Page 144 of Rags to Royals

I look down.

It’s from Mariah.

Leah figured it out. She knows who you really are.

Oh…fuck.

How?I type back. Not that it really matters.

Mariah:The podcast. They’re talking about your grandfather.

That damned podcast.

But, of course, they’re talking about the king’s heart attack.

I rub my forehead.Are you okay?

Mariah:I’m in the principal’s office.

I scowl at my phone.

She sends a second text.I’m kind of in trouble, actually.

“We have to go back,” I tell Henry.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s Mariah. She’s in trouble.”

Henry curses under his breath, looks in the rearview mirror and executes a U-turn without asking me a single question.

He accompanies me back into the school fifteen minutes later. I stride into Amanda’s office without knocking.

“What happened?”

“Mr. Brady,” Amanda greets me coolly. “Or is it Your Highness?”

“Cian is fine,” I tell her.

I look at the other two people in the office. Mariah is watching me, Leah isstaringat me.

“I shouldn’t be surprised you figured it out. You’re one of my brightest students,” I tell her. Then I really take the two girls in. “Is thatice?” I ask.

Leah is holding a lumpy plastic bag against her lip. She pulls it away to say, “She hit me.” Her lip is swollen and has clearly been bleeding.

“I hit yourphoneand it hit you in the mouth.” Mariah huffs out a frustrated breath. She’s holding a bag of ice against her eye.

“And what the hell happened toyou?” I demand.

“Her phone hit me in the eye.”

“What is going on, and how can we speed up whatever it is?” Henry asks.

Leah gingerly feels over her bottom lip with her tongue, winces, and replaces the ice pack.

Mariah just slumps further into her chair. “Leah hasn’t told anyone else,” Mariah says. “I overreacted. She turned her phone toward me in class and mouthed, “is this Professor Brady?” I freaked out and tried to cover her phone up before anyone else could see it.”

Leah looks surprised. “Well, of course I wouldn’t tell. He could go to jail.”

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