taken aback by your attitude towards Terzo. You didn’t even act starstruck that Papa was interacting with you. Here he was, straddling your hips and holding you down, the skirt of your casual habit having ridden up up up to reveal your panties to everyone. But instead of keening into his touch, you were laughing and fighting for your life, even whacking him with a handful of flowers. But what the sisters didn’t understand is that’s exactly what Terzo absolutely loved about you. He was used to every sister of sin swooning over him, but you… You were feisty, a breath of fresh air.

You erupted in giggles when he sputtered, spitting out some of the flowers that had gotten stuck in his mouth.

“Flowers? For me, Sorella? How romantic!” He gasped exaggeratedly, draping a hand across his forehead dramatically, his other hand trying to pin your wrists down while you screamed and wriggled under him.

“Noooo!” You protested, shaking your head.

“No? Well.. how about some of this, then, eh?!” He cackled out an evil laugh as his gloved fingers found your sides, tickling you ruthlessly.

You shrieked, thrashing under him. “Papa have mercy! I-I’ll get in trouble for not doing my chores!” You cried out between giggles, desperately trying to shove him off you.

You sighed in relief as he let up, leaning down closer to you. “You know, Sorella… As Papa, I can always just relieve you of your duties.” Terzo hummed. “That way I can sit here and tickle you all day long!” He growled suddenly, making you squeal one last time before he huffed out a laugh himself, rolling off you to lay beside you in the long grass, gazing at you fondly.

The two of you were a mess; your veil had been pulled off at some point during the struggle, and there were pieces of grass and flower petals stuck in both his and your tousled hair.

You both stared at each other for a few moments while you caught your respective breaths, but Terzo suddenly turned onto his side, propping his head up on his hand. “Allora, I did not come here just to bother you.” He spoke. “Although, it is one of my greatest passions.” Terzo added with a smirk and a wink that had you swatting at him and laughing.

“I have come to remind you of your Latin lesson!” He beamed with a little flourish, or as much of a flourish as he could do while laying on the ground.

“Huh? Oh! Shoot, I’m gonna be late!” You stood up, shaking yourself off and trying to locate your veil. Offering Terzo your hand, you pulled him up to his feet.

“Come on, Em, it’s time for Latin!” You called, waving her over.

She caught up with you and Terzo, eagerly trying to walk next to him and maybe strike up a conversation.

But then you were turning to your Papa, smirking and challenging him. “Last one to the ministry drinks curdled goat milk!” You yelled before taking off running.

“Cazzo!” He swore, chasing after you. He was right behind you, but his foot caught on something, tripping and falling but managing to grab your ankle and causing you to tumble to the ground too. Terzo laughed maniacally, jumping to his feet and dragging you backwards by your ankles as you screamed and clawed at the earth, grabbing fistfuls of grass. You had to admit, for an old man he was pretty damn spry.

“Papa you’re crazy!” You laughed.

“If you don’t hurry up, we’re all going to be drinking curdled goat milk for keeping Papa Secondo waiting…” Emily grumbled.

“She’s right, you know.” You looked back over your shoulder at your Papa, who conceded, nodding in agreement and releasing your ankles.

But suddenly you were squealing in surprise again as Terzo lifted you up and threw you over his shoulder, carrying you all the way back to the ministry.

“Look at the sweet little lamb I have caught out in the field!” He declared triumphantly once he burst through the doors, making you giggle and swat at his back while kicking your feet.

Some siblings of sin laughed at their Papa’s antics, while others only stared enviously, a few grumbling to each other. Emily was one of the latter, huffing in annoyance and waiting for Terzo to be done. He didn’t have to make it so obvious that you were everyone’s favourite.

Setting you down, Terzo gave you a playful smack on the ass to push you in the direction of Secondo, who was striding down the corridor.

“Crazy old man.” You huffed with a grin. You turned and stuck your tongue out at Terzo, who returned the favour, before you greeted Secondo.

“Hi, Papa Secondo! I’ll be ready for Latin soon, I was just doing the laundry and-”

“Ciao, Sorella. Don’t worry, I am not doing Latin class today.” He explained.

“What?? You’re getting sick of me already?” You pouted.

Secondo’s stern expression softened as he gazed at you, the corners of his lips quirking up in what you could possibly call a smile.

