Chapter Three
