Twisted Kingdom (Royal Elite 3)

“I remember how Ma pulled the trigger, but I don’t remember hearing your voice,” she muses. “Then… Someone held me and —” She gasps. “Oh, my God! There was someone else.”

32

Elsa

Past

I’m moving.

The ground shifts from underneath me and someone holds me in their arms.

Daddy?

No. Daddy needs help.

It’s dark in here. I can’t open my eyes. I can’t speak.

I can only remain motionless as someone carries me. The faint shuffling of footsteps is the only thing I hear.

“You’ll be fine. You’re Steel’s legacy.”

The voice is distant, almost from another room. Or maybe is it from another place?

My head lolls against the arm carrying me.

Daddy. Save Daddy, too.

Did Grey Eyes leave safely?

I want to ask those questions and more, but my mouth doesn’t move. Nothing moves.

A small whimper reaches me from the ground. The sound is so haunting and pained, it rips through me.

Ma?

Am I imagining it?

The sound comes again like a howl in the winter.

This time, the one carrying me stops and turns around.

“You just wouldn’t die, would you?” The voice sounds disapproving, angry almost. “You don’t deserve this life, Abigail and we both know that. It’ll all end today.”

And just like that, they march ahead. The whimpers grow far and quiet the more he walks. We’re leaving Ma behind. Why?

I’m trapped in and out of the darkness as if we’re playing hide-and-seek.

The person strides on and on.

I want to call for Daddy or Ma, but I can’t.

When I think they’ll never stop walking, they halt and place me on something soft. “Take her to the hospital. Call Blair and Jaxon Quinn, then watch from afar. Don’t interfere, and only make sure she’s safe.”

Daddy. Daddy. Save Daddy.

“Burn the whole mansion down,” the voice says in a sure tone.

“Are there any survivors inside?” Someone else asks.