Page 98 of Vengeful Princess

“That’s OK. We don’t have to talk.”

Since it was clear she had no plans to leave, I pushed the door shut and returned to my bed.

“I thought you had something you had to do,” I reminded her. She’d left the cafeteria in a hurry, so I assumed she had a meeting with her student adviser or something.

She waved her hand dismissively. “Nothing important. Anyway, I brought supplies.” I watched as she rummaged in her tote bag and produced some chocolate croissants. “Sugar is good for a shock,” she told me. “Eat.”

“I’ve had breakfast.”

“And I bet you ate very little of it before the drama kicked off.” She was right, of course. I’d managed about three bites of my pancake and a few sips of coffee. “Eat this and I’ll shut up.”

Rolling my eyes at her overbearing nonsense, I took the croissant and ate it. Damn. The pastry was deliciously buttery.

“Did you bring coffee too?” She grinned.

“Of course!” A pink coffee-to-go cup appeared from the magic tote bag, filled with perfectly brewed coffee. She’d added creamer and sugar, but I didn’t mind. The extra shot of sugar was more than needed today.

Fucking Dar. I hadn’t seen that coming. Why was he here? It made no sense. The last time I’d heard his name was when I overheard Fausto asking my father not to send him somewhere. From that small piece of information, I deduced Dario was working for Dad. Probably had been for years. I wondered if Torrance had planted him in my life specifically to teach me a lesson. The ultimate lesson.

Let your guard down and suffer the pain of betrayal.

“Who’s the Italian hottie anyway?”

“I thought we didn’t have to talk?”

Eden threw her hands up in the air. “Oh come on! You can’t blame a girl for trying! I saw the TikToks. Hot damn. The guy’s seriously rizz.”

I scrunched my nose in confusion. “Rizz?”

Eden’s jaw dropped. “Have you been living in a cave for, like, ever?”

“Kind of.” I brushed a few pastry crumbs off my bed and turned away. Eden watched me for a moment and then sighed.

“Rizz means super attractive and charming. As in charisma.”

“I think he failed charm school.”

She snorted. “Hmm, well, perhaps. But come on, the guy’s hot!” She cringed when I glared at her. “OK, so we’re not talking about the hot guy.Fiiiine. No hot guy talk. So… ready for another few episodes of Damon Salvatore instead?”

“Sure,” I agreed with a sigh. Fictional hot guys were way easier to deal with.

55

Thea

Fuckboy: Meet me by the parking garage

Istared at my phone screen. What was he on? Surely those assholes had got the message by now. I’d been ignoring them for a reason. The campus was large enough that I had successfully evaded all five of them for several days. Go me.

Me: No.

Fuckboy: Florrie’s made cake. She says you’ll love it.

Ugh. Now he was bringing out the big guns. The bastard knew damn well cake was my weak spot.

Me: You better not be playing me Landon Rothmore.

Fuckboy: *angel emoji*

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