Chapter 12: Royal Protection

"She’s under royal protection."

The words hung over the chamber, and for a moment nobody moved at all.

Roxanne stared at Lucien, waiting for the sentence to make sense. It didn’t. She thought of the supermarket, the argument over a stupid bottle of juice, the arrogance radiating off all four of them like heat off pavement.

And now they were standing between her and expulsion.

What the hell are they doing?

The principal’s confident expression cracked first, his certainty visibly wavering. "This is an academy disciplinary matter," he said carefully. "Even students of your standing cannot simply overturn a ruling."

"This isn’t a request," Lucien said.

Something shifted in the room, a collective understanding settling over the students crowded near the doors. This wasn’t four handsome brothers being dramatic. This was royal authority, and everyone here knew it.

"On what grounds does she deserve royal protection?" the principal asked, trying to reclaim some footing.

Lucien didn’t explain. He didn’t say she was innocent. He didn’t say anything that would satisfy the question.

"She does," he said simply.

Roxanne felt her irritation spike. She didn’t want anyone speaking for her, especially not someone who barely knew her name a week ago.

She stepped forward. "I don’t need your protection."

Lucien’s eyes cut to her, unreadable. "That isn’t your decision."

"It is when it’s my life."

"Not anymore."

The line landed like a slap, and Roxanne’s temper flared hot. "I don’t know you. I don’t trust you. I definitely didn’t ask you to interfere."

Liam leaned in, grinning despite the tension. "You’re welcome, by the way."

"I wasn’t thanking you."

"I noticed."

Roshan stayed quiet, watching her with that same unreadable focus he always seemed to carry, while Kai positioned himself a step closer to her, silent and immovable.

Arabella wasn’t about to let the room’s attention drift away from her for long.

"She attacked me," she said, voice trembling on cue. "I’m the one who’s injured here."

"You pushed me," Roxanne said flatly.

"I did not."

The principal looked between them, caught in the middle, clearly unsure how to proceed with four royal Lycans now watching his every move.

Lucien’s attention shifted to Arabella, his tone dropping several degrees colder. "Then the incident should be properly investigated," he told the principal, "before anyone is punished."

It wasn’t a declaration of Roxanne’s innocence. It was simply a demand for the truth to actually be established, and somehow that felt more honest than anything else said in the room so far.

Dorian finally stepped forward, frowning between Roxanne and the brothers. "Why are you involved in this?"

"I have no idea," Roxanne said honestly.

Dorian studied the four of them, something shifting behind his eyes as he registered exactly how much power now stood beside her. His jaw tightened slightly when Liam casually shifted closer to Roxanne’s side.

Arabella noticed it too, her eyes narrowing.

The principal exhaled, clearly out of options. "Roxanne Silver’s expulsion is suspended, pending a full investigation."

Whispers erupted immediately through the gathered students. Roxanne felt the shift happen in real time, the story rewriting itself right in front of her. The girl who attacked Arabella was gone. In her place stood the girl the Moonstone quadruplets had personally protected.

She hated it instantly.

"Come," Lucien said.

"No."

He simply looked at her, unmoved by her refusal. "We need to talk."

Roxanne followed anyway, mostly because she had nowhere else left to go and every eye in the room was still on her.

She walked ahead deliberately, refusing to acknowledge any of them, but Liam fell into step right beside her.

She walked faster.

He matched her pace easily.

"Do you have a problem?" she snapped.

"No."

"Then stop following me."

"Can’t."

"Why?"

"Royal protection," he said, entirely too pleased with himself.

She glared at him. He smiled wider.

Behind them, Kai bent down and picked something off the ground, one of the small hairpins that had fallen loose during the confrontation. He caught up and held it out to her without a word.

Roxanne paused, surprised. "Thanks."

He only nodded, but something in the small gesture softened the edge of her irritation, just slightly.

They ended up in a private room off the main corridor, and the second the door closed, Roxanne rounded on all four of them.

"Why did you interfere? Why does Lucien have the authority to protect anyone? Why are four royal Lycans suddenly interested in a girl they threatened over a drink a week ago?"

Lucien’s expression stayed maddeningly composed. "We had our reasons."

"That’s not an answer."

"You don’t need to know everything yet," Roshan said.

Roxanne caught it instantly. "Yet?"

Roshan’s expression flickered, just for a second, like he’d said more than he meant to.

Liam clapped his hands together, breaking the tension deliberately. "So, dinner. Are we doing dinner?"

Roxanne wasn’t fooled, but she let it go, filing the moment away. These four weren’t simply curious about her. They were hiding something, and whatever it was, it apparently had a timeline.

"You need to be careful," Lucien said, all business again. "Someone clearly wanted you expelled badly enough to arrange it."

"Do you remember anything unusual about the fall?" Roshan asked. "Any sensation before you hit the ground?"

Roxanne hesitated, thinking of the strange calm that had settled over her mid-air, the way pain never quite arrived the way it should have. "No," she lied.

"You’re terrible at accepting help," Liam said, unrelated but somehow fitting.

"I don’t need help."

"You needed it about an hour ago," he pointed out, and she had no good response to that.

Kai finally spoke, quiet and direct. "Stay away from the third floor."

She looked at him. "That’s your advice?"

"For now."

She didn’t understand him, didn’t understand any of them, but something about the genuine concern behind all four responses unsettled her more than their arrogance ever had. It would have been easier if they were simply insufferable. Instead, they were insufferable and worried, and she didn’t know what to do with that combination.

"I’m leaving," she said, and none of them stopped her this time.

Later that evening, in a quiet office away from the noise of the academy, Roshan sat alone with the incident report spread across the desk in front of him.

Three-story fall. Expected trauma: multiple fractures, internal bleeding, possible spinal injury.

Actual injuries: bruising, minor scratches, mild concussion.

He read it twice, certain he was misunderstanding something. He wasn’t.

He pulled up the security capture of the building, the angle of the balcony, the height calculated against the courtyard below. Then the medical file again, side by side.

Nothing about it made sense. A student falling from that height without a functioning wolf to cushion the impact should not have survived, let alone walked away nearly untouched.

Roshan sat back slowly, staring at the numbers like they might rearrange themselves into something logical.

They didn’t.

"What are you, Roxanne Silver," he murmured to the empty room.