Page 93 of The Prince of Broken Crowns

I pause. “What? Why?”

“Because it’s fancy, and I’m a grungy north-sider.” She shrugs, like what she said was no big deal.

It is.

“You’re not grungy. You’re beautiful.” The words slip out of my mouth on their own. I quickly clear my throat then reach for the door handle.

I expect a smartass remark from her, yet she strangely falls into silence. The squirm of her body lets me know she’s uncomfortable. Part of me wants to retract the statement, but it’s true. Maddy is so damn gorgeous it’s insane.

As I open the door for her, she moves out of the way, but our arms brush and warmth spreads through me in the weirdest fucking way. I find myself leaning closer and smelling her hair like a damn psycho.

She smells fucking wonderful, like sugar and vanilla.

When she tilts her head to look at me, I’m so close we nearly end up kissing.

She doesn’t immediately move back, making me question what the hell is going on in her head. Then she steps back and looks puzzled, her head angled to the side.

“You okay?” she asks worriedly.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I was just smelling your hair. That’s all.

I’m unsure if she can tell what I was doing, but either way, she lets it go.

“So, gothic prince is a gentleman, huh?” she teases as she steps toward the open door.

“It’s a royal thing. Good manners are force-fed to us from the day we’re born.” I grip the top of the door, preparing to close it.

She smiles cheekily at me as she ducks her head and slides into the leather seat. “With a silver spoon, I’m guessing.”

I decide to play along with her, testing the waters of humor for a bit. “It was made of gold.”

She lets out this laugh that makes me smile.

“So, gothic prince can joke, too,” she teases as she swings her legs into the car.

“He can on occasion.”

“And apparently talk about himself in the third person.”

I shake my head but smile. Damn, this girl has made me smile more than anyone has in my entire life.

I shut the door and round the car, throwing a glance back at Eli. I expect him to be gone or engulfed in the conversation he’s having with his friends, but he’s staring right at us.

Worry stirs inside me that he is somehow aware I’m about to tell Maddy about the society targeting her. But how could he? The only person who knows about that besides me is Finn. And he wouldn’t tell him.

At least I want to believe he wouldn’t. Finn can make poor choices sometimes, though.

No, I have to believe he wouldn’t, because if the society found out I was going to tell Maddy, that’d be bad.

Really fucking bad.

Maddison

The inside of River’s car smells like his cologne. I wasn’t aware of how much I liked his cologne until now. I keep breathing it in, and it makes me feel lighter.

“So … I looked up a few taco places we can go to,” I tell River as he steers the car down the main road that weaves through the heart of the glittering city sparkling against the sky. Traffic is thick, so we’re at a stop-and-go point. River has the heat on, and music is softly playing from the stereo. I feel calm around him, and it’s strange. I rarely feel calm around anyone.

“I have a place picked out.” He has one hand resting on the steering wheel and the other on the shifter. “I searched around and found one at a park not too far away from the lake. It has high ratings.” He flicks me a glance. “If that’s okay with you.”

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