Page 10 of The Royal Flame (The Royal Academy #3)
MADDISON
T he rest of the ride back to the condo is mostly quiet, except when Lily tells the guys what happened tonight.
She tells them the same thing she told me, and Finn lectures her for being so na?ve.
I feel bad for her, but at the same time, she did take a lot of risks tonight.
The biggest one was getting into a car with Will.
Lily doesn’t take Finn’s lecturing well, and by the time we arrive at the condo, she’s so irritated that she attempts to storm off to her room the instant we enter the foyer of the condo.
“Lily, wait,” Finn calls out as he rushes after her.
She whirls around, her blond hair whipping around her face. “What?” she snaps, glowering at him.
Finn stands in front of her, shifting his weight and scratching his arm. “We need to talk to you.”
She raises her chin. “I’d rather not talk to anyone tonight.” She begins to leave again, but he stops her by placing his hand on her arm.
“Lily,” Finn huffs with frustration. “What we need to talk to you about… It’s about mom.”
“What about her?” she says strangely, like she’s attempting to pretend she’s clueless but isn’t.
Finn angles his head to the side. “Why do I get the feeling you already know the answer to that?”
“Why would I know it?” Lily feigns innocence.
“Lily.” Finn’s voice conveys a warning.
“Fine,” Lily scoffs. “I already know she left.”
“What?” Finn, River, Noah, and I all say simultaneously.
“How do you know that?” River steps away from me and toward Lily with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his hoodie. “Did you hear it on the news?”
“No,” Lily replies evasively. She’s clutching her diamond-encrusted purse and anxiously chewing on her lip. “I knew before.”
River crosses his arms. “Before what?”
Lily shrugs and then sighs. “Look, I can’t tell you. All I can say is that she’s probably okay and that everyone else needs to believe she’s missing.” She turns on her heel and strides down the wide hallway.
“Lily.” Finn chases after her, but Lily quickens the pace and sprints around the corner, her heels clicking against the floor.
River, Noah, and I all gape at each other.
“You know, Lily’s always been a bit weird,” Noah says as he draws the hood of his jacket off his head. “But I feel like she’s gotten weirder lately.”
River makes no effort to argue, his expression etched in deep thought. He has dirt smudged on his forehead, locks of his dark hair are sticking up all over the place and flakes of leaves and twigs are in it, and his pants and shoes are covered in mud.
I glance down at my outfit and cringe at not only how dirty I am but at the muddy mess O made all over the polished marble floor.
“I don’t know if I should be relieved or not about what she said,” River mumbles, flicking a piece of mud off his jacket sleeve. “
“Maybe Finn will get some answers from her,” I suggest. “But I don’t think she would’ve said that if she didn’t know something.”
River scratches at his neck. “What could she know, though?”
“Maybe your mom did take off, but she wants everyone to believe she’s missing because she’s worried about your father,” I offer one scenario. “However, she told Lily because she was worried about her.”
He considers this with his gaze on me. “That kind of makes sense, but I still don’t like the idea of that we have to lie to the police now.”
“Maybe they’ll realize she took off on her own once they dig into the case.” Noah unzips his jacket.
“Yeah, maybe.” River rubs his wrist as he processes all of this. A chunk of mud falls off his sleeve and lands on the floor. He stares down at it. “I need to shower and change.”
“Yeah, I do, too.” My gaze drops to the floor again. “I feel bad. I’m making a mess all over the floor.”
River smiles for some reason. So does Noah.
“What?” I wonder in puzzlement.
“Nothing. You worrying about the mess is just cute.” River tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Don’t worry about the mess. Housekeeping will be here tomorrow to clean the place up.”
“I’m still going to worry about it,” I tell him. “I don’t like other people having to clean up after me.”
His eyes search mine, and then he dips his lips, surprising me with a kiss. “Like I said, so cute,” he murmurs, his lips brushing mine again.
Noah clears his throat. “And that’s my cue to leave.”
By the time River and I move away from one another, Noah’s already at the end of the hallway.
“I’m glad you’re being nice to him,” I tell River as I place my hand on his chest.
“It’s easier doing that knowing that there’s more to what happened. I just wish he’d tell us the entire story.”
“Give him some time. Maybe he will.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Doubt weighs in his voice as he absentmindedly ravels a strand of my hair around his finger. “We need to talk. You and me, I mean.”
Puzzlement weaves through me. “Okay, but about what specifically?”
“About the text my mother sent me before she went missing.” He unravels my hair from his finger. “I know she may not have gotten taken, but I still believe her warning about that dangers of me being in your life.”
