Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 157308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
“Where’s my tea?”
I ignored that. “Who are those guys?”
She followed my line of sight. “Ah, of course you sniffed out the freaks in under an hour. Like finds like.”
“You are literally the worst person I’ve ever met.”
Katie barked a laugh. “I’m telling you, you won’t be saying that in a few days. No one who knows me for long enough can help but love me.”
I hurt myself stopping an eye roll. “Are they Royals too— My goodness. Is he a Royal?”
He was the pale, slim figure that just walked in wearing a black waistcoat, matching tailcoat, and silver cane. If I wasn’t absolutely certain it was impossible, I’d double-check to make sure we hadn’t slipped years in the past to the Victorian era.
Long brown hair fell around a face touched by the gods. That was the only explanation for how this cosplaying man before me could be so handsome and his strangeness did nothing to lessen the effect.
“They are definitely not Royals,” Katie said. “They’re not Dregs either. We call them the Rogues.”
“Rogues,” I whispered. It fit. I couldn’t say why, but I knew that was the name for them. “What do you have to do to get that title?”
“I usually don’t spare people like that the honor of my talking about them, but when it comes to those guys, not even I can help it. They’re so freaking gorgeous, it’s a sin. Even Cato is, under that... you know.”
I couldn’t disagree. I tried to look away. Over and over, my gaze found them, following them through the line.
“The guy with the headphones is Rafael Dumont. That’s his younger brother, Cato, in the mask. They should be a year apart, but Cato was put in the sophomore class because Rafael’s the only one who can control him.”
“Control him?” I repeated. “Why does he need to be controlled?”
“Because he’s a dangerous psychopath who can practically start fires with his eyes. I’m not kidding. He’s searched before and after he leaves a classroom to make sure he hasn’t gotten his hands on lighters or a match.”
“Very funny. Let’s stop playing jokes on the new girl now.”
She gave me a flat look. “I’m not joking. His last stint was in Seaview Psychiatric Hospital. You can look it up if you don’t believe me. Rafael broke him out of the place. It was on the news.”
Try as I did, I couldn’t hear the trick in her words. The mocking and contempt were gone too. Katie was serious.
“I don’t understand. My application for this place was a mile long. They asked for my extracurriculars from elementary school. How does a mental hospital escapee and his accomplice get in?”
“Most of us have a legacy around here, and not all of them are good. Their father is known and employed by certain Royal families—not mine,” she added quickly. “But some of them hire Leon Dumont to make their problems go away. Rumors say he’s made a few people disappear too. Of course, there’s no evidence to prove it.
“All the same, when the guy who knows where the bodies are buried asks you to enroll his sons in your school, you do what he says. It’s in everyone’s best interest that Leon remains on good terms with the Royals.”
“Long story short: blackmail.”
She tapped her nose. “Pretty much. The twitchy, shifty-eyed guy behind them is Wilder O’Rourke. No one really knows what his parents are into, or if he has two of them. You can try to look him up but it’s a waste of time. He’s got zero internet presence, and Wilder isn’t going to fill in the blanks.
“He won’t tell anyone where he’s from, what day he was born, his middle name, or what he likes on his toast. He’s basically convinced we’re all government sleeper agents out to stop him before he exposes our secrets.”
“What secrets?”
“Ugh,” she scoffed, reaching for her milk. “Pick one. Literally, any crazy-as-balls conspiracy theory. Wilder buys into them all, and he’s going to expose them. He thinks covid was purposely released by the government to thin out the world’s population. He claims another virus will be unleashed in ten years.”
“I... I don’t even...” Words failed me.
“Yep, and I haven’t gotten to Lucien. Crazy steps off his throne and bows before Lucien Calais.”
“Why?”
“You need to ask.” She swept out a hand. “Look at him. He dresses like that every day because, and I’m not shitting you, he believes he’s a vampire born in 1845, then turned in 1864.”
“And now I know you’re joking.”
“Fine,” she said, grinning. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
I shook my head. “Let’s go back to the student guiding. Tell me more about the Royals. Who are they exactly?”
Katie turned out to be a wealth of information. She bragged on the names and history of every Royal in Regalia from the freshmen to the seniors. The freshmen weren’t a concern. They weren’t here when everything happened to my sister, but the rest... I had more names to add to my list of five.