Steel Princess (Royal Elite 2)

She stares at me with a parted mouth.

“Is it that strange?” I ask.

“Strange? Try miraculous. Aiden never makes breakfast. Not even when Levi forces him to help out.”

“He’s not the type who can be forced into doing anything.”

Understanding covers her features. “True.”

“Did you just come over?” I try to sound innocent like I didn’t hear her and Levi fucking each other’s brains out.

God. I’m so bad.

“Yeah. We wanted to spend the weekend at the place that started it all.”

“Started it all?”

She beams. “Levi and I started at the Meet Up. Crazy, right?”

I shake my head. “You guys are so good together.”

“Right? I agree. I need more people like you to say it to his fangirls.” She laughs before a nostalgic expression covers her features. “We weren’t always on good terms, you know, but I think the clashes in our personalities are what brought us together even more. Like yin and yang of sorts. We’re not there to be each other, we’re there to insert a piece of us in the other half.”

I heard about their rocky relationship last year, but I never asked. It’s understandable, though.

Levi might appear fun, but he has his own demons. Just like Aiden, he keeps them carefully tucked under the surface.

And this petite girl, only a year older than me, has managed to not only see his demons but to also make friends with them.

Hell. She fell in love with them.

Astrid seems like the type of girl who’s all in. She took Levi the way he is and even loved him for being who he is.

Maybe that’s why Levi watches her like she holds the world in the palm of her hands.

She doesn’t have to worry about the fangirls. Levi never looked at anyone the way he looks at her.

The look of a king to his queen.

The look I thought Aiden was about to give me last night.

“I know how hot-headed those with the King last name can be.” Astrid takes my hand in hers. “But they can have a big heart.”

That only includes Levi.

Aiden doesn’t have a heart.

I can be a naive fool and try to find it, but it’s full of wires in there.

I’ve already wounded myself enough, I can’t do it all over again.

“Well, Aiden is negotiable.” She winks. “But he’s been so different since you started to spend time with him.”

“Different how?”

“He smiles more and he appears a tad more human. Not to mention that he’s preparing freaking breakfast! You’re a miracle maker.”

We both laugh at that.