Page 8 of The Royal Flame
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.”