“Of course not, ragazzina.” He pinched your cheek playfully. “I am only taking the day off. Then I will be back, si?”

You smiled up at him, nodding understandingly. “Who’s teaching the class today?” You enquired.

“Oh, Copia. The Cardinale. He is very good at Latin, si? You will be in good hands.”

Your eyes widened, a cute little smirk forming on your face at that information.

“Alright, that sounds good.” You bit your lip. “I’ll miss you dearly but I won’t miss your stupid pop quizzes.” You teased, batting your eyelashes at the man.

“Enjoy today with no pop quiz, but pay attention. I will be testing you on what the Cardinale has taught.” He spoke sternly, but winked at you playfully, causing you to giggle. Secondo picked a few flower petals out of your hair, giving your cheek one last endearing pinch before sending you on your way.

What had started as private Latin lessons between you and Secondo soon turned into the man teaching a small class of you and a few siblings at the behest of Sister Imperator. He was intimidating and scary when he asked you a question and waited for your answer while glaring at you with those haunting mismatched eyes. However, Secondo really was delightful; he taught you well. And you were the teacher’s pet, always pleasing him with being the first one to eagerly raise your hand and giving correct answers. However, even you weren’t exempt from getting chastised, albeit much gentler than the scoldings he gave to his other pupils. It was mostly for you snickering in class and passing notes.

You ran down the corridor and up the stairs, noting that you had some time to clean yourself up before class started. You freshened up, successfully getting all of the foliage out of your hair and changing into a different habit. This time, you opted for one that was almost like your casual habit except it had a shorter skirt which rose above the knee, and a frilly white rounded collar. The top of the dress was tight to show off the silhouette of your breasts and it pinched in deliciously on your waist before the little skirt gently flared out in an A-line. You wore it with a pair of black thigh-high stockings and your high heeled Mary Janes, looking studious, but still sinfully naughty; smirking as you applied some lipgloss and affixed your veil to your head, always preferring to wear it so that it still showed off your hair. Taking one last look in the mirror and grabbing your book bag, you hurried out the door.

•𖤐•

Your heels clicked on the marble floors as you jogged down the hall, actually making it to the classroom early, but upon opening the door, you found that it was empty. You set your bag down at your desk in the front row, and suddenly a horribly naughty idea was blooming in your head. Casting a glance around, you casually walked behind Secondo’s desk and pulled the drawer open, taking out the huge black book that he taught from, the one with the ornately embossed pentagram on it; worn and old from decades of use.

Deft fingers flipped to the place Secondo had bookmarked, which was the unholy sacraments and praying to Satan in Latin. That was all quite good and fine, but you had a different idea in mind.

You flipped to the table of contents, fingertips skimming over each topic before settling on the one you wanted. With a devious smirk on your lips, you plucked the black velvet and gold bookmark out and placed it a little further into the book. You put it back in the desk and hurried to sit down in your seat, hands folded neatly on your desk like a good little girl.

No more than two minutes later, Emily, Mable, Lilith, and Ava entered, followed by a couple more siblings that you didn’t really hang out with aside from class.

One of them was Rob, who everyone thought was particularly dreamy. He had the hots for you, of course he did, but he was sooo not your type. Far too young. Never stuttered. Not rat-like in the very slightest.

You had a much different definition of the word ‘dreamy’ than your friends; while they were all scribbling in their diaries about Rob at night, you found yourself writing Copia’s name in swirly cursive with hearts all around it.

You all greeted one another, chatting for a bit while you reached into your bag, grabbing your notebook and unwrapping a red heart-shaped lollipop.

Suddenly, you saw the doorknob twisting and jiggling around, hearing shuffling on the other end. Then a pause, before the door began rattling on its hinges.

You all looked on in confusion, concern growing as you heard quiet muffled Italian curses on the other side as the ornate wood rattled.

Then another beat of silence.

“Ah, shit..” Copia murmured, finally realizing that he had to push the door open, not pull it. He cracked the door open, peeking inside to make sure he was in the right place.

“Ta da..!” The Cardinal gave an awkward little flourish, finally entering into the room.

You heard Emily leaning closer to Rob and Mable, snickering out a “Loser.” and earning cruel chuckles from them.

