19. River

River

A nger is burning underneath my flesh as I dial Finn’s number. But before I can even hit send , the front door opens to the dorm. I pause, waiting to see who it is, and a second later, Finn walks in. Tension is rippling from his shoulders, and his hair is sticking up all over the place, as if he’s been raking his fingers through the strands.

“Tell me you didn’t know,” I demand as I stride toward him, clutching my phone in my hand.

He jolts, his gaze snapping to mine. He takes one look at my face and swallows hard. “You found out. Look, I was planning on telling you?—”

I grab the front of his shirt and slam him against the wall. “How could you be a part of that disgusting shit? I thought you were better than that? I thought you liked Maddy.”

His wide eyes search mine and, weirdly, he doesn’t fight back. “I do like her. She’s one of the nicest women I’ve ever met. And real.”

“Then why would you let them do that to her?” I shake my head as I shove him into the wall. “Were you a part of it? Did you help drug her and drag her into the woods?”

The color from his face drains. “Wait—what?”

I step back, eyeing him closely. “You didn’t know that part?”

“What part?” Panic is flickering across his face. “What did they do to her?”

My chest tightens as I recall how I found Maddy, the condition she was in, how broken she looked, covered in mud, so pale, and dripping wet. But that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst was seeing how frail she looked. Maddy, the toughest girl I’ve ever met was broken.

“I don’t know all of the specifics yet, because she’s too much in shock to talk about it,” I say while dragging my hand across my face. “But from what I understand, the society jumped her, drugged her, and dragged her into the woods. Luckily, I gave her a watch with a GPS tracker, so I was able to find her location. But it was raining and …” I trail off, swallowing the lump welling in my throat as the image of Maddy in those woods pierces my thoughts again.

“Is she okay?” Finn asks worriedly while pushing away from the wall. Panic is masking his face. “Where is she?”

“She’s in my room. She’s covered in mud, but it didn’t seem like she had any other injuries—well, psychically.” I glance at my shut bedroom door, the urge to go to her yanking at every part of my body. But I promised her I’d save Noah. “I need you to keep an eye on her while I go take care of something on north side.” I’m vague on purpose, not wanting to get into this yet until I hear what Noah has to say.

I expect Finn to question why I’m leaving, but strangely, he doesn’t.

“I need to tell you something,” he says instead, scratching the back of his neck. “It’s something I just found out—about the Everfords.”

That captures my full attention. “What did you find out?”

“It’s not much, but I was digging around in these old archives in the library, and I found this story about a family that was hunted because of some old bet or something.” He takes a deep breath. “And eventually, I found out the name of that family was the Everfords.”

I gape at him, barely able to form words. “ Hunted ?”

He gives an uneven nod. “It happened decades ago, and I’m not sure by who or any of the other specifics, but I feel like there has to be some truth to it if it’s in the archives. Plus, if the bloodline is extinct, that would explain it.”

“What the hell?” I whisper, as shock whips through me. Not only because of what he said, but because … “That necklace Maddy had is real—I got it confirmed earlier today.”

We trade a look.

“Why are you going to northside?” he finally inquires, gliding his hand across the front of his shirt to smooth out the creases. When I hesitate, he adds, “Is this about Maddy and Drew?”

I flex my hands as I nod. “Partly.”

He eyes me over. “I’m going with you.”

I shake my head. “No, you need to keep an eye on Maddy. She shouldn’t be left alone right now.”

“Then we’ll call Lily to come over and keep an eye on her,” he says. When I open my mouth to protest, he stresses, “I’m not about to let you go to northside by yourself to deal with drug dealers—lords—whatever this Drew dude is. You’re a royal, and that puts you at risk.”

He has a point. But…

“Do you really want to bring Lily into this?” I question while crossing my arms.

“No, but at the end of the day, she might be brought into it anyway since she’s our sister. Plus, we know Eli has had his eye on her.” He gives a short pause. “Leaving her in the dark might make things worse.”

“True,” I mumble.

I consider this, but not for long, knowing I don’t have much time. “Fine, call Lily and have her come over.”

I just hope I’m not making a mistake with what I’m about to do. But if I can pull this off and save Noah and pay off Drew, then at least Maddy can finally cut ties with northside.

But what if Finn is on to something with what he discovered today? What if Maddy is an Everford? If so, then she’s in more danger than she even realizes.

What I do know, though, is that I’ll protect her no matter what.

That thought is frightening because of what it means about my feelings for her.

But I can’t worry about that yet. Eventually, though, my demising future will have to be dealt with, one way or another.