“You and I dating—fake dating—it protects me from the society. If we don’t date anymore… They’ll come after me again.” An involuntary shudder ripples through my body at the faint memories of waking up in those woods.
He slips an arm around my back. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. I won’t allow it.” He pauses, his throat muscles working as he swallows hard. “There’s an alternative. One that will keep you safe from everything.”
“What is it?” I ask warily.
Why do I get the inkling he’s about to tell me something I don’t want to hear?
“You can fake date Finn for a while,” he tells me. “It’ll keep you safe from the society and safe from me.”
I shake my head. “That sounds like an awful plan.”
He wets his lips with his tongue. “Why? It’ll protect you.”
He’s right.
It will.
It’ll protect me from his mother’s warning.
From the society.
From my feelings for him.
The latter, however, is problematic. I’m terrified that I’m falling for him—a Royal.
“You’re not saying anything,” River says, his voice laced with uncertainty.
“As irrational as this is going to sound, I don’t think I want to do that.”
“Maddy,” he starts, but I talk over him. “Not only would it seem suspicious as hell that I switched brothers, but I honestly don’t want to. I… You’ve grown on me, Gothic prince.”
He assesses me before lowering his forehead against mine. “I don’t think I can put you at risk. I want to keep fake dating you… But it’s so selfish and doesn’t feel right if it means putting you in danger. The whole point of us fake dating was to protect you.”
I peer up at him. “I know.”
He nods, as if agreeing.
And in the back of my mind, I’m well aware that I should step back and put some distance between us, break the connection. But like the idiot I’ve become lately, I press closer and weld my lips to his.
He groans as I part his lips with my tongue and kiss him.
“Maddy,” he murmurs between kisses. “I don’t… I can’t… Shit.” He kisses me so fiercely that I feel it all through my pulsating body. His fingers travel up my spine and tangle in my hair, lightly tugging on the roots.
Tingles caress my flesh and flood every inch of my body as we kiss…
And kiss…
And kiss…
It feels endless, yet not enough.
I clutch onto the hem of his shirt, pulling him against me, but then his muscles go taunt, a reminder that he’s injured.
“I’m sorry,” I sputter as I jerk back.
He struggles to breathe evenly, his eyes glazed over, his lips parted and swollen. “What?” He blinks at me, utterly lost.
“Your side. You winced when I touched it,” I explain, leaning over as I lift the hem of his shirt. “How bad is it?”
“Not bad at all.” He hitches a finger underneath my chin and angles my head back to him. “It’s more painful when you stop kissing me.”
“River,” I start to reprimand him for being irrational.
“Maddy,” he retorts. “Do you have any idea how much… How much I want you?” His cheeks flush with the slightest tinge of pink.
It’s part of why I like him so much: his occasional shyness and uncertainty. It makes him feel less royal and more real.
“Yeah, well, I want you too,” I admit aloud.
It shocks us both and I’ll admit, if I wasn’t so worn out, I may not have done it so easily.
But after everything that’s happened, and with all the uncertainty in my future, I’m too exhausted to care.
Perhaps tomorrow that’ll change, but at this moment, that’s all I want to say.
Well, that and… “So, I guess we should take a shower and start figuring out how we’re going to handle you and I dating, because I’m not letting us go.
I’ve given up a lot, River Averson, but I refuse to do that with you.
And besides, you’ve already proven multiple times that you can protect me, even when I tell you not to. ” I arch a brow at him. “Like tonight.”
“There was no way I was going to leave you behind.” He cups the side of my neck and sketches his finger along my racing pulse.
“I’ve spent my entire life doing what I’m told, and it’s made me want to break every rule that’s ever been put on me.
That includes your rule of not protecting you.
” An unsteady breath falters from his lips.
“I’ve never wanted to protect anyone so badly in my entire life as I do you, so whatever you decide—however this turns out—I’ll always protect you,” he vows.
It's the first time anyone has said this to me.
My initial reaction is not to believe him. But the truth sears in his voice and burns in his eyes. River will do anything to protect me, even if we’re not together.
And it’s terrifying, but not in an awful way. It’s more confusing. Because it makes me want to run.
But it also makes me want to kiss him until all he can feel is the imprint of my lips.
It makes me so conflicted I have no clue what to do.
Follow my feelings and continue dating him? For reals this time.
Or protect myself and end it before it becomes real?
The latter is what old Maddy would do, but I’m not even sure who that is anymore.
How could I when my life has been nothing but a lie?