Vicious Prince (Royal Elite 5)

Like the latest gossip about the Astor family. I wonder if Ronan knows about his uncle’s return and where the mighty earl is rumoured to have taken Charlotte the past months.

Not that I should care if Ronan knows or not. He’s an Astor, after all. If some forums on the internet know, he probably does, too.

Dad and Agnus always tell us to stay away from the internet’s rabbit hole since it says more lies than truths, but there’s no smoke without fire.

I can already see the Astor family’s demise, because I’ll make sure of it.

The only person who makes my chest do some strange stuff is Charlotte. I wish I could do this without implicating or hurting her, but as they say, there are no victories without sacrifices.

I’m so sorry, Charlotte.

Maybe I should stop the hypocritical stuff and not visit or text her anymore.

I switch to the article about the correlation between death and fear. It’s about how humans are instinctively afraid of dying, even those who are suicidal.

Fear of death is a foreign concept to me. Why would you be scared of something that will eventually happen? It’s coming anyway, so might as well make the trip towards it worthwhile.

“Death and war. Interesting.”

My head rises at Cole’s serene voice. He slides beside me, clutching a book called Calila e Dimna that has animal illustrations on it.

“Interesting book,” I say.

“I know. I finally got my copy.” He motions at my phone. “But it’s not as interesting as your article.”

I stare back at my phone. Death and Fear in Times of War.

I make the screen go black, not because I’m ashamed to read about it, but because Cole’s book seems more fascinating.

Cole is in his uniform, minus the jacket, and the sleeves of his shirt are rolled to beneath his elbows. With the calm expression on his face, he seems like one of those handsome book nerds whom the girls admire from afar. It’s for different reasons than Aiden. My sister’s boyfriend doesn’t care — at all. Cole does, but in a dispassionate kind of way.

When I came to RES, he approached me first and talked to me as if we’d known each other our entire lives. We also share certain…tendencies.

While our interactions are easy and raise no alarm, I know Cole always has a purpose up his proper sleeve.

He sold me out once, and if he thinks I didn’t figure it out then he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.

I might not be that good at deception, but I know how to lure someone to the battlefield.

“Tell me about your book,” I say.

“It’s old tales, or rather fables, translated to Arabic then Spanish in the twelve hundreds.” He opens the first page, running his fingers over the words.

“What does it talk about?” I motion at it.

“Philosophy told in the form of animals. For instance, the lion is the king, and there are others who represent different roles.”

“Such as?”

“The ox and the bull. What do you think they represent?”

“Cunning? Force?”

His lips quirk in a small smile. “Probably. Each fable has a purpose.”

“Just like every piece in chess and dominos?”

“Exactly.”