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Series · dark romance

Royal Elite

by Rina Kent

The Royal Elite series by Rina Kent has 8 known books (8 published) and is best read in publication order, starting with Deviant King (2019). The latest book with a fully recorded publication date is Royal Elite Epilogue.

Books
8 known books (7 novels + 1 companion)
Published
8
First published
2019
Status
completed
Shelved under
Romance
Last checked

Start here: Deviant King (2019) — then read straight through in publication order.

Book one

Cover of Deviant King

Deviant King (2019)

Reading order

The date order of published books and any announced future entries — the default way to read the series.

  1. Deviant King

    Novel

    Deviant King opens Rina Kent's breakout dark bully-romance trilogy, introducing cold, brilliant Aiden King and his anything-but-sweet fixation on scholarship student Elsa at the fictional Royal Elite School. It ends on a cliffhanger and is not a standalone -- the story continues directly into Steel Princess and concludes in Twisted Kingdom.

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  2. Steel Princess

    Novel

    Steel Princess is the second installment of Aiden and Elsa's continuous trilogy within Royal Elite, following directly from Deviant King's cliffhanger. Published in December 2019, it keeps the series' signature mix of obsession, dubious morality, and soap-opera-grade plotting before the story concludes in Twisted Kingdom.

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  3. Cruel King

    Novel

    Cruel King is Royal Elite's standalone prequel, set a generation before Aiden and Elsa's trilogy at the fictional Royal Elite School and covering the previous generation's own power games. Published in January 2020 at 360 pages, it can be read first or at any point, though most readers start with Deviant King and circle back.

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  4. Twisted Kingdom

    Novel

    Twisted Kingdom concludes Aiden and Elsa's three-book trilogy that opened Royal Elite, resolving the cliffhangers from Deviant King and Steel Princess. Arriving in January 2020, it hands the spotlight afterward to the rest of the school's elite circle starting with Black Knight.

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  5. Black Knight

    Novel

    Black Knight shifts Royal Elite's focus away from Aiden and Elsa to a different couple within the same elite circle, built around a slow-burning wager. Published in May 2020, it reads close to standalone and precedes Vicious Prince, though it runs alongside the trilogy's events.

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  6. Vicious Prince

    Novel

    Vicious Prince follows a forced-marriage tangle between two more members of the Royal Elite School's ruthless social circle, continuing the series' run of closer-to-standalone entries after the Aiden-and-Elsa trilogy. At 300 pages, it falls between Black Knight and Ruthless Empire.

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  7. Ruthless Empire

    Novel

    Ruthless Empire centers on a years-in-the-making obsession between another couple from the Royal Elite School's elite circle, the sixth entry in Rina Kent's dark bully-romance series. Published in August 2020, it precedes the series-wide check-in of the Royal Elite Epilogue.

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  8. Royal Elite Epilogue

    Companion

    The Royal Elite Epilogue closes out Rina Kent's series with a check-in on every couple from across the trilogy and the standalone-adjacent books that followed it. Published in December 2020 at 210 pages, it's the final entry before Kent's Legacy of Gods series continues the same universe a generation later.

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About the Royal Elite series

Royal Elite is Rina Kent's breakout dark bully-romance series, set at the fictional Royal Elite School where the children of Britain's wealthiest and most ruthless families play power games that blur the line between obsession and love. The core of the series is a trilogy following Aiden King — cold, brilliant, and fixated on scholarship student Elsa in a way that is anything but sweet — across Deviant King, Steel Princess, and Twisted Kingdom. The remaining books hand the spotlight to the rest of the school's elite circle: a slow-burning wager in Black Knight, a forced-marriage tangle in Vicious Prince, and a years-in-the-making obsession in Ruthless Empire, before the Royal Elite Epilogue checks in on every couple. A standalone prequel, Cruel King, covers the previous generation.

This is dark romance without apology: antiheroes who behave badly, enemies-to-lovers dynamics with genuine menace, mind games, secrets, and heroines who push back hard. Kent pairs the darkness with soap-opera-grade plotting — hidden pasts, family conspiracies, cliffhangers between trilogy volumes — which is exactly why the series became a Kindle Unlimited and BookTok staple.

Royal Elite suits readers who graduated from Penelope Douglas's Devil's Night or Corrupt-era bully romance and want a British boarding-school flavor, or Rina Kent fans working backward from Twisted Empire or God of Malice (her Legacy of Gods series is set in the same universe, one generation later). Content is dark and explicit — check the author's warnings — but every couple lands a happily-ever-after.

Frequently asked questions

How many books are in the Royal Elite series?

Eight entries: the prequel Cruel King, six numbered novels (Deviant King, Steel Princess, Twisted Kingdom, Black Knight, Vicious Prince, Ruthless Empire), and the Royal Elite Epilogue. The series is complete, published 2019-2020.

What order should I read the Royal Elite books in?

Deviant King, Steel Princess, Twisted Kingdom (one continuous trilogy — do not read out of order), then Black Knight, Vicious Prince, Ruthless Empire, and the Royal Elite Epilogue. The standalone prequel Cruel King can be read first or at any point.

Can I read Deviant King as a standalone?

No — Deviant King ends on a cliffhanger and is part one of Aiden and Elsa's trilogy, which concludes in Twisted Kingdom. Black Knight, Vicious Prince, and Ruthless Empire are the closer-to-standalone entries.

Is 'Deviant Kings' a different Rina Kent series?

No — 'Deviant Kings' is a common mislabel for the Royal Elite series, taken from its first book, Deviant King. There is no separate Deviant Kings series on the author's official site.

How dark is the Royal Elite series?

Genuinely dark — bullying, obsession, dubious morality, and explicit content, with author-provided content warnings per book. Every couple does get a happily-ever-after, and the follow-up Legacy of Gods series continues the universe a generation later.

Reading order last verified .