“Hi, hello, ehh.. How do you do?” He greeted you all, gloved hands clasped in front of him while he looked around the class, his painted eyes settling on you, swallowing nervously.

You smiled sweetly at the man, licking and sucking on your lollipop, tongue swirling around it as you waited for him to begin the lesson.

Copia pulled open the drawer, taking the heavy book out.

“Ehm.. Class, today we are going to learn the Latin, si?” He looked at you all with a little nod.

“Yeah no shit, Sherlock, it’s literally Latin class.” Rob pointed out, all the girls giggling at his stupid joke. All of them except you, who shot a dirty look back at him.

“Ah, si, o-of course. Ehh… Well let us see where you left off with Papa Secondo, okie dokie?” He was quick to recover, trying not to let the rude comments or snickering get to him.

Copia opened the book, flipping to the page that you had secretly selected.

“Ah, here we are. Today’s topic will be-” The Cardinal’s already pale complexion paled even further, his cheeks immediately flushing red hot as he stared down at the book.

“Ehm.. t-today’s.. eh, today’s topic will be, ehhm…” The man shook his head, making sure that’s really where the bookmark was.

“Is something wrong, Cardinal?” You spoke up, feigning concern with that sweet voice of yours.

“No..!” He replied a little too quickly. “Eh, no, no..” He cleared his throat. “Today’s topic will be… Fornicationis Rituali Magicae ad Honorem Satanae.”

Fornication Ritual Magic for the Honour of Satan.

Your lips curled up into a little smirk, eyes fixed on Copia while you sucked on your lollipop.

He began doing his best to teach the lesson, his cute accented voice wavering and stammering every time his mismatched gaze swept over you.

You knew what you were doing with that lollipop too, ruthlessly distracting him from reading with a few wet slurping noises, no doubt forcing the poor man to think dirty thoughts as you laved your sinful little tongue over it while staring right at him. He probably felt like a sick pervert for those thoughts, clueless at the fact that you were deviously orchestrating it all.

The Cardinal was currently stumbling through a sentence about how important sex rituals were, when you raised your hand.

“Eh- Yes, Sorella?” Copia nodded to you.

“Have you ever done a sex ritual, Cardinal?” You enquired with a curious tilt of your head.

“Ehm. No…” He replied, embarrassment apparent on his face.

“Thank Satan..” Emily scoffed quietly, but still loud enough for everyone including Copia to hear. “I’d feel sorry for the girl who had to get fucked by rat man.”

Stifled giggles sounded from everyone in the class, some murmuring in agreement.

Copia visibly flinched at that comment, clearly already very insecure about being undesirable. With shoulders slumped, his eyes met the floor before turning around quickly and writing on the board, surely because he didn’t want to face the jeering class anymore.

“Would.. would anyone like to come up here and write the translation to this?” The Cardinal spoke up, and you raised your hand eagerly while everyone else slacked off.

The chalkboard read ‘Pro nomine domini nostri obscuritatis, hoc sacramentum libidinis tenebrosum accipio’ in Copia’s nice handwriting.

He nodded at you, and you stood from your desk, sauntering over to him. Considering him for a moment, you pulled the lollipop from your mouth with an audible pop, the Cardinal’s eyes immediately flicking to your lips, which were stained red from the candy.

“Here, hold this.” You said, shoving the lollipop into Copia’s mouth, his eyes widening and cheeks burning red hot at the thought of having something in his mouth that had previously been in yours. You swiped the piece of chalk out of his hand, writing the translation on the board underneath Copia’s writing.

For the name of our Dark Lord, I accept this dark sacrament of lust.

All eyes in the class were on you; how confidently you wrote the answer, and how good you looked while doing it, the short skirt of your habit almost giving everyone an eyeful as you stood on your tippy toes and leaned against the blackboard. You finished by drawing a little heart at the end of your sentence, turning to Copia once more. He had the most pathetically dumb look on his face, still in shock with your lollipop in his mouth. You took one of his hands, placing the piece of chalk in it before taking your lollipop back and deliberately licking his saliva off it before shoving it back in your mouth.

Everyone’s eyes were as wide as pies as you took your seat once more, appalled whispers filtering all throughout the room. Copia was completely besides himself, looking as though he could pass out any second. His blush had spread to the tips of his ears, burning across the bridge of his nose, and surely on his chest under his cassock.

