Page 4 of The Royal Flame (The Royal Academy #3)

She nods, releasing a shaky exhale. “I just hope I don’t have a panic attack.”

A few minutes later, we find out the answer as we enter the other elevator.

Doing as I suggested, Maddy curls up against me, closes her eyes, and breathes in and out.

I trace a path up and down her back, whispering encouraging words.

She manages to make the ride without completely panicking, but she does bolt off of it so swiftly that she trips and bangs her hip against a table in the entryway.

“Ow,” she gripes as she rubs her hip. “That was so spazzstic.”

“It was pretty smooth,” I tease her as I exit the elevator.

Finn saunters into the room then. “Hey,” he says to me, then his gaze lands on Maddy. “Did you get hurt?”

“Sort of.” She rubs her hip a few more times. “I tripped into the table.”

“Smooth,” he jokes, eliciting a nasty look from her.

He smiles, but his lips immediately tug downward as if remembering tonight's events. “What the heck happened, Mads?”

“A lot, actually.” She scratches at her arm and shifts her weight. “Those guys that took me… They were my dad’s bodyguards.”

“Wait… I thought your dad was in jail?” I say as the elevators close behind us.

“Well, the person I believed was my father for most of my life is in jail.” His lip curls with bitterness. “But apparently, every single person I know is a liar. And I don’t even have all the details yet, so who the hell knows how bad things will get.”

Confusion swirls around me. “How do you know all of this?”

“Do you remember that guy Grey from the grocery store who knew my Aunt Ellie?” she asks, and I nod.

“Well, his bodyguards were the ones that took me tonight. After I got into the car, they dropped me off at this house that belongs to Grey. He told me he believed I was his daughter and wanted me to take a DNA test. And the results came back as a match. That’s not even the craziest part, though,” she says through a yawn while stretching her arms above her head.

Her back arches as she does, and it causes my attention to drift to her chest. I hurry and yank my attention elsewhere. Now isn’t the time to be checking her out.

“Let’s go sit down and talk,” I suggest as I place my hand on the small of Maddy’s back. “You look like you’re about to doze off.”

She rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands. “I feel so exhausted. It’s been a long night.”

I urge her toward Finn, who spins around and walks out of the room.

We settle in the living room, where the surrounding windows show the glittering lights of the towering buildings that make up the Royal City. Maddy sits beside me, and Finn sits in the chair across from us.

“It’s quiet,” I state. “Is Lily and Noah not here?”

That worries me. If Lily is out somewhere and the press releases the news about my mother before she returns home, more than likely she’ll hear about it. We need to be the ones to tell her.

“Lily isn’t here. I texted her to see where she is, but she hasn’t responded.” Finn restlessly bounces his knee up and down. “I haven’t checked to see if Noah is here.”

Maddy’s gaze travels from Finn to me. “Is something going on?”

I glance at Finn and then back at Maddy. “Yeah, but finish telling us about what happened to you tonight. Then we’ll get into the shit show that was our night. Maybe Lily will be home by then.”

I take out my phone and text Noah, asking where he is.

“So,” Maddy begins. “On top of Grey Devenport being my father, apparently my aunt Ellie is my mother.”

My brows rise. “Holy shit.”

Finn lets out a “Woah” while shaking his head in surprise.

“My thoughts exactly.” She presses her lips together.

“And according to Grey.” She blows out an exhale as she fiddles with the leather band on her wrist. “My aunt Ellie is secretly an Everford, which is why she gave me that necklace. I guess when he met her, they started dating in private, and my Aunt Ellie told him she was an Everford. Her mother had an affair with someone, and Ellie was a product of that affair, so she’s only half-sisters with my mom—well, the woman I believed to be my mother until tonight.

” Her jaw is tight as she shakes her head.

“Ellie and Grey are the only two people that are aware of this. And I mean, I kind of get why Ellie didn’t want me to know, but it still sucks.

And now she’s gone missing, and I’m worried it's because of this.”

“I could try to track her down,” Noah says, startling all of us.

He’s standing in the doorway and is wearing joggers and grey a T-shirt. His is bloodshot eyes make me question if he’s stoned.

I’m not thrilled he overheard our conversation. He’s been pretty clueless as to what’s been going on…. Unless Maddy told him…

Would she? Noah did tell Maddy he was selling drugs. Maybe she told him about her possible family lineage. A while ago, I wouldn’t have worried about that. But I don’t know this version of Noah that keeps secrets and does things like sell drugs.

