Steel Princess (Royal Elite 2)

Their exact words were: Please contact us if anything out of the ordinary happens to Elsa at school.

“I’m okay, Kim, really.”

She rubs the side of my arm. “You know I’m here if you need someone to talk to, right?”

I nod once.

One day, I’ll tell her everything, but not until I figure it out myself.

It’s a blur now.

The images in my subconscious are even more complicated than the nightmares. I feel like I need to gather the pieces one by each bloody one before I can begin to put them back together again.

That’s why I’m willing to do the painful sessions with Dr Khan. I don’t care if I wake up screaming or crying.

My cowardice left me in the dark for years. It’s because of my cowardice that Aiden is in the know and I’m not.

Although indirectly, it’s my cowardice that allowed him to lure and trap me.

“Morning, ladies.” Knox joins us on the way to class.

“Morning.” Kim and I greet back.

“You’re so unlucky, Knox,” Kim tells him. “You transferred when we have a math test.”

“I don’t mind. I love math.”

I grin. “Me, too.”

He lifts a brow. “I bet you can’t get a perfect score like me.”

“You’re on.”

“Ugh

. You shouldn’t challenge her like that.” Kim rolls her eyes. “Now her nerdy mode is on.”

Knox laughs, the sound easy and contagious. “How about a bet?”

“What do you have in mind?” I ask.

“If you win, I owe you one and vice versa.”

I shake his hand. “Deal.”

At that exact moment, Cole and Aiden appear down the hall, heading to our class from the opposite direction.

My throat dries and my lungs burn with the lack of air.

I can’t breathe properly.

Breathe, you idiot. Breathe.

The uniform glues to his tall frame like a second skin. It’s like he was born to wear RES’s uniform. The jacket is thrown over his shoulder like he couldn’t bother to wear it.

As I watch him, my mind crowds with images from the other night.

The way he tied me up, leaving me helpless at his mercy — or the lack thereof.