You rested your head in your hand, gazing dreamily at the man as he tried to regain his composure, painfully stammering on about the next paragraph in the book, when a hand swatted at your arm. You looked over, seeing everyone staring at you expectantly.

“What?” You whispered.

“What the fuck was that?” Mable whispered back.

“Yeah, like, ew.” Emily added disapprovingly.

You only shrugged, sticking your tongue out at them and continuing to mindlessly scribble down some notes. Satan, he was fucking delicious. You wanted Copia to be your lollipop instead; you wished you could beg for the Cardinal to spit in your mouth right then and there in front of the whole class. But you couldn’t, not yet. You weren’t… you weren’t done with him yet.

You folded a piece of paper into a neat little airplane, sending it floating through the air and gently crashing into the Cardinal’s back while he was turned around. He turned, afraid that the culprit would be one of the unkind siblings, but instead he saw you giggling at him, your eyes twinkling with mischief. You had been incredibly nice to him, so he knew you didn’t mean anything malicious by it. He picked it up off the ground, inspecting it and seemingly approving of your design before tucking it away into the pocket of his cassock.

You grinned, wondering if he was going to be a little fucking creep about it later. The image of poor Copia clutching that paper and furiously masturbating to the thought of you had you rubbing your thighs together under your desk. But no, he would never. You could tell he was far too shy and ashamed to do that sort of thing, no matter how much he wanted to.

Copia was reading from the book once more, saying something about Latin prayers that should be said before and during sex rituals, and how you can also commit the sin of lust and dedicate it to Satan as an offering. Suddenly, you were so curious, so interested, so you raised your hand to ask a question.

“S-si, yes, you?” The Cardinal pointed to you.

“So…” You tilted your head, playing dumb. “So any two people can commit any sin of lust and use it as an offering to Satanas?” You asked.

“Well, yes-” The man started but you cut him off.

“So, just take you and I for instance.” You continued, pretending to not quite understand, relishing in the way Copia stiffened at the mention of you and him together. “Like, if we committed the sin of lust together, not just through the actual act of sex, but through other lustful activities, then we could also dedicate those to Satan?”

“Y- ehm- w- i- eh- Si, I- I mean, yes, si. That would- that would be, eh, that would be completely, eh, valid.” The poor man struggled, nodding quickly with wide eyes and a tense jaw, his hands clasped in front of him.

You nodded slowly in understanding, pretending to soak in his answer. “So oral activities can be just as effective when making an offering?” You pushed.

“Y-yes, Sorella.” The Cardinal nodded, subconsciously reaching up to tug at his collar. Satan, that slutty high-neck collar of his, he was practically asking for it. Copia reached over to the pitcher of ice water on the desk, pouring himself a glass and downing a few gulps before refilling it and drinking some more, his throat suddenly dry.

“Oh, alright, thank you Cardinal. I wasn’t sure if our Dark Lord had a preference as to where the… you know, ejaculate goes.” You stated simply, punctuating your sentence with another wet pop from your lollipop.

Copia sputtered at that, coughing and choking on his water.

“Cardinal!” You stood, worriedly rushing to his side and patting him on the back. “Are you alright, Cardinal?”

“Si, si…” He cleared his throat, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, finding it difficult to meet your gaze.

“Is there anything this guy is good at? Where’d they even find him?” Rob laughed, leaning back in his seat and shaking his head.

“Trash can, maybe? ‘Cause he’s a rat.” Emily suggested, causing several siblings to cover their mouths and stifle laughter.

You rubbed soothing circles on Copia’s back, and once you were sure he was okay, you sat back down at your desk once more so he could finish up the lesson. The rest of it was pretty straight forward, mostly just certain prayers for sex rituals which he tested the class on. You got every question correct, the other students did mediocre, and both Emily and Rob got everything wrong because they were stupid fucking dumbasses who didn’t pay attention in class.

You couldn’t help but turn to them, holding your hand up in the shape of an L on your forehead. Yeah yeah, like in the Smash Mouth song. You just had to rub it in, especially when they were so ruthless to Copia, calling him a loser every chance they got, even though he was fluent in Latin and they sucked ass.

Emily only averted her gaze and crossed her arms, cheeks burning with embarrassment, while Rob pouted at you and passed Emily a note to pass to you.

