Deviant King (Royal Elite #1) by Rina Kent

Damn him and how hard it is to read him.

Aiden steps closer so his chest almost grazes mine. “You’re a proud little thing, aren’t you, Frozen?”

I’m taken aback by the change of subject. I thought this was about the phone?

“You don't give a fuck about anyone. Always walking around here with that head of yours somewhere above and beyond like no one here deserves your time.” He pulls a stray blonde strand of my hair and twirls it in his fingers, watching it with manic interest. “So… Frozen.”

My breathing catches the more he twirls the strand. I don’t know if he’ll pull me by it or rip it out of my skull psycho style.

A dark, claustrophobic sensation grips the centre of my chest.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. Even when I stayed out of his way, I always noticed the hidden dark tendencies behind Aiden’s metallic eyes.

He tucks the strand behind my ear. To a passerby, it’d seem like a doting, caring gesture, but from Aiden, it’s the calm before the storm.

The sound of airplanes overhead, right before the bombing.

The slight movement of the ground, right before the earthquake.

“Tell me, Frozen. What pushes your buttons? What are you afraid of, hmm?”

You!

I swallow down the scream, tipping my chin up, and meeting the devil’s eyes.

He squeezes my jaw between his thumb and forefinger. “Tell. Me.”

When I keep my right to remain silent, something flashes in Aiden’s face. It’s fast and fleeting and disappears as soon as it’s there.

He releases me with a softness that startles me. No, not startle. It’s something much more potent.

I don’t like Aiden’s kind side.

It’s deceptive.

Destructive.

Deadly.

“Last chance before I find the answer myself.”

Yeah, good luck with pulling the answer out of my head, monster.

Something shines in his eyes. People’s eyes shine with excitement and happiness. Aiden’s spark with unhinged sadism.

He reaches for me, and before I can do anything, he rips my shirt open. Buttons fly everywhere like abandoned pebbles.

My heart lunges in my chest and shame sinks to the bottom of my stomach. Unshed tears fill my eyes, and I realise right then that I’m not fit for this game.

I’m a coward and cowards lose before the game even starts.

But I’m smart enough to cut my losses short.

I swallow my tears and my stupid pride. “F-fine. I’ll give you the phone.”

The smirk on Aiden’s lips seals my doomed fate.

“Oh, no. That was before. You had your chance. Now, I’ve changed my mind.”





Chapter Four





I thought I knew fear.

My parents’ death brought me raw, inexplicable fear.

So much fear that I buried it all in a black, inaccessible box.

As I stare at Aiden’s impassive face, I realise that I know nothing about fear.

Or if I did, then I forgot it.

Because Aiden, an eighteen-year-old, is giving me another definition of fear.

I’ve never really known Aiden King until this moment when he has me at his complete mercy — or the lack thereof.

Pride and dignity were the only things that got me through the past two years from hell.

But now, as I stand with my hands locked behind my back and my shirt ripped open, that pride is crumbling apart like it was cartoonish.

An illusion.

A lie.

“Aiden…” His name gets stuck in my throat like smoke.

He’s like smoke.

Suffocating, slippery, and undecipherable.

“Stop this.” My voice drops, softening, pleading with any human part in him.

But I should’ve known better.

There’s no humanity in a monster.

His steel gaze darts my way, and I cease to breathe.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul, but for Aiden, there’s… nothing.

It’s empty in there.

A dark, bottomless hole.

“What are you willing to do to have me stop?” His voice is calm. Too calm. It’s terrifying.

“Let’s take the phone, King.” Xander’s voice holds an uncertainty that matches my jumbled insides. Even though his grip remains steel-like.

“No.” Aiden doesn’t break eye contact. He’s like a dog with a bone. There’s no stopping him until he gets what he wants.

“Frozen here will give me what I want so I’ll let her go, right?”

I shake my head once, holding onto the last thread of dignity I have left.

Xander presses on my wrists harder as if communicating something. What, I don’t know.

The sadistic spark from earlier returns as Aiden watches me intently. “What do you say, Frozen?”

He reaches for the lace of my bra, his fingers tracing along the lace. My back stiffens, and I shrink into Xander as if he’s my defence against his friend.

In all honesty, he may be the only defence I have.

Aiden gets bolder, hooking his finger against the cloth. His skin brushes along the valley of my breasts, leaving a trail of something so foreign, it’s horrifying.

He’s not even reaching for the phone. No. He watches me with that poker face the more his fingers lazily trace along the curve of my breasts, stopping at my scar.

His endgame seems to be making me uncomfortable in my own skin.