Page 9 of A Memory in the Flame

I blink at him. “Then why—”

“You didn’t show up for work. I called the boardinghouse and found out you were here.”

Someone at Ada’s knows I’m here? How?My eyes narrow, which makes my head throb, so I squeeze my eyes shut. Bad choice. Visions of last night come rushing back, and I have to swallow the bile that comes with them.

“You’re a liar. You were here last night,” I tell Noah, remembering the way he held my hair. “You took care of me.”

Instead of responding, Noah pulls the lid off the tray. Steam billows off a pile of scrambled eggs and seasoned potatoes. My stomach grumbles in response. There’s no hiding it—the sound practically echoes in the suite. “Once you have some food in your stomach, you should visit the feeder suite,” Noah adds as he straightens.

I pull the tray closer, then snatch up the fork to stab a potato. “Did you eat?”

Noah walks over to the corner of the room and drops into a wingback chair. “No. I don’t typically eat in the middle of the day, considering I’m usually asleep.”

“You don’t have to stay,” I tell him, my cheeks heating as I remember what he witnessed last night. What he heard. “I appreciate what you did for me, but you don’t need to babysit anymore.”

“It’s not a big deal. I had to make sure my partner didn’t get herself killed.”

“Is that why you carried me out of Crimson last night?”

He tips his head to the side in a wordless challenge. “It was either that or the bouncer kick you out. Trust me, you got the good end of the deal. She was gunning for you.”

“Right,” I say around a mouthful of eggs. “Well, thanks.”

Noah pulls out a white bottle out of his pocket and tosses it in my direction. It lands on the foot of the bed. “Want to tell me why you got so trashed?”

I swallow and grab the bottle, turning it over in my hand. I pop the top of the Ibuprofen and shake out a couple pills, then take a long drink of water to swallow them. “It’s been an interesting few days,” is all I say.

Just as I set the bottle on the nightstand, I see a message appear on my phone. It’s from an unknown number.Forrest is in, the text reads.Nothing else.

“You’ve got me on the edge of my seat,” Noah remarks. His eyes shift to my cell phone. “I put my number in that while you were sleeping, by the way. Saved your number to mine while I was at it. You’re welcome.”

My grip tightens on the phone. “Great. As for getting trashed, well, you already know I was kicked out of the boardinghouse.”

Noah nods. “What I don’t know iswhy.”

Biting my lip, I finally tell him the truth. “I sort of attacked Nina. We had a… disagreement. One that ended with a hole in the wall and blood on the floor. I left, called a cab, and came here.”

I set the lid back on the empty tray and push it away. “Anyway, after I got here, someone paid me a visit. I guess you could say I didn’t handle it very well.”

“Who knew you were here?” Noah asks, arching a dark brow.

I flop back into the mountain of pillows and stare at the ceiling. “My not-father.”

“The old man himself, huh? What did he want?”

Moving to sit cross-legged on the bed, I blow out a breath. “Alexander wants my help. You can’t tell anyone, but someone in the king’s inner circle is dealing vampire venom. He wants me to investigate. What? Why are you staring at me?”

The bounty hunter scoffs. “He wantsyou? Don’t glare at me like that, halfling, I’m not being an ass this time. He has an entire army at his disposal, which begs the question. Why little Charlotte Travesty?”

I lick my lips, tasting the remnants of salt from the potatoes. “Because he wants to keep it quiet, I guess. A royal investigation would be too public, and the last thing he wants is for this to become mainstream media.”

Noah snorts. “NowthatI believe. Of course he doesn’t want us finding out this happened under his nose.”

“Keep your voice down. He doesn’t want increased public use of vampire venom, Noah.”

“Right. You expect me to believe he’s doing this because he cares about our wellbeing.”

“Look, I need to figure this out, and—”

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