Chapter 23 QUEENS DON'T BOW, THEY CONQUER.
SLOANE'S POINT OF VIEW.
The arena wasn’t a lecture hall, nor was it a hall; it was a damn coliseum.
Bright spotlights cut across the stage, glaring at me with the full force of their power, as they gild across the glossy floor with blinding light. A semicircle of leather-backed chairs faced the audience, with each nameplate gleaming gold, each contestant seated like they weren’t students but monarchs ready to spill blood.
The children of the owners of conglomerates, political office holders, and a damn presidential candidate sat on the chairs lined out in the audience as they awaited the start and finish of the show Lucien had decided last minute was needed to really, and I quote;
'Shoot them in their fucking mouths.'
The quiz competition wasn’t a tradition; it was a spectacle.
The first ever of this school, and I carried the weight of making this a win for myself and the scholarship kids on my shoulders. The whole school itself packed into the auditorium, as students crammed shoulder-to-shoulder, with their phones out, as whispers ricocheted off the walls like bullets.
The horsemen and Lucien stood beside me as we stared ahead of the hall, facing everyone.
This would be war.
And I, Sloane Bishop, the charity case and scholarship nobody of the school filled with future billionaires, trillionaires, and empire holders, was the chosen one.
Well, courtesy of my fake boyfriend.
Correction: I was targeted.
I remember the look on Roxanne's face as Lucien announced after he walked us back into the office. It was nothing short of shock and anger as she looked at Lucien with eyes narrowed into slits.
The principal and the panel had no choice in the matter, not when their king had fucking spoken his decree.
It was all because I wasn’t supposed to sit up here. Not when Roxanne, the head cheerleader, heiress, former princess of Ravenscroft, and Lucien’s ex-shadow, sat three chairs down, while filing her French-tipped nails, and drumming like she already owned the crown of victor over me.
She'd probably thought I wouldn't win. Not especially when the lineup was stacked with the school’s best: valedictorian hopefuls. The prodigy kids with their last names carved into skyscrapers, conglomerates, and even the very fabric of the nation's history.
Me?
I got here because I fucking earned that damn scholarship, and nothing Roxanne whispered would change that.
The principal's voice boomed in the hall as it blasted across the speakers. “Tonight, the Ravenscroft Academic Decathlon, as the highest levels of logic, mathematics, chess, and literature, will put these students to the test. Excellence will speak for itself.”
Lucien turned to me in that moment, his hands on my shoulders as they gripped onto me with a confidence that rubbed off on me. All of a sudden, I couldn't see the horsemen, the students, the arena...it was just me and him as the world paused for us.
"Give them hell, sunshine." He whispered, and his arms went around my waist, before he pulled in, crashing my lips to his in a ferocious kiss that had the crowd going wild with shock.
I could hear people cheering, as we kissed-- or rather, Lucien devoured my mouth, as he always does.
After what felt like hours, he pulled back to stare at me. His eyes lingered on my lips for a moment, as my chest heaved up and down, and my heart pounded in my ears. I could hear a buzz from somewhere. I couldn't tell where it came from, but I could hear it as my veins charged up with what felt like electricity.
"Make us proud, Tiger." Theo's voice cuts through the buzzing in my ears, diverting my focus from Lucien to him. He and the horsemen smirked at me, adding tons to my confidence.
"We'll be watching," Lucien said, but without him saying it, I knew he would.
And that gave me strength.
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From the corner of my eye, I felt him.
Lucien, slouched in the front row, dressed in his black uniform with real gold buttons half undone. His hair falling into eyes made his face look like it had been carved from the Adonis' workshop. He wasn’t supposed to care about something as boring as an academic tournament, but he was here.
Watching me.
No, not watching.
Hunting.
His gaze crawled over my skin with intensity, daring me to lose, daring me to make him proud.
To give them hell.
“Ready?” The moderator’s voice snapped me back to reality. I stared ahead, and the buzzer in front of me gleamed red, making my pulse spike in anticipation.
The first round was chess. And it was rapid-fire.
Digital boards blinked alive, with my name and face pasted boldly on it, along with that of my opponent. It was one of Roxanne's cronies.
Usually the bully's friends are as stupid as her, but Roxanne had one friend killing it in the chess clu b.
Stephanie.
I stared at her, as her black eyes locked in on my blue ones. Either Fate,or Roxanne’s manipulation put me against her.
Perfect.
She leaned forward,her pink lips painted the shade of cruelty as she smirked. “Don’t embarrass yourself, Bishop. People like you should be grateful we let you mop the floors we walk on, not sit at our tables.”
I smiled sweetly as my heartbeat pulsed in my ears. With venom coating every word I spoke, I responded to her. “Funny. That’s what losers say before the game even starts.”
The timer buzzed, and immediately, pieces moved like flurries of light. Stephanie attacked aggressively, pawns charging like soldiers.
She wanted to crush me fast, her moves aimed to humiliate me before the crowd could even caught their breath.
But my mind; God, my mind was a weapon tonight.
Maybe it was becauise I could feel the force of Lucien's stare on my back, in my pores, challenging me to give them hell, to lay them all at my feet, to shut the rumors once and for all. To make them see that I was a nerd, and fucking proud of i.
I saw every move she made ten steps ahead. Her arrogance and over-confidence made her sloppy as she left gaps like open wounds before me. I slid my knight, sacrificed my rook, then, barely a few minutes into the game, it was in.
Checkmate.
“Winner: Bishop.” The principal's voice boomed in the hall.
The auditorium gasped, as their phones lit up again, as they recorded for the blogs.
I looked at the crowd,= to see her face and the sight of it tasted better than my favorite desert.
Roxanne froze, her red lipstick stained mouth hanging open like a gaping fish.
I leaned in, whispering just loud enough for Stephanie to choke on it. “Queens don’t kneel. They fucking conquer.”
Lucien’s laugh bounced off the walls. It was dark, low, dangerous, as it echoed from the front row. My veins lit up like fireworks at the sound, as it sent a flush through me.
I knew I'd made him fucking proud.
Round two: Mathematics.
The screen filled with equations so vicious they looked like another language, like something ancient. It would have given any other person a headache, but I was on a roll.
Square roots tangled with calculus, as patterns were hidden under pure chaos. I sat before a board of students, ready to smoke me, but I wouldn't let them.
The face off with the entire math club was Roxanne's idea. In an attempt to see if I would falter at the challenge, but Lucien smirked at her suggestion with a smirk that could wipe out a fucking nation, as he agreed to it.
Half the contestants faltered at the sight before us, as their brows furrowed. Some of them took to biting their nails, while the others had their nails biting into palms.
I didn’t though. I stared ahead with a confidence, as I worked o the equations before me with rapid fingers, and before I knew it, I was done, long before the timer could go off.
I raised my hands, and yelled the answer to the question.
The crowd gasped in shock, as everyone held their breaths for the principal's response.
“Correct. Bishop advances.”
At that, everyone's gasp filled the arena, before they all erupted in cheers, their roars filled my ears, threatening to make them bleed from how loud they were.
I caught Matt’s eyes in the crowd. He stared at me with his soft, pitying, fake look. He knew damn well how good I was with school, but today, everyone else would fucking see it.
Like I could taste his stare, I turned to see Lucien's death glare pinned on Matt. His stare was so intense, Matt would be six feet under if looks could kills.
Lucien turned to me, his eyes now completely dark, as he clenched his jaw.
"Finish them off, Sunshine. No more holding back."