Page 14 of The Royal Flame (The Royal Academy #3)

“Yeah?” I ask without opening it.

“It’s me.” River’s voice floats through the door. “Can you let me in?”

“Um…” I glance down at the towel wrapped around me. “Just a second.” I quickly tug on a long, oversized shirt that reaches me mid-thigh before slightly opening the door.

“You took off so damn fast,” River states the obvious. “Did I do something wrong?”

I shake my head, opening the door the rest of the way. “No, it was just awkward with Isla there, especially since we were making out.”

His gaze drinks me in and then he bites down on his bottom lip while staring at my legs. Then he blinks and fixes his attention on my face.

“It wasn’t like that,” he tells me, scratching at his arm. “She just wanted to give me a heads up that our fathers are going to force us to go to this party together.”

An invisible cold bucket of water gets dumped all over me.

I swallow hard. “I think I need some space right now.”

“I’m not going to it,” he sputters, reducing the space between us as he enters my room. “I’m going to talk to my father today and tell him I’m done following his orders, especially after my mom’s disappearance. It just makes me…” He struggles for words. “I don’t want him in my life anymore.”

“He’ll always be in your life,” I point out. “And if you break off this arranged marriage, they’ll be consequences for your siblings.”

“We don’t care about that,” Lily’s voice rises through the conversation.

River turns, rotating me with him. Lily is in the living room, and she’s turned on a lamp so soft light filters across her face. Dark circles reside under her eyes, her hair is in a messy bun, and she’s wearing a silk pajama set.

“Finn and I have talked about this,” she continues as she wanders toward us.

“And we don’t care if dad cuts us off financially.

Besides, he can’t even completely do that.

We have trust funds not created by him, and mom owns half of everything he does.

So him cutting us off just means we get half as much, which is still a lot. ”

“When did you guys talk about this?” River wonders, his fingers slipping up the back of my shirt.

“About a day after Maddy came into our lives,” she says, stopping on front of him.

“We talked about it a little bit, but we discussed more yesterday.” I squirm under her implication and her gaze slides to me.

“Don’t you dare get uncomfortable, bestie.

You two like each other so just own it. And we’ve found a way to get around this arranged marriage. You two were meant to be.”:

“Dad’s still going to make this complicated,” River presses while tracing a path along the small of my back with his fingertips. “You know that.”

“Let him try. If we all stick together, he can’t bring us down.” She folds her arms. “I just wish we could get a hold of mom. It’ll complicated this a bit without her here.”

“We should keep it quiet for now.” River presses me closer to him. “Until we can find her.”

“How are we even supposed to do that, though?” Lily wonders. “When the police can’t even find any clues as to where she could be.”

River trades a subtle glance with me the looks back at her. “Maddy and I are working on a few leads. But it may take a while.”

She eyes us dubiously. “You two have secrets.”

She’s right. We haven’t told anyone about The Royal Flame society, and we have no plans do so. Knowing about it seems dangerous so River and I made the decision together to keep tight lipped about what we found.

“Fine, keep your secrets for now,” she tells us through a yawn. “I’m going back to bed. Have fun making out.” She waves from over her shoulder as she wanders back to her room.

“She’s a pain in the ass,” River mutters the moment her bedroom door shuts. “But she does make a valid point. My father can’t cut them off entirely. Although, he’ll probably try.”

“You don’t have to break off the arranged marriage.

” I move back from his arms and sink down onto my bed.

“I’ve always known what this was,” I gesture between the two of us, “It was always meant to be a fake relationship, and you don’t need to throw your entire life, and Finn and Lily’s lives, just because I caught feelings. ”

His stormy eyes bore into me. “You caught feelings?”

Shit. I didn’t mean to say that aloud, but whatever.

“I think you know I did.” I tug at the hem of my shirt. “I’ve told you enough about my feelings for that to be pretty obvious. But I don’t want you to factor that into your decision.”

He reduces the space between us by taking a few steps, not stopping until he’s towering over me. If this had been any other guy, I’d probably panic. But I’ve always felt safe with River.

“You know I feel the say way,” he confesses, leaning in and placing his hands on the sides of me so I’m trapped between his arms. “And I’m going to factor that in.

In fact, I already have. I don’t want to marry Isla and I won’t.

I’m getting out of this. And I want you…

I want you so badly.” He kisses me than, his lips searing hot.

I kiss him back, gripping the bottom of his shirt, pulling him closer as he angles me back onto the bed.

This wasn’t what I had planned. I was supposed to be giving myself some space.

But I can’t seem to stop myself from wanting to be with him.

The need consumes me every time we’re close.

I can usually stop it, though, eventually.

But this time I feel like I’ve dove into water and never want to come up for air.

I lie back down on the bed, and he climbs over me, never breaking the kiss. His solid chest collides with mine as he breathes raggedly between kisses. He props an arm beside my head while his other hand finds my waist. He grips tightly as he presses against me, his body flush with mine.

The kiss goes on and on and on.

It’s beautifully endless.

For the moment anyway.

My hand travels along his back and the shudder that ripples through his body sends a burst of warmth through mine.

I latch my leg around his waist, nearly forgetting that I’m not wearing anything underneath the shirt I have on.

The movement causes the hem of his shirt to slip up and we end up skin to skin.

He groans, muttering incoherently before pushing back. “Are you still okay with this?” His palm is on my upper thigh, searing hot against my skin.

My worries attempt to push through the lustful haze fogging up my brain, but it’s too thick end up nodding and drawing him back to my lips.

As our mouths collide, his hand travels around to my ass.

He releases a throaty groan and kisses me more fiercely, our tongues tangling my heart an erratic mess of want inside my chest. I roll my hips against his, eliciting a moan from his lips.

I do the movement again, wanting more in ways my mind can barely comprehend.

