Page 43 of A Knight’s Revenge: The Complete Series
“No problem, Dean Jansen,” I went on, giving her a shitty smile. “I’m sure Harper will relish the opportunity to sit near her betrothed during meals.”
Bennett let out a harsh breath of annoyance, darting his narrowed eyes at me with a look that screamed, “Quit your bullshit,” and he got my middle finger in return.
“Don’t worry, gentlemen,” the dean added, finished with me and only addressing the three of them now. “I will ensure that the students understand your place among them has not changed.”
Noah glanced at me with a worried look, like I was a bomb that was about to go off, but I kept myself in check.
This was weak shit, all things considered. I’d proved yesterday to the Families’ Tier One underlings that I wasn’t to be fucked with, and I’d do it again and again until it stuck.
“Let’s go,” Bennett said between gritted teeth, jerking his head in the direction of the open space at the front table near the usual Tier One assholes.
Knowing he wasn’t talking to me, I turned to head across the aisle to the other front table where Mari was holding court.
Before I could take a step, a large hand gently encircled my bicep, and a deep, honeyed voice dripped into my ear.
“There’ll always be a spot for you next to me, Princess,” Zach murmured, his words full of unspoken promises. “You belong with us—I don’t give a fuck what anyone else says.”
I tossed a skeptical eyebrow at him over my shoulder, mentally waving away the vagina flutters his sexy voice elicited.
“I think it’s still two against one there, Ferrero.
And if you think I’d ever voluntary dine with the three bitches who tried to have me sexually assaulted—or Chad —you’re delusional.
The fact that you three continue to associate with the likes of them disgusts me. ”
His cocky smirk morphed into a pouty frown. I scoffed at him, cute as he was, removing my arm from his grip and sauntering over to Mari. She’d cleared the chair next to her with little more than pursed lips and an arched eyebrow at the poor soul who had been sitting there.
As I took my seat, the dean cleared her throat from the platform where she still stood. The room quieted almost instantly, no one missing that the Heirs had been diverted from their usual thrones. The weighty feel of anticipation permeated the entire room.
“Hello, Holywell students!” Dean Jansen called to the hushed crowd. “If you’ll just allow me a few minutes to interrupt your breakfast, the Academy feels it would be best to quickly address the… issue of the return of the missing daughter of the dearly departed Knight Family.”
Oh, so I had been missing now and not definitely declared dead while James, Peter, and Andrea danced on my family’s graves .
Rich.
“The Families feel, and the Academy agrees, that the status of Heir is befitting only of the children of the Families that have been raised as such, with all of the proper education, special skills, and… social interactions befitting of the most prestigious Families in the City.” She glanced my way, wrinkling her nose in disgust in a manner that her daughter had definitely inherited.
“Additionally, the title of Heir is intended for the up-and-coming leaders of the largest and most successful business empires in the City. As such, we recognize the three Heirs of Spencer, Ferrero, and Hargraves as the only Heirs. While the Academy is relieved that Miss Knight has been found alive after all of these years, she is no longer an Heir to a Family empire, and it is a known fact that she has spent her adolescence outside of our higher society and is, well, behind .” She gave me a pinched smile, trying and failing to convey something like sympathy.
“Miss Knight is, of course, welcome to assimilate amongst our top-tier students to the best of her ability. I am sure they will all be… thrilled to help her adjust.”
The snickering had started over at the shithead table before the dean had finished speaking. The muttering at my table was, at least, a bit more confused and a little aghast that the Academy would dare .
I took half a second to clock the guys’ reactions to this bullshit, and the three of them continued to appear annoyed but unsurprised by any of this.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have sandbagged my grades quite so much last semester,” I mused to Mari.
I’d done just enough to keep my scholarship but not draw attention by outperforming what a Southside High School education should have enabled.
“I could’ve at least nipped the inferior education argument in the bud, but hindsight is 20/20, and all that shit. ”
“You what?” she hissed at me. “Even your grades were a lie? You’re such a sneaky bitch.” She cracked a smile. “I love it.”
As the dean exited the stage without another glance my way, I realized I was going to need a more visceral show of force for these dipshits to comprehend that I was not actually some poor orphan from the Southside about to be trampled on by the City’s elite.
I had an idea, but I’d need to get through the rest of the day first, and something told me the dean had just given all my old bullies permission to escalate once again.