Page 11 of Wicked Princess (Knight's Ridge Empire 2)

“Did you manage to get any of that English lit assignment done?”

“Oh yeah. I spent all fucking night on it.”

“Seb,” he warns.

“I know. I’ll do it, okay? My laptop is in her room and…” I trail off, not needing to tell him again how I was dragged out of there by Theo. “You can go if you want. I’m sure you’ve got something better to do.”

He glances over at me, but I don’t meet his eyes. It’s too painful.

“You heard from Galen?” he asks instead of taking me up on the offer.

“No. Maybe he’s not as stupid as he looks.”

“I can’t believe he listened to you,” Alex confesses, stretching his long-ass legs out in front of him.

“Guilt will do that, I guess. How much shit must he have been keeping from her?” I mutter.

That’s the only thing that makes any sense in my head.

She had to have discovered something.

My truth, maybe.

I won’t know unless she lets me in the fucking room.

* * *

My head lolls to the side, waking me up at the same time the lift dings to announce someone’s arrival.

Thanks to her connections, Stella’s in a private hospital with some of the best staff in the country—scary bitch included. It also means it’s pretty quiet.

In only a few days of being here, I’d figured out how things worked, the staff’s schedules, and what the correct visiting hours were meant to be.

I also discovered that out of courtesy to their patients, they tried not to use the lift in the hours of darkness because the thing is noisy as shit. In a hospital full of all the latest technology you’d have thought someone would have fixed it, but apparently not.

I blink against the bright lights. They lower them at night, but it’s not enough when you’re half asleep.

Although the second the doors open and a familiar body steps out, I’m instantly awake and on my feet.

“What are you doing here?” I bark, my voice echoing down the silent hallway.

“Fuck off, Seb. You’re not her keeper.” He storms toward me, his shoulders squared and his fists curling, ready for a fight.

His black eye has finally faded, and I’d love nothing more than to give him a new one.

Whatever happened inside Stella’s house that day, he knows.

Toby fucking knows, and he won’t tell me. He won’t tell any of us.

“And you’re not welcome here.”

A smug grin tugs at the corner of his lips as he holds my stare.

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong. I’m only here because she wants me to be.”

“You’re lying,” I spit, although I know he’s not. When he is, his left eye gets this annoying little tic.

“Am I?” he asks with a shake of his head as he steps to walk around me.