Page 111 of Spearcrest Prince

“I asked my parents to end the engagement,” I tell her suddenly. I want to tell her I’m sorry, that she’s a person and not a pawn, that I want her no matter what our parents want. “They said they’ll genuinely consider it in the summer.”

She shrugs. “Well, it doesn’t matter, does it? I’m leaving anyway.”

“Do you have to?”

“Yes.” She shoves her hands in the big front pocket of her blue smock and suddenly adds, “Do you want to help me?”

“With what?”

“My display.”

“Of course I want to help you.”

I’d do anything for you.

She smiles. “Do you remember that portrait you wanted me to paint of you?”

I look up in excitement. “Yeah?”

“Do you still want to sit for it?”

“Of course!”

“I don’t have much time left, so you’ll need to sit still for ages.”

“Who cares? Of course I’ll do it.”

She nods, then adds, “And you can’t have it for Château Montcroix. Unless you buy it.”

I roll my eyes at her. “You’re probably going to paint me as an eighteenth-century monarch or some fairy tale goblin, anyway.”

She smirks. “I’m going to paint you as an eel.”

“You’re disgusting!” I glare at her, suppressing a shudder. “You’re the absolute worst.”

“That’ll teach you to mess with my paintings.”

With her sweetest smile, she raises both middle fingers at me.

I return the gesture.

Chapter 39

Le Portrait

Séverin

Springhasfinallycome,warm and bright and full of colours. Spring has come just like Anaïs into my life, flooding everything with new life.

Spearcrest, now the final exams are upon us, takes on a new atmosphere. Everyone in our year is revising, finishing coursework, getting ready to move back home.

In that final week, I barely see the people that filled my life during my time at Spearcrest. The people whose opinions were so important, the people who took such great care to maintain their reputation. The real world looms closer, and everything is changing.

Seraphina Rosenthal, who was always so desperate to date someone who would match her status, is now apparently happily dating some guy from the local town. A boy with no money, no name, no status. But she seems happy—happier than I’ve ever seen her.

Kay, who was always so careful to be seen partying and having fun, has been spending almost every day in the library. I hear she’s received acceptance letters to Oxford and Cambridge.

Evan, too, is studying almost all the time. He never cared about results before—he’s always known he’d end up working with his parents. But now, the former star athlete is never seen without a book in his hands. He follows Sophie Sutton around like a lovesick puppy, and the tension between them is frankly just getting embarrassing.

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