Steel Princess: A Dark New Adult Romance (Royal Elite Book 2)

I’ll fuck that mouth, sweetheart.

My lips part in stupefaction as Aiden stands up. He rolls the cuffs of his shirt to his elbows, revealing a hint of his arrow tattoos. They ripple with the strong veins of his forearms.

He motions in front of him. “Kneel.”

No way in hell.

“Do you want me to make you?” He raises an eyebrow. “Is that it?”

One second passes.

Two.

Three.

“Last chance, sweetheart.”

If I bow to his command, he’ll have me at his mercy all over again. He’ll step on me just like before.

I promised myself that I’ll no longer take what he offers while I’m lying on the ground.

I’ll give back what he takes.

“Tell me something about you,” I blurt.

“Something about me,” he repeats still wearing that poker face.

“If you want to fuck my mouth, then you’ll tell me something no one else knows. I want the real Aiden, not the one hiding behind a facade.”

“You seem under the misconception that this is a negotiation.” He approaches me. “I don’t remember giving you a choice.”

It takes everything in me not to scramble back on the sofa and hide. That’s equal to admitting defeat before even starting. If I want to be equal to Aiden, then I need to have his level of confidence.

Or as close to that as possible.

I lift my chin. “I’m the one giving you a choice, Aiden. Either tell me or force me and fuck the mouth of a shell.”

His left eye twitches.

Aiden doesn’t like to be threatened, but it’s the only way I can think of to get to him.

The real him.

I expect him to force me and push me to the road of no return. Since I already don’t trust him, if he does this, I’ll really start disintegrating from him.

And for some reason, my chest aches at the thought.

“I’ve had insomnia since I was a kid,” he says in a quiet voice I can barely hear. “I spend my nights playing chess, swimming, or working out in the gym.”

I process the information.

Now that I think about it, every time Aiden and I spent the night together, I always wake up to find him either watching me or running a bath for me.

I figured it was because he always woke up first. Does that mean he never slept on those nights?

Wait.

“You were deep asleep the first time you spent the night in my room.”

“That was one of the times I collapsed.”

“Collapsed?”

“If I spend two or three days without a wink of sleep while working out, swimming, and practising football, my body shuts down and I collapse. That’s the only way I get to sleep.”

I watch him intently. He never appears tired. Hell, he doesn’t even have dark circles like most insomniacs. If he didn’t tell me he had insomnia, I would’ve never guessed it.

I wonder why he can’t sleep.

Then I recall a text he sent me that night.

Something about…

My head snaps up. “You said you see a ghost when you close your eyes. Is that why you can’t sleep?”

Something flashes in his gaze before he completely seals it behind the poker face.

“You said to tell you one thing no one knows, and I did.”

“Cole, Xander, and Ronan don’t know?”

“They suspect it, but they don’t know for sure.” He points at the ground in front of him. “Now, your turn.”

When I don’t move, he says, “A deal is a deal, sweetheart.”

I wish I could extract more from him, but I already cornered myself. If I don’t respect my part of the deal, he’ll never open up again.

With one last deep breath, I scramble to my knees in front of him.

I want to think that he’s making me. That even if I struck a deal, this is a form of a violation. At least those thoughts will make me hate him.

But is it a violation if I’m impatiently waiting for his next move?

Maybe, just maybe, it’s impossible for me to hate Aiden.

That thought terrifies me more than any I’ve had before.

“Good girl.”

Aiden’s eyes soften at the corners.

My heart jumps, beating so loud, I can hear the thump, thump, thump…

It’s so rare to see him softening. He usually fakes it before he strikes. Aiden’s softening is the frightening type, not this heartwarming, almost reassuring type.

Am I imagining things?

He unbuckles his belt and frees his hard cock. Keeping eye contact, he grips himself and strokes up and down, not so gently.

My thighs clench.

There’s something so utterly masculine about the rough way he touches himself.

He points his dick at my mouth. “Open.”

“If I do this.” I meet his gaze. “You’ll tell me what I want to know.”

“Hmm.” He glides the tip of his cock on my mouth, smearing the pre-cum on my lips.

My breathing catches the more he does that. My lips part and I take the first taste of him.

I shouldn’t have done that. Now, I want more.

He nudges my mouth open and I take him in, slowly.

I’ve only given Aiden a blowjob that one time at Ronan’s party. Since then, he’s been exclusively the one who gives oral.

It’s because of the control.

Aiden is the type who lives for control even during sex — especially during sex.

Maybe I like control, too. Maybe this time, I want him to feel what it’s like to have him at my mercy.

I lick him at a slow pace and lift my hands to cup his balls. I take my time in working him up.