“How could you do that?” Maddy wonders, rotating her body and causing her knees to press against my legs. “I have no idea where she is.”

He looks directly at her as he speaks. “There’re ways of tracking people down, Maddy. Technology footprints are hard to completely erase.”

“That’s a good point.” She wavers, crinkling her freckled nose in the most adorable way. “I’m not sure why she’s gone MIA. Maybe she just doesn’t want to see me anymore.”

“Doubtful. It probably was to protect you,” Finn replies, stretching his legs out front of him.

“She probably doesn’t want anyone to know you exist, and the only connection to that is her being here.

Well, and now I guess Grey is a connection to that.

But Ellie probably doesn’t know he knows any of this. ”

“Yeah, maybe. It still sucks that the person who told me is someone I don’t know.” She sighs. “If Grey hadn’t seen me at the grocery store, I wouldn’t have discovered any of this.:

“That’s not entirely true.” I trade a look with Finn.

Maddy notices, her gaze shifting between us. “What’s going on?”

I wanted to wait to hear from Lily before I got into that, but she hasn’t responded yet.

“My mom sent me some odd messages tonight,” I say, reclining back on the sofa with my arm draped across the back, right behind Maddy.

Noah takes a seat as I begin explaining tonight’s events. Maddy visibly pales as I do, and by the time I’m done, she looks as if she’s about to puke.

“River, I’m so sorry this is happening,” she whispers, taking my hand in hers.

I latch onto it. “It’s okay. Like I said, there’s a chance she took off on her own. She’s done it before.”

“It’s true,” Finn chimes as he props his foot onto his knee. “And while she never flat-out said it, I’ve always wondered if our mom was trying to get away from our dad when she took off.”

“I still don’t get why she’d go through this much of an extreme, though.” My gaze involuntary skates to Noah. “When our dad left her for another woman.”

Noah, who’s been quiet this entire time, starts tapping his foot against the floor. Him and I might not be friends right now, but we used to be, which means I know him well enough to assume…

“What do you know? " I ask, slanting forward and resting my arm on my knees.

He glances at Maddy, and I do as well.

“Do you know something?” I ask, struggling not to be hurt.

Her and Noah are sort of friends, but I’d feel a bit betrayed if Maddy knew something about my father and Noah’s mother’s affair and never told me.

“I don’t know any details,” Maddy stresses. “But I already told you that I know Noah has stuff he hasn’t told you.”

The three of us look back at Noah.

“I can’t tell you,” Noah mumbles, grinding his teeth. “I want to, but it’ll put my mother and father in danger.”

That wasn’t what I was expecting.

“How?” Finn inquires with a crease etched between his brows.

Noah shrugs while staring at the wall. “I already said I can’t tell you.”

I feel frustrated. “Noah, I understand that you want to protect your parents, but if you know something that will help us find my mother, you have to tell us.”

Noah shakes his head from side to side with his lips smashed together.

Silence stretches between the four of us.

I feel like I’m going to go mad.

“I can’t tell you everything,” he finally says, his chest rising and falling with his heavy breath intakes.

“But if you want answers, you should be talking to your father. He has a lot of secrets. And power. And the ability to make someone disappear.” He pushes to his feet.

“I have some stuff to take care of.” He rushes out of the room, taking long strides that are veering toward jogging.

Finn wags his finger toward the doorway Noah bolted out of. “He knows something.”

“That’s obvious.” I frown. “But I don’t think he’s keeping it from us just because he wants to. He’s scared.”

“I know.” Finn and I trade a look.

“You remember that one time when we were like thirteen, and he didn’t tell me about that stupid rumor that I had sex with the mascot?

” Finn asks me. “Because he was worried how much it’d hurt me.

So, instead, he tried to get the guys that started the rumor to stop it.

And he ended up getting his ass kicked.”

“Did you have sex with the mascot?” Maddy wonders curiously.

Finn gives her a hardy-har look. “No. And the rumor wasn’t that I had sex with the person who played the mascot. It was that I had sex with the costume.”

Maddy pulls an apologetic look. “Oh, my bad. Sorry.”

“Yeah, way to judge, Maddison.” Finn throws her a shit-eating smirk, to which Maddy responds with an exaggerated eye roll.

I almost smile, but it feels wrong with all the horribleness currently surrounding us.

Silence skips by for a beat but is abruptly interrupted by the ringing of Maddy’s phone.