Twisted Kingdom (Royal Elite #3) by Rina Kent

Truth is, I can never get enough of Elsa. It kills me to send her back home every other night.

I want her with me all the fucking time. I want to sleep surrounded by her warmth every night and wake up to her face every morning.

I expect her to fight and tell me she needs to think about it.

My mind is already filled with a thousand ways to convince her. I can sabotage her dorm application. I can trick her into thinking she’s rented a house with a roommate and then surprise her by showing up. I can —

Elsa reaches under the bed and brings out a bucket of chocolates. She kneels by my side, cradling the thing as her face turns bright red.

A bucket of chocolate? What the fuck?

Wait.

The name of the brand stares back at me.

Maltesers.



* * *



“When I grow up, I’m gonna buy you a bucket of Maltesers.”

“Why?”

“Because Dad says you have to buy gifts for the one you marry.”

“Marry?” I whisper.

“Yup!” She grins. “When I grow up, I’m going to marry you.”



* * *



“I’m keeping my promise, too,” she murmurs.

“You’re not the one proposing, I am.” I groan, pulling her and the stupid bucket into me. “I’m going to fucking marry you, Elsa. You’ll be my wife. My family. My fucking home.”

She nods several times, tears shining in her eyes. “You’ll be my home, too, Aiden. Always.”

Always.

I crash my mouth to hers.

Elsa is mine.

Fucking mine.

Just like I’m hers.

Always.

Next up, I’m going to put a fucking baby in her.





Epilogue - Elsa





Three years later



* * *



“As I was saying, you can’t argue with me using some theory. Be an actual nerd and prove it in real time.”

Aiden stares at our classmates with his signature poker face. I swear he’s become even more tenacious about hiding his emotions.

I’m lucky I met him at eighteen because twenty-one-year-old Aiden would’ve driven me bonkers.

Scratch that. He does, but I know him well enough to counter him at every turn now. I don’t always win, but the challenge is worth it.

Our colleagues stare at him with questions and no answers.

Only Aiden would call university students nerds to their faces. When I told him not to do that, he said he’s a firm believer in calling things by their names.

“Anyone?” he challenges. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

He’s lucky Cole isn’t here. It would’ve morphed into a full-blown war if he was, and we’d be all sitting here watching them argue all night.

No one ever wins, but Aiden keeps insisting he takes it easy on him.

“Actually, there’s one.” A sinister voice comes from my right. His American accent differentiates him immediately.

I groan even before the twat joins the circle. I thought we were lucky tonight since Cole had things to take care of.

Turns out, no.

“What are you even doing here?” I ask. “You don’t belong to this club.”

“I do now.” Deep green eyes fill with mischief as he waves his access card. “I had to be where all the cool kids go. Isn’t that right, Pres?”

Our debate club president, Oliver, nods at the American’s charming grin.

I roll my eyes. The only reason he joined is to challenge Aiden and Cole. I swear they attract lunatics like this American as if they were magnets.

Even Aiden didn’t join the club out of goodwill. I joined first and he just slid in because ‘he was interested’.

Interested, my arse. More like he wants to be here to shoo the flies away as he calls them.

Aiden’s possessiveness knows no limits. He doesn’t like how close I am to the other club members, so he barged in to make their lives hell. He can be so frustratingly argumentative when he chooses to.

“Good of you to join us, Ash.” Aiden grins as sadism sparks in his eyes. “Now look away from my wife before I create a diplomatic problem between England and the US.”

The all-American golden boy bursts into laughter, raising his hands. “All right, all right. You have it bad, dude.”

Aiden wraps his hand around mine, interlacing our fingers as if to prove a point.

Our rings are above each other. Something Aiden likes to do a lot.

We’ve been married for two years, and he’s been publicising it everywhere. Whenever someone stares in my direction, he nearly blinds them with the huge diamond ring he got for me.

It’s not something I would wear, but I accepted it nonetheless. This ring was Alicia’s, and I understand its emotional value for Aiden.

I soon found out he’s also using it to mark his territory at every opportunity.

The press is the only medium he didn’t use for publicity, but he didn’t need to.

Our wedding, although exclusive to family and friends, made the headlines.

The King and Steel marriage was written about over and over in business columns and newspapers.

It’s the start of a new era for both companies. While Dad and Jonathan aren’t the best of friends, they learned to work together.

I still can’t trust Agnus completely. He really is a psychopath and I’m always wary of him. However, Dad trusts him even though he might know exactly his nature.