Page 58 of Depraved Boys

“There’s a world of difference between a Queen Regnant and a Queen Consort.” Sebastian’s voice carried throughout the entire dining room. “Those of you who don’t know the difference should consult the history books.”

My throat dried, and we continued to their table. Geraldine and Bianca were already seated and glaring in our direction. Frantic, excited beats reverberated through my heart. I pulled back my shoulders and raised my chin.

The Kings of Brittas Academy had ranked me among the likes of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria, and Queen Elizabeth I. Monarchs born into sovereignty, while other queens obtained their statuses from being married to the reigning king.

“What the hell are you two playing at?” Bianca hissed.

“You just implied that we’re nothing better than gold diggers who marry for status,” said Geraldine.

Leopold grinned at Sebastian. “You owe me ten pounds. I was right. She would come to that conclusion when we ousted them from our table.”

Geraldine’s face paled. “What?”

“You heard him,” said Sebastian. “Sit somewhere else.”

Bianca turned her cold gaze to me and curled her lip. “You would end years of friendship to take up with your pull-a-pig victim?”

My breath caught. Even though Sebastian’s acts had proven otherwise, he still hadn’t denied playing that game. I forced my face into a neutral expression, hoping to convey boredom, but my heart was beating so hard, it made my fingers tremble.

“Willow is everything a king could dream for in a queen,” said Sebastian. “I never once played that game with her.”

A relieved breath slid from my nostrils. Finally!

“B-but she’s a fat pig!” said Geraldine.

“What a shame you have to resort to petty insults,” I drawled. Self-assurance filled my heart, making my lips curl into a little smile. “It’s quite pathetic.”

“No.” Bianca bared her teeth. “Pathetic is stuffing pork ribs up your pussy for attention.”

My nostrils flared, and all the fury and frustration I had felt in Mrs. Benazir’s office flooded back. “The police took my statement and did a forensic medical exam. When they find your DNA on my person, the whole world will know the depths of your depravity. Enjoy your freedom. It won’t last.”

Geraldine’s face dropped, and she pulled at Bianca’s arm. “Let’s go. I could never stand the smell of rancid bacon.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Then I suggest you take a shower and remove the stench from your soul.”

Bianca snarled. “You’ll pay for this. When I’ve finished with you, they’ll never find your carcass!”

The two girls stormed out of the dining room with rapid, synchronized steps. My brows rose. Had they practiced that, too?

Leopold pulled out a chair. “Such unpleasantness at court. Will you please be seated, my queen?”

Triumph filled my chest, and I offered him a wide grin. “Thank you, my king.”

The rest of the week was better than how I had imagined studying at the foremost academy on the Elite Register. Now that I had divested Ashley from my heart, I split my time between Cormac and the kings.

My best friend either noticed the improvement of my situation with the bullies or was preoccupied with his own concerns because he didn’t once mention the dangers of associating with Leopold and Sebastian.

Even Prakash no longer suggested that I leave and would give me shy smiles at the table. Things were going so well, I didn’t want to ask him if he had been at my bedside and ruin my temporary happiness.

I spent more time on the diary, not caring if my grade average dropped a few percentage points, and scanned its pages into an Optical Character Reader software that would account for the variations in Corrine’s handwriting. It meant a lot of manual intervention, but it was still better than deciphering it by hand.

That part had been easy. Next, I created a little program that would turn numbers into letters. It was clunky, as it could translate 1697 as PIG or AFIG, so I included subroutines to correct these mistakes. It worked for short, simple words, but was time-consuming when the words were multisyllabic or in Latin.

One evening after dinner, as I was scanning the OCR readout on my laptop, I came across a passage in a mixture of Latin and English:

Today’s the day that will be seared into my soul. Geraldine and Bianca walked over to me in the common room and said I was the victim of a game called pull a pig. It’s when the beautiful ones offer lowly pigs sweet words and kind gestures until the pig falls in love. They read out my love letter to everyone in the third-year common room.

How could he? After everything we had experienced together, it was a lie. Even his friends had played along. He stole my heart, then my virginity, and then the last shred of my dignity.