Black Knight (Royal Elite #4) by Rina Kent

“I lied about that.” His voice is calm, too calm. It raises goosebumps on my skin.

“You lied?”

“I lie about a lot of things. I’m a liar.” He’s still speaking in that neutral tone as if any other range will ruin his composure.

“Things like what?”

“Like how much I hate you. I don’t. Or how much you’re nothing. You aren’t. Or how I can live without you. I can’t.”

My breathing hitches and I dig my nails into the hospital’s sheet. “If you’re saying that because of what happened to me or out of pity, I swear –”

“I don’t pity you.” He cuts me off.

“Then why are you saying those things now? Why do you think you can come in here and say shit like that after you told me to disappear from your life?”

“I told you –”

“You lied, you don’t mean them.” I cut him off, repeating his earlier words. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t believe them. Doesn’t mean you didn’t make me cry every time you pretended I was nothing. Why would you ever do that to me? That child prank doesn’t warrant this much torment. It doesn’t warrant that you treat me as if I’m invisible. I’m visible, I’m here, and I’m always looking at you, so why don’t you look at me?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll hate me if you know.”

“Tell me and I’ll decide myself. I lived through this torment for years; I have the right to know.”

He lifts his eyes and the wretchedness in them nearly breaks me all over again. “The truth isn’t always good, Green.”

“I want to know why. Tell me why!”

“Because you’re my sister.”





24





Xander





Age eleven





“Luna!” I call the cat’s name as I walk into the forest. “Come here, kitty.”

She’s such a pain, like Green sometimes.

I called her for more than five minutes and she still didn’t show up. Here’s to hoping she didn’t get caught in one of the trees.

Actually, if she did get caught, she would’ve brought the entire world down with her mewling.

I slide down a small cliff to the riverbank. Maybe she came here to drink.

Kim must be worried. She’s always weird whenever Luna disappears, saying things like maybe she was hit by a car and died.

Luna doesn’t even go to the road. She’s too lazy for that.

There are many weird things about Kim, like the way she smiles and the way she eats and the way she laughs.

I say weird, but Cole says that’s because I want to kiss her. He’s wrong, I don’t want to kiss her.

Okay, maybe I do, but I also don’t want her to hate me, so I only did it once.

She smiled, though, her eyes sparkling, so maybe she doesn’t hate me?

Cole says I have to do it a few more times to find out and that’s what I plan.

I search beneath the bushes for a silver tabby, but there’s no trace of Luna. It’s getting dark and it reminds me of that time when Cole, Aiden, and I were taken away.

It was dark and cold, and I kept hearing voices, speaking in hushed tones, but no one gave me any food.

I remember thinking about Dad and Aiden and Cole and if they were okay.

After I was thrown out of the van into a similar forest like this one, I didn’t cry or call for help. I couldn’t, even if I’d wanted to. It could have been because Dad said to never cry and to think of solutions instead of thinking of problems.

But I remembered having one purpose: I had to go home to Kim.

She hates spending time with her mum and I promised to never leave her alone. I’d planned to keep that promise, just like she kept her promise about never leaving my side.

And that’s exactly how I got home.

I fought the cold and the hunger and continued walking until I found a police station.

Since then, Kim and I have grown even closer. She’s the only one I told about the kidnapping and how cold it was. She’s the first person who comes to mind when I wake up in the morning and the last thought in my head when I go to bed at night.

Aiden and Cole have been making fun of me, saying I’m being controlled by a girl and that I should wear her skirt. I punched Aiden and kicked that tosser Cole in the chin.

He said that she’ll grow up and not care about me anymore, because that’s what girls do. They change their minds.

That’s why I’ve been keeping a distance from her, not because I don’t care about her anymore like she said, but because I don’t want her to hate me with time.

I don’t know what I would do if she hates me. It’d be worse than losing Mum. At least I had her back then. If I lose her, I’ll have no one.

“Absolutely not!”

I come to halt at the very familiar voice. Jeanine, Kim’s mother. What is she doing here?

Tiptoeing behind a tree, I peek through the branches to find her standing in front of her white car, folding her arms. She’s wearing huge sunglasses that cover half her face and a scarf around her head, but I know it’s her from the voice and the car and the shiny brown hair.

Kim is always jealous of that, wishing she had hair like her mum, a body like her mum, and everything like her mum.