You rolled your eyes, opening the note and scoffing as you read it.

Hang out after class, hottie?

You scratched a quick ‘no thx!’ onto the paper before crumpling it and throwing it back to him with a little smile that verged on passive aggressive. Rob opened the note and grinned, shrugging it off and not taking it to heart. You were just so pretty and adorable, so you never came off as bitchy when you did things like this.

Facing forward again, you caught Copia watching you and you gave him a little reassuring wink that had his cheeks heating up as he scratched the back of his neck.

A small endearing smile pulled at the Cardinal’s lips. You were such a little firecracker, not caring what anyone else thought. You were so confident, unlike him, and it gave him a sort of satisfaction- one that he wasn’t even sure he deserved- seeing you give your friends a little taste of their own medicine; avenging him in a sense. It was nice knowing he had someone in his corner. Hell, not just anyone, but the most gorgeous sister in the whole ministry.

After class was dismissed, everyone filtered out, immediately clumping into groups and gossiping about Copia. His name could be heard amongst overlapping conversations and sneers as the siblings exited the classroom. You hung back, strolling over to the Cardinal as he sat at the large black wooden desk, deep in thought as he slouched into the chair with eyes closed.

You took a seat right on the desk, getting his attention by gentle brushing your foot over his knee. The poor thing jumped, startled, his wide gaze meeting yours. You noticed the way his odd eyes flicked down to your thighs as you were perched on the desk, the way your little skirt rode up just enough to tease.

Still licking your lollipop, you studied him for a moment, considering him carefully, making him sweat under your silent inspection.

“You know, you’d make a good one.” You remarked, gesturing at him with your candy.

“A.. eh.. a lollipop?” He asked timidly, tilting his head in confusion.

“No, silly, a teacher.” You giggled. “But maybe that too.” You added nonchalantly, causing the man to stiffen, his breath catching in his throat. You bit into the hard candy, then, breaking the heart in two, before holding the stick out to Copia so he could have the other half. With reddened cheeks and a shaky exhale, he took it into his mouth, and you made sure to accidentally brush your finger against his chin as you pulled your hand away. The air was thick between the two of you, but without another word, you were hopping off the desk, grabbing your book bag, and leaving.

Copia leaned back in the ornate black wooden chair, sighing deeply and staring up at the ceiling. You truly confused him; you were so kind yet you made him so incredibly nervous. As he sucked on the rest of your lollipop, the thought of sucking your saliva off it had him letting out a little stifled groan, the realization dawning on him that this is how you would taste: like a sweet cherry candy. He shook his head, leaning forward and pinching the bridge of his nose, feeling like a disgusting perverted weirdo as he felt his pants tightening. He abruptly stood, opting to straighten up the classroom and head back to his office.

You, on the other hand, were sauntering down the hall with a skip in your step, waving to people you knew as you passed them. Satan, you were in such a good mood. Apparently, tormenting shy little rat men was one of your new favourite pastimes. You crunched the rest of your lollipop, teeth shattering the candy into sharp shards. Your tongue swiped over your red stained lips, longing to share sticky cherry kisses with your Cardinal. And you would; all in due time.

𖤐 to be continued 𖤐

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angelasscribbles · 7 months

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Coup D'état

Series: Insurrection

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings: Liam x Riley

Word Count: 1,021

Rating: MA

Warnings for this chapter: None

A/N: So a little over a year ago I wrote a one-shot called King Breaker. Almost everyone demanded a follow-up. I did not give them one. Until now. I always had some vague ideas for it, but no real inspiration. Then one day I heard this song and suddenly all kinds of ideas were in my head.

My other stuff: Master List.

The soldiers searched the room, upending furniture and destroying priceless art. Muddy boots marred the previously pristine marble of the throne room.

The commander strode through the door, his steps heavy. He paused as his eyes scanned the empty room. “Status report!” he bellowed.

“Sir, there’s no one here.”

The rebellion leader shook his head, “Multiple witnesses saw them both enter this room. There must be a hidden chamber or something. Keep searching!”

The new, self-appointed leader of the Cordonian government strolled through the historic hall, taking in the ancient tapestries and formal portraits before stopping in front of one particular gilded frame.

