Twisted Kingdom (Royal Elite #3) by Rina Kent

“Let her go, Aiden,” Jonathan finally speaks.

I tune him out. “Elsa, look at me.”

She doesn’t.

I stroke my thumb along her arm, caressing softly. “Sweetheart, look at me.”

“Are you engaged to Silver?” Elsa continues staring at her father, but her words are directed at me.

The sudden question stops me in my tracks. How do I answer this without triggering her ugly side?

“It’s not what you—”

“Yes or no?” She cuts me off, still not sparing me a glance.

I grind my molars at the apathetic way she’s addressing me. I can’t blame her, but my brain crowds with only one thought: throw her over my shoulder and get her the fuck out of here.

I’m restraining myself only because she’s reuniting with her father and will never forgive me for taking her away. And while I don’t give a fuck about him or anyone else in this room, I give lots of fucks about her.

“Elsa, there’s so much you need to know,” I speak in my calmest tone.

“It’s a simple question, Aiden. Yes or no?”

“Yes.” My left eye twitches as I say the word.

Elsa goes completely still; she doesn’t even blink.

I expect her to turn around and hit me. I would let her. If it’ll help her blow off steam, I’ll let her hit me all she likes. As long as she finally fucking faces me, I’m ready to do just about anything.

She jerks her arm out of my grip. My hand curls into a fist by my side, but I don’t grab her again.

It guts me to have her close and not touch her, but if I reach out for her, I’m really kidnapping her the fuck out of here.

All the shaking from earlier disappears. Her spine jerks upright, and her chin lifts high as she takes purposeful strides in her father’s direction. Away from me.

“Elsa.” Her name leaves my lips like a pained growl.

“Let’s go home,” she tells her father with such determination, it echoes around the room.

Ethan wraps an arm around his daughter’s shoulders. She snuggles to his side like a kitten.

He nods in our direction. “Looking forward to crushing you, Jonathan.”

Then he’s out of the door, Elsa and Van Doren walking on either side of him.

Go after her.

Bring her back.

Kidnap her if you have to.

It takes everything in me not to follow my beast’s demands. If I use any type of force with her it’ll only backfire and burn me. If some distance will help cool her down, then so fucking be it.

For now.

I face Jonathan, expecting him to be seething about Ethan’s sudden appearance.

My father likes to use the element of surprise, but he sure as fuck doesn’t like to be its victim. Ethan’s rise from the dead has shuffled all of his cards and ruined the plan he’s been concocting for ten years.

A sadistic smirk sits on his lips. He flops on the sofa and forms a church steeple at his chin with his fingers. I can only imagine the number of fucked up scenarios running rampant in his mind.

Queens approaches me with careful steps as if she’s walking through a minefield. “I didn’t want to come here, but —”

I hold up a hand, shutting her the fuck up. “Leave.”

Her voice and face are the last things I need in my immediate vicinity right now.

“You deserve it, by the way,” she whispers so I’m the only one who hears. “This is what happens when you fuck people over. You get fucked over in return.”

I give her my best ‘do you have a death wish’ glare in response.

She lifts a shoulder and huffs as she announces, “I’m leaving.”

Jonathan barely acknowledges her, still lost in his own head.

We’re the same that way: when there’s a target to eliminate, we tune out the outside world and get lost in our internal chaos.

He’s probably counting his options and coming up with a plan to destroy Ethan. Quick wit and the ability to make snap decisions under stress are the reasons why Jonathan is what he is today.

When other people freak, Jonathan is focused on finding efficient solutions. If he falls, he doesn’t dwell on the smash, he dwells on how to never fall again.

“You really didn’t know he’s alive?” I ask.

The smirk still tilts his lips. “If I did, I wouldn’t have gone after his daughter. Interesting. Maybe he kept in hiding to see how I would’ve handled the existence of his only heir.”

I wouldn’t be surprised.

But unlike Jonathan, Ethan is affectionate towards Elsa. He wouldn’t erase himself from her life and make her believe he’s dead just for a game with Jonathan.

Besides, Ethan is a businessman. He wouldn’t have willingly left his empire for ten years without a reason.

I shove a hand in my pocket. “Ethan won’t waste time and will attack straightaway.”

“Then we attack first.” He stands and buttons his jacket. “Call Levi. We have a war to plot.”





3





Elsa





They say one second is all it takes for everything to be flipped upside down.

I had many seconds like those in my life.

When I erased my memories.

When I met Aiden for the first time in RES.

When I almost drowned in the pool.