Aiden throws his head back with a grunt. “Fuck, sweetheart.”

He yanks the band free from my hair, letting the blonde strands fall to my shoulders, and tangles his fingers in my scalp.

I quicken my pace and take him as far as I can without gagging. I become bolder with each stroke of his fingers in my hair and groan out of his lips.

So this is how it feels like to have control. No wonder he loves it so much.

“You’re so adorable.” He smirks down at me. “Look at your proud expression.”

My pace slows a little, but I don’t stop as I get trapped in his cloudy gaze.

“You’re only at that pace because I’m letting you, sweetheart.” He gathers my hair around his fist, making me wince. “But this is a punishment, remember? You don’t get to enjoy it.”

My eyes widen when he thrusts his hips forward and his cock hits the back of my throat.

My gag reflex shoots up, and I cease to breathe. I slap both my hands on his thighs trying to push him away.

Using his fist in my hair, he pulls almost completely out. I barely get a breath before he slams in again.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.” Thrust. “And breakable.” Thrust. “And mine.”

I try to keep up with his pace, but it’s impossible.

He literally fucks my mouth like he promised he would.

In and out. Deep and hard.

He buries himself inside my mouth, and then he’s out. I splatter and gasp for air before he does it again and again.

And again.

With every thrust, my body burns. Every time he pulls out, I keep my lips open as if I’m begging for more.

I can’t get enough of him and his taste.

Or maybe I can’t get enough of the intense way he stares down at me.

It’s like he really wants to break me, but at the same time, he wants to keep me.

For the first time since I met Aiden, I see a different side of him. One that I’ve never seen before.

I had to kneel at his feet while he fucks my mouth so I could notice it.

The conflict.

The doubt.

Aiden has always been assertive to the core, but right now? As he plunges in and out of my mouth, he appears on the fence.

About what? I don’t know.

All I know is that I’m most likely the reason behind the conflict.

His grey eyes flick to affection for a second before they darken again. He watches me like he hates me.

This isn’t the blind hate from two years ago. No. This time, he looks like he has no control over the hate.

It cuts me deep and hard. Like it wouldn’t have hurt this much if I were punched in the gut.

What have I done to you?

Tears barge into my eyes. I’m not sure whether it’s due to the lack of air, the way he brutalises my mouth, or the emotional pain slashing me open out of nowhere.

Aiden reaches down a finger and wipes under my eyes. “Shhh.”

He pulls out of me completely without coming. If anything, his cock is harder, the veins throbbing with the need for release.

Aiden clutches me by the shoulders and lifts me in his strong arms. Still disoriented, I stare at the hint of his arrow tattoos. For some reason, the sight of them calms my breathing.

He carries me to the sofa and sits down, manoeuvring me so I’m sitting on his lap, facing him.

Tears still stream down my cheeks as I place both hands on his shoulders.

I couldn’t stop them even if I wanted to.

Without breaking eye contact, he reaches between us and pulls my boy shorts down my legs.

He yanks my skirt up and positions his hard cock at my entrance. My inner muscles clench in raw, crippling anticipation.

“See what you do to me?” He buries himself deep inside me in one go.

I bite my lower lip, but the moan comes loud and clear.

He never fucked me this way. Face to face. At this angle, he reaches a place inside me he’s never reached before.

I bounce on his lap, almost toppling over with each of his merciless thrusts.

He pounds inside me with a maddened urgency.

I’m breathless, mindless, and thirsty for more.

No matter how much I deny it, I’ll always want more from Aiden.

And maybe that’s why I’m in pain. Because maybe he’ll never care about me the way I care about him.

Maybe I’ll always be a game.

“Do you feel yourself clenching me, sweetheart?” His eyes bore into mine.

They’re more intrusive and intimate than his cock inside me.

“Do you know what that means?” He grunts. “It means you’re fucking mine, Elsa. Not only your body, but also your heart and your fucking soul.”

More tears stream down my face because I know, I just know that I’m screwed.

The building intensifies at my abdomen, and with it, an arrow lodges straight to my heart. I’m falling off that edge with no landing in sight.

How could I let him get this deep under my skin? If I attempt to pluck him out now, I’ll probably bleed to death.

“Don’t cry.” He leans over and darts his tongue out to lick my tears.

Unlike the other times, his eyes aren’t filled with sadism. If anything, they’re breaking and shredding apart.

Just like my damn soul.

He licks each of my cheeks and underneath my eyes with infinite care like he doesn’t want to miss a drop.

His metallic eyes meet mine again. “I’ll protect you.”

Those words drive me over the edge. I come with a sob tearing from my throat.

He said he’ll protect me.

But who will protect me from him?