Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite #6) by Rina Kent

I can breathe and it’s not black. I can see and it’s not the darkness. I can feel and it’s not nothingness.

I don’t know how long I stand there, watching and trying to remember what he said.

You’re a monster.

He thought I was a monster.

Maybe I am.

I turn around like a robot, my body heavy and rigid, and leave. Not only the pool area, but the entire house.

Our mansion disappears from sight, but the scene in the pool keeps playing in the back of my head like a film.

The red.

The hand.

The gurgles.

And then…the silence.

You’re a monster. He said something after it, but…I can’t recall. I was too caught up in the chaos to remember.

It’s late afternoon, so the dusk is orange and bright on the horizon.

Not knowing where I’m going, I stand in the middle of the street and watch the sun’s slow disappearance behind the buildings.

Soon, it’ll be dark. Soon, it’ll be chaos.

My feet carry me to the nearby park. It’s usually empty around this time because mummies take their kids home. It’s a small park with tall trees and dark green benches similar to the one near the pool.

Maybe if I sit here and think about the park and the darkness, I won’t think about the pool.

I should’ve brought a book with me.

I’m about to go back and get one when I notice a small figure huddled by the bench at the far end of the park underneath a large tree.

She’s wearing a pink dress that has so much stuff at the bottom, making it twice her size. Her shiny, golden hair is tied in a long ponytail by a butterfly. The same butterfly is on the belt that surrounds her waist. She’s hugging a doll that looks just like her and is even wearing the same dress.

That girl always does stupid things like that.

Silver often comes over when I’m playing with Aiden and Xander, but I don’t like her.

She talks and argues a lot — like, a lot — and it ruins the silence in my head.

I should leave, but something stops me.

The tears in her eyes.

She constantly sprinkles her face in glitter as if believing she’s the dolls she plays with. Now that she’s crying, the glitter soaks in tears and fall in two rivulets down her cheeks.

Silver doesn’t cry. At least, I’ve never seen her cry. I’ve wondered how she does that, and even though I don’t like her, I’ve wanted to ask her and see if it’s because she also thinks it’s useless.

Now that I’m seeing her crying for the first time, I can’t leave. I can’t even move.

All I can do is watch the way moisture pools in her huge eyes. Their light blue colour darkens before those tears stream down her cheeks.

Her face is a mess, full with snot, glitter, and her endless tears. Her cheeks are red and her lips are rosier than usual.

Chaos.

It’s come to me again.

I don’t think about it as my legs lead me in her direction. She doesn’t sense me, or rather, she can’t. Aiden always says I move silently. It’s because I learnt to tiptoe out of my father’s reach.

But I never tell him or Xander that.

We’re not supposed to say such things. We’re proper people with proper manners and proper secrets.

Once I’m behind Silver, I pull on her ponytail. She gasps, then cries out.

That’s what I usually do to kick her out of Aiden’s house when she talks too much. She screams at us that boys suck and I should go to a bad place.

No idea why I did it just now. I don’t really want her to disappear, but I also can’t ignore the habit whenever she’s in sight.

Silver lifts her head up, and when her eyes meet mine, they widen until they nearly swallow her face.

For a second, I stare at her, unable to do anything else.

I love that look.

I want to keep that look.

But how?

“What are you doing here, Cole?” She lets the doll — which also has butterflies on its head — drop to her lap and hides her face in her tiny hands. “Go away.”

I let go of her hair, annoyed she hid that look, and sit beside her. The big skirt of her dress could fit another person between us.

“Why are you crying?” My voice is quiet since I don’t know how I should speak to her.

“What do you care?” She sniffles. “You hate me.”

So she knows about that. “What makes you think that?”

I need her to tell me why she’s crying, because if I know the reason, I can use it and maybe I’ll be able to bring back the look from earlier.

Chaos.

“I just know you do.” She manages to get out through her sniffles. “And I hate you, too.”

“If you hate me, why are you hiding from me?”

“I’m not hiding! I don’t want you to see me crying. No one sees me cry.”

I fully face her, a smile on my lips. “So I’m the first?”

“Shut up and go away!”

“No.”

“No?”

“This park is for everyone.”

“Fine. I’ll go.” She removes her hands from her face. It’s still full of tears and messed up glitter, but the look from earlier is gone. She’s not surprised or taken off guard.

Why isn’t she?

“If you stay, I’ll tell you a secret,” I say as she gathers her doll.