“What do you want?” River whispers against my lips, his voice pleading to give me the answer to that.

I hesitate, unsure how to respond. This is the farthest I’ve ever gone with a guy and River kissed one girl before me. We’re both extremely inexperienced, but that doesn’t mean I want things to always remain that way.

Am I terrified? Yes.

Am I worried this will lead to heartache? Absolutely.

But I’ve never felt this way before and that means something. Good, even if it’s brief, can still be wonderful.

“Touch me,” I whisper, removing my hand from his back.

Then I place my hand on top of his and guide it where my body craves it to be.

“Jesus,” he breathes out, his stormy eyes intensely watching me.

It feels so breathlessly amazing. Another gasp from me then I push up to kiss him, needing as much of him as possible to touch me. We frantically kiss. A handful of breathes later, feel of his lips, the tangle of his tongue, the brush of his fingers, send me over the edge,

I see stars and for a moment, wish I never had to return to reality.

But ultimately, I do.

The first thing I see is River’s beautiful eyes staring at me, but his expression is cautious.

“Are you okay?” I ask, worried maybe I pushed him into this.

He nods, a lock of his hair falling across his forehead. “I’m perfect… Are you okay?”

I wet my lips with my tongue then nod. “I’m perfect too. That was… That was amazing. We should do it again, Like a lot.”

He chuckles, and relief washes over me. But then I feel how hard he is against me and note the tension in his body.

I pluck a kiss from his lips then trail my fingers down his chest.

“Maddy,” he whispers hoarsely.

“Do you want me to?” I ask, worried he’s protest mean he doesn’t.

He shakes his head, his throat muscles bobbing as he swallows hard. “No, that’s not it at all… I just… I just want to make sure you don’t think you have to.”

I smile amusedly. “When have I ever done anything just because I think I have to.”

He releases a choked laugh. “True.”

“Do you want me to touch you?” I ask, my fingers lingering just beneath the waistband of his shorts.

He bobs his head up and down. “God yes.” He lets out a broken groan as he lowers his head and presses his face against the side of my neck.

I have no clue what I’m doing.

But that doesn’t matter.

Not with him.

With River, I never feel out of place, which is weird, considering how different we are.

Minus the social class, though, I think he might be perfect for me.

So that’s what I focus on. And he clutches onto me like I’m his tether, holding onto him in this world of darkness that is bending around us, trying to rip us apart.

Will anything ever change?

God do I hope so.

A few minutes later, River and I are lying side by side on my bed. I’m still wearing the T-shirt I pulled on and I’m pretty certain I reek of sweat. River is still in his running clothes too and doesn’t seem that motivated to get up and change.

Finally, he rolls onto his side to look at me. “You still good with everything?”

“You mean with you giving me an orgasm?” I question bluntly. “Or me giving you one?”

He bites on his bottom lip, his cheeks slightly flushing. “Sometimes I feel like you get off on embarrassing me.”

I hold up my hand with my finger and thumb an inch apart. “Maybe just a bit.”

Shaking his head, he dips his lips and plucks a kiss from my mouth. “One day, beautiful girl, I’m going to pay you back.”

My stomach flutters so intensely that I have to press my lips together to stifle a gasp. He kisses me once more before sitting up and stretching his arms above his head.

“So… I was thinking, after class today, we could try to go talk to some people who know the women that are in this alleged society our mothers may have belong to. I think we can start with work colleagues and move from there.”

I sit up too and scoot the edge of the bed. “That’s a good idea. My last class today ends at two.”

“Mine ends at one, so how about we leave at two thirty?”

“Sounds good to me.”

He rises to his feet. “I’m going to go take a shower and get to class. Do you need anything from me?”

I shake my head. “I’m good. I just need to take a shower.”

“Try to take a cold one for a bit,” he instructs, leaning down to kiss me again. Then he starts to leave but then pauses. “Have you received any more text from that unknown caller?”

I shake my head. “The just send me that one a few days ago.”

He blows out a stressed breath. “I don’t like this. At all.”

“Agreed, but there’s nothing I can do about it except wait and see.”

“Maddy, they said: let the hunt begin .”

“I know, but nothing’s happened so I’m not going to freak yet. Besides, Grey’s bodyguard is keeping an eye on me, so it’s not like I’m unprotected if something does happen.”

“Have you heard from Grey with an update on anything?”

“He’s sent me a few texts, but he won’t contact me a lot, because he’s worried if someone notices, they’ll connect the dots on who I am.”

He shifts his weight. “Have you told him about the message you got?” When I hesitate, he sighs. “You have to tell him. How can the bodyguard protect if he doesn’t even know what he’s protecting you from.”

I pull my hair out of the ponytail. “I know I need to tell him, but I’m worried once I do, he’ll try to force me to stay on campus all the time or something.”

He hesitates. “Maybe you should. I mean… It might be dangerous for you to be wandering around outside of the gates of the academy.”

I cross my arms. “Are you trying to lock me up, gothic prince?”

He promptly shakes his head as he reduces the space between us. “No at all. I just want you safe.”

“I get that. But locking me up isn’t the right way to make me safe.”

“I know, but…” He lowers his forehead to mine. “I can’t stand the idea of anything happening to you.”

My heart melts a little. “Thank you for saying that, but I can handle my own. You should know that by now.”

“I do know that by now, but it doesn’t mean I’ll worry any less.” He breathes softly for a beat before stepping back. “I’ll see you after class.” With a brush of his fingers across my cheek, he turns and exits the room.

Sighing, I head to the bathroom. Right as I’m about to enter, my phone buzzes from on my nightstand. I pick it up and then tense.

Unknown: Have you figured out who I am yet? Because you’re running out of time. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. What happens when the clock stops? Don’t know yet? You might want to. In fact, your life depends on it.