Page 161 of The Prince of Broken Crowns

I immediately shake my head. “I’m good. I can go stay with my mom now that Drew is no longer looking for me.”

The edges of his lips dip downward. “I know you don’t like handouts—I get that—but Finn, Lily, and I are going to stay in that condo we went to that day we were hiding from Drew. My parents won’t be there, and there’s a ton of room. I promise it’s okay, and it doesn’t cost us anything extra for you to stay there.”

“River,” I start to protest, but he places a finger against my lips.

“Lily would love to have you there. I know she’s been wanting to spend more time with you, so just look at it as a sleepover.”

I snort a laugh. “I’ve never actually had one of those before.”

“See? This could be your first one.”

He makes a convincing argument, and even more so when he adds, “And we can also dig more into this Everford thing. The Royal City Library is one of the biggest in the world, so if we look in the right area and we’re careful, we might be able to find some useful information.”

I breathe in deeply, mostly to steady myself. “I still need to go to northside and talk to my mom. Plus, I might need to get some of my stuff … Are they going to let us go back in to get any of our belongings?”

“Probably not,” he replies. “It’s probably too much of a liability to allow students back in until they’ve had the place inspected and the security breach has been taken care of.”

“But what the heck am I supposed to do? I don’t even have any other clothes. This is crazy.” I bang my head against the headrest, not hard, but it still worries River.

“Hey, easy with your head.” He slips his hand between my head and the headrest.

I angle my head toward him. “You’re one to talk. You’ve been running around with a hurt side.”

“I know. And I really need to rest. So, how about we drive to my place, do that, and then we’ll take care of everything else when we feel up to it.”

“My life doesn’t really work that way, River.”

“It can for the day,” he assures me as he rotates forward in the car.

I straighten. “You want to go right now?”

He pushes the button that starts up the engine. “Yeah, why not? It’s not like we need to stick around when we already know what’s going to happen. Besides, getting a bit of a break from the academy might help us relax.”

He’s right, but I’m not even sure if I know how to relax. I guess I’m about to find out.

“All right, but as soon as we wake up, I need to go to northside and get some answers.” Because, at the end of the day, despite how many other problems I need to solve, if I don’t figure out what’s going on with me first, I might not be around to deal with the other issues.

I fall asleep on the way to River’s family’s condo. I tried not to, but the soft lull of the music playing from the stereo was so calming that the instant I started to relax, I fell asleep.

River wakes me up by brushing his fingers along my hairline in a gentle way that’s unfamiliar.

“We’re here,” he tells me as my eyelashes flutter open.

He’s staring at me while leaning over the console, his eyes filled with caution, his lips right there. I have this overwhelming compulsion to kiss him but manage to resist as I sit up and yawn.

“Holy crap, I passed out, didn’t I?” I yawn and stretch my hands above my head.

He watches me intently. “You did. But that’s good. The doctor said to rest.”

“I know, but I’m not used to sleeping this much.” I push the door open as he does the same.

We climb out and step into the mostly empty parking garage that’s sealed off from the outside world. We barely speak as we get onto the elevator. As it begins to rise upward, my stomach spins with anxiety at the view of our climb being visible out the window. I concentrate on my breathing, trying not to have a panic attack.

River suddenly wraps his arms around me and pulls me against him until my face is pressed against his chest. “Just breathe.” He skims his hand up and down my spine.

God, the fact that he remembers I have anxiety over heights makes me feel like I ate a bunch of cotton candy and am riding a sugar high. It makes me take a deep breath, mostly to breathe in his scent. I can play it off as regaining my breathing, but the reality is that I like the smell of him.

Ding.

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