A young Constantine Rys stared sternly out at him, classically handsome in full Cordonian regalia, golden crown gleaming on his dark blond head. His fingers ran across the canvas as he stared into eyes that were identical to his own, “You should have acknowledged me when you had the chance, old man.”

When he had circumnavigated the room, he approached the throne and lowered himself onto it. Lost in thought, he didn’t see his co-leader approaching until a voice pulled him out of his reverie.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

His eyes snapped to the other man’s face, noting the disapproval in his tone, “Sitting.”

“Well, can you find another place to sit? That thing needs to be ripped out and destroyed. It’s a symbol of the oppression we vowed to end.”

The dark-haired young man with ocean-blue eyes and the signature Rys jawline let out a noncommittal, “Hm,” as he regarded his partner.

Anton Severus, the bastard son of the late king had enticed The Liberation Core to join forces with The Sons of the Earth to increase their odds of success against a common enemy, but the Liberation Core was full of idealistic idiots. The common people weren’t fit to rule themselves and Anton had no intention of giving up his newfound power. This was what he had spent his life working toward.

They had used the Liberation Core’s contacts, intel, and technology to stage a successful coup, but the vast majority of the forces currently sweeping through the palace were his. Once the capital was secure, his men would turn on their compatriots. Members of The Core would be given the choice to swear fealty to their new and rightful king. They could join his guard, or they could die. It made no difference to him.

He had offered Constantine a chance to meet his unacknowledged son. A chance to claim him, publicly, to insert him into his rightful place in the line of succession, but the old man had refused, sealing his fate.

Anton’s mother might have been a lowly palace maid, but the royal Rys blood ran through his veins.

Leo’s abdication had spurred him into action. Anton was older than Liam by six months. He was next in line, not that spoiled, coddled brat.

Leo and Liam had been given every advantage that had been denied to him. Even Drake and Savannah Walker, commoners, had been given a royal upbringing, a private education, and full access to the crown’s funds for their every whim while he had languished in the backwoods of Krona.

In response to the announcement of her pregnancy, his mother had been given five years' severance pay plus a bonus for ‘exemplary service’ and sent on her way.

Constantine might have meant for the money to provide for his illegitimate child for quite a few years, but the money and his mother were gone in two leaving his grandmother to raise him.

Anton watched his grandmother struggle to make ends meet. He grew up under the yoke of extreme poverty and felt the sting of deprivation. That is until an elegant and mysterious red-haired woman showed up on their doorstep, taking him under her wing and funding his education.

Anton sat at the best table in the most expensive restaurant in Vallenheim. Across the table was the woman who had funded his entire private education at the elite and prestigious Vallenheim Oaks Preparatory School.

“I’m sorry about your grandmother, Anton.” She was saying.

“Thank you,” he replied stoically, “for everything. Thanks to you her last years were more than comfortable, and she had the best medical care the world has to offer.”

“I’m sure it was some amount of comfort to you both that you got to spend her last days with her.”

“Again, thanks to you. I know I was allowed to take a leave in the middle of the term because you spoke to the headmaster on my behalf.” He fidgeted nervously in his seat, toying with his food.

“What is it, Anton?” she asked sharply. “Say whatever it is that’s on your mind.”

He licked his lips as his eyes met hers then dropped his gaze to his plate, “I…I don’t mean to sound ungrateful but…why? Why have you done so much for us?”

It wasn’t just his education. It was a new house for his grandmother and all of her living expenses. Her medical care at the end and all of the funeral expenses.

Lucretia Nevrakis sat her wine glass on the table in front of her and leaned forward, “Anton, lift your eyes and look at me. It’s time you learned who you really are.”

Instead of responding to his co-conspirator, Anton turned his head as his second-in-command approached, “Claudius, there you are! Status report.”

“No sign of the king, Commander.”

“He’s not the king anymore,” Anton reminded him.

“Of course, sir.”

Ignoring the leader of the Liberation Core who was still glaring daggers at him, Anton asked, “And my traitorous ex-girlfriend?”

The world knew Riley Brooks as the king’s fiancée. She was meant to marry a king alright, but she had chosen the wrong man. He had planned to make her his queen, but that was before she had disobeyed direct orders to rid the world of his younger half-brother and tipped him off about the attack, giving him the time he needed to escape.

“Sorry, sir, nothing yet.”

“Well, when you find her, bring the backstabbing whore to me.”

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