Chapter 1

“MY NAME IS AMELIA LOUISE VICTORIA MARIE VICENZA, AND I am the Princess of Hazenbak. I am pleased to be spending the next year with you to help further your education.” Lie.

It was all lies.

She pasted on a brittle smile and tugged at her orange and green striped sweater. Lia knew that the students really didn’t care what she had to say but honestly the halfhearted applause was disheartening. Looking out over the crowd of royals from all parts of the world she wondered for the umpteenth time why her father had insisted she pay her penance here at The Royal Academy.

Lia had hated the place when she was forced to attend as a teenager. It was just her luck that the most prestigious boarding school for royals just happened to be in her country. When Lia had attended it had been an all-girls school.

But progress and legislation had changed in the seven years since Lia had graduated. At twenty-five, she looked out over the sea of young, rich, privileged faces. Most weren’t paying her any sort of attention. Lia felt a smirk break free, she had been the same at fifteen, so she couldn’t blame the little monsters for not caring.

However, with half of the school’s population now of the male variety, things seemed amped up from her Royal Academy days. She and her friends could rarely be bothered to get all glittered up for an assembly. Make-up and hairbrushes were reserved for out of school functions.

As Lia took in all of the push-up bras and thick catlike eyeliner, she realized that this was a different world from the Royal Academy that she had once known.

Clearing her throat, she continued on with her speech, “We are pleased to announce that the same faculty as the past few years will be attending to you, with one small adjustment. This year we are pleased to introduce a new Royal Affairs teacher, Professor Lehman.”

There was a low murmur of the crowd that Lia ignored as she finished her speech.

“Furthermore, we won’t tolerate misbehavior here at the Royal Academy, one infraction could mean the expulsion of the student and embarrassment for your country. Make your people proud, you are the leaders of tomorrow.”

There was another round of weak applause as Lia took her seat behind the podium. There was an empty chair beside her, one that should have been holding Professor Lehman. They received word at the last minute that he would be delayed.

Lia almost felt bad for the old gentleman. He was coming quite a distance and undoubtedly their chilly weather must have held him up. She took a surreptitious glance around her to see some of the teachers that had been there when she was a student.

Professor Sarah Peters was giving her an evil glare. Obviously, she wasn’t over the time when Lia had written Professor Sarah likes to lick Peters on her assignments. Lia sent her an innocent smile, hoping that the old bitty would just let it go.

Lia had been fifteen and mad as a hornet that her father, the King of Hazenbak, insisted she attend the Royal Academy. She had done everything in her power to get expelled from the place, but nothing had broken her four-year sentence at the Academy.

When she graduated, Lia had assumed she had seen the last of the grim castle with its hallowed halls and grand staircases. Obviously, she underestimated her father’s temper.

It wasn’t that Lia was a bad princess, she was just a little unruly. Her older brother Benedict would inherit the crown, country, and headaches that were sure to follow. He was tall, brooding, and broad. Everything a prince should be.

Benedict was never involved in any scandals. He had been dating the same girl for what seemed like a hundred years. And he never made their father angry.

Lia was two parts hot mess and a third wild energy. She loved coming up with brilliant ideas. It could be anything from cooking, decorating, to new hair colors. Lia wanted to try it all. You only live once, she would try and reason with her father, but he seemed to think her idea of living wasn’t in line with how a princess should behave.

It wasn’t as if she had done anything truly terrible. Lia was wee bit soused, okay, she was plowed, and she might have danced topless on one of the tables at a local pub.

Honestly, how was she to know that it would be filmed and up on the internet before she was dragged home by her friends? Her father hadn’t been amused. Anthony Roberto James Benedict Vicenza, King of Hazenbak, had no sense of humor whatsoever.

To make matter worse, everything Lia did seemed to irritate him. She had long since given up trying to impress the man. But when he threatened to cut her off, she knew that she had to toe the line.

And that is how Lia found herself as the new Manners and Deportment Instructor at the Royal Academy. She had an entire year to prove to her father that she could not only accomplish the task that he had set before her. But that she could do it scandal-free.

In exchange for paying her time, her father had conceded to allow Lia her own place if she proved she could handle the responsibility. The thought of not being under the royal statutes day in and day out was almost euphoric.

She had to make this work. Her future was weighing on it.

“Excuse me,” a deep rumbly voice interrupted her thoughts.

She turned to see the greenest eyes that she had ever seen. They were set in a handsome face that was covered with a neatly trimmed beard. He had tousled brown locks that couldn’t have been authentic and the most deliciously built body that a man could possess.

Holy sex on a stick.

He quirked a brow, “Are you alright?”

Lia blinked and to her horror muttered, “Good, fine— err, well.”

A smirk covered that face, and her knees felt weak. Who was this God among men and why was he at the Royal Academy?

“I was looking for someone in the faculty,” he left off and she realized a hair too late that she was supposed to fill in the blank.

“Oh,” Lia cleared her throat, “I’m faculty, I guess. What can I do for you?”

He wrinkled his brow, “Aren’t you a little young for faculty?”

Lia wasn’t very tall, in her stocking feet she stood three inches over five feet. Her long red hair was pulled into a messy bun and she hadn’t worn any make-up that morning. She knew that she looked young, but hell, did he think she was a student?

“Sorry to disappoint,” her tone held a certain chill. “But I am Princess Amelia of Hazenbak and I will be teaching, Manners and Deportment.”

His grin broadened, and she wasn’t sure why it irritated her so much, but it did.

“Who are you?” she demanded shortly.

He executed a little bow, “I’m Nicholas Lehman, your new Royal Affairs professor.”

Lia blanched, “You are supposed to be a little old man!”

He threw back his head and laughed which only served to set Lia more against him.

“I shall try to make it up to you,” he finally managed through a crooked smile.

Damn his straight white teeth, Lia bit the inside of her cheek to hold back her thoughts. He was too beautiful to be a teacher here. And to make matters worse, as the two newest professors they had been placed in the last two rooms in the faculty quarters.

Not only would he be living right next door to her, but he would most likely hear every little sound that she made.

How was she to ride Sir Shlong into oblivion if this sex God was right on the other side of the wall?

No, this would not do. She would talk to someone.

Surely, Professor Lehman could go somewhere else.