Ruthless Empire (Royal Elite 6)

You’ve got the wrong person for that, arsehole.

I’m the daughter of Sebastian Queens and Cynthia Davis. It takes more than stupid texts to scare me.

Lifting my head, I walk through Royal Elite School’s hallway. RES goes way back to medieval times. Its ten towers show the majestic power of this place, and to what levels it can take you.

Papa, Mum, and even Helen walked the halls of this school. It’s where they met the first time. After that, Papa and Mum studied at the same university and got engaged. Unlike what the media said about them, it wasn’t an arranged marriage between two powerful families. For one, apparently Mum’s family, which has a long chain of secretaries of state, wasn’t good enough for Papa’s parents.

They already had power, so they wanted nobility. Papa chose her over some noble family’s daughter, and although Mum smiles when she retells that part of their story, she follows it with a scowl and says they chose that misery willingly.

That’s what she calls their marriage, by the way. Misery.

Now, it’s my turn to make the right decisions and take the most advantage of the school. It’s the beginning of our last year and I know exactly where I?

??ll be at the end of it.

In Oxford, studying politics and international relations. For that, I’ll be at the top of the class. Screw Cole if he thinks he can take that away from me.

Near the seventh tower, I spot Aiden cornering Elsa, better known as Frozen. I glare at them.

Since the start of the year, Aiden has been obsessed with her. Okay, maybe his obsession started two years ago when she first came into RES. However, he never acted on it. He just watched from afar like a psycho.

But something happened this year, and he’s been gravitating towards her like a magnet to steel.

I can’t let that happen.

Aiden is one of my cards against Cole. Scratch that. He’s my only card against Cole.

I need the engagement to push my bastard of a stepbrother away, and that girl is ruining my plan.

She’s always shoving Aiden away anyhow, so I’ve been doing her a favour by keeping his psychotic claws off her.

She’ll thank me for it later.

Okay, maybe she won’t, but hey, the sentiment is there.

I’m about to go and break them off when a sinister presence appears by my side. Cole smirks down at me as he clutches his books. He’s been in an awfully good mood since yesterday.

“I could’ve driven you to school, Butterfly. You know, with how you sprained your ankle and all.”

“Screw. You,” I hiss under my breath.

He laughs, the sound echoing around us like a halo.

I can only stop and stare when he laughs. He doesn’t do it so often, and when he does, I want to catch it and tuck it away for safekeeping.

Snap out of it, Silver.

“Your compliments are music to my ears, even better than your piano playing.” His lips brush against the shell of my ear. “And I love your piano playing.”

My heart beats so loud, it’s about to burst free of its confinements. It’s the first time he’s said that.

“Then why do you always make me lose in competitions?” I whisper.

“Because you act like a bitch.”

I wish I could punch him right now, but since countless students are buzzing around us, I can’t.

Cole must realise that, too, because his lips lift in an infuriating smirk. No, he didn’t only realise it, but he planned it all along. He loves taunting me in public, knowing that I can’t react to it. I swear he lives to torment my existence.