Royal Watch (Royal Watch #1) - Stacey Marie Brown Page 0,3
Bit of a lush, though.”
The chuckles warped into full laughs.
“That’s quite enough.” Martin sat on the edge of his desk, folding his arms.
“You think I’m kidding? I hang out with him all the time. He’s the picture of merriment.”
I groaned, understanding his awful joke. I had no doubt the castle had many paintings of King Albert over their walls; Theo probably did hang out and drink next to him all the time.
“Since you and King Albert are so close, maybe you can tell us who he was first set to marry to create an alliance between our countries?”
“Easy,” Theo scoffed. “Gertrude, the French princess.”
“Wrong.” I felt the word roll off my tongue before my mind got involved.
The entire class jerked to me. I felt the prince’s eyes burning into me as if he finally noticed the seat was occupied instead of empty.
“Excuse me?” He tipped his head, not believing I called him out. I could relate; my mind was also still rejecting the fact that it was me who had said it.
Mina stared at me, her mouth open, just like most of the class, but professor Martin leaned back, a smirk under his thick beard.
“Go on.” Martin nodded my way, encouraging me to speak.
Heat burned my cheeks, my confidence wobbling. Theo was so used to being in the spotlight. I wasn’t. I was fine with being behind the curtain.
“Y-you’re wrong.” I took a deep breath, forcing myself to sit up. He may be a prince, but I studied my arse off for my marks. I wanted to become a veterinarian, and you had to have really high grades to do it. To be a vet, you needed to be a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the RCVS, and to become a member, you had to complete a five-year degree course at a top uni. Because of that, I worked hard. Plus, I enjoyed history.
“You think I don’t know my own family history? I was raised with the stories. The real history. Don’t bring your CliffsNotes version of my family and challenge me.” He leaned back arrogantly.
Oh. No. He. Didn’t.
Mina’s mouth dropped open, knowing he had just pissed off a sleeping lion.
“Then this is going to be even more embarrassing for you.” I swallowed, noticing the professor now hiding his big grin behind his hand.
“Who the hell are you? I think I’d know more about my family than you would.”
His lids narrowed on me, his gaze feeling like he could slice right through me. I never had the prince’s full attention, and I felt like I was drowning in it. Intense and heavy, he locked on to me, too confident to ever doubt himself.
“Well, I’m clearly a nobody to you, but someone might have to revisit their dear grandpa’s journals or something.” I tried to ignore the heat turning me the color of a tomato, my tongue resembling the Sahara Desert.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” His green eyes sparked with anger.
“Master Theodore, no need for that kind of language,” Martin scolded, nodding to me. “Let her continue.”
“Sure.” He shrugged, falling back in his seat like he couldn’t care less what I would say. “If she wants to humiliate herself, by all means.”
The professor arched an eyebrow, turning to me with a knowing smirk. “Go ahead, Spencer.”
“The first alliance was set on Spain. They had a bigger military, and Albert’s father wanted that. He was determined to get Princess Isabelle for Albert, but I guess your Grandpa Al was such a twat, she wouldn’t do it. Turned him down flat. Even her father, the king of Spain, thought it better she marry her cousin instead.” I clicked my tongue. “That’s got to hurt. That level of rejection.”
Theo’s shoulders moved up to his ears.
“That’s why he married Gertrude and declared war on Spain.”
The class was silent, all eyes dancing back and forth between us, ready for our own war to be declared.
“Sorry, Theodore, but Spencer is right.” Martin stood from his desk, going around to the projector, putting up a timeline on the screen, his voice rambling on. I heard none of it. I couldn’t fight the pride bursting at my chest, knowing I just schooled the Prince of Great Victoria on his own history. But the evil glares coming from my peers shifting in their seats suggested I made a mistake. How dare I correct the prince? He was right, even if he was wrong.
“Bollocks, girl,” Mina muttered. “If you weren’t on their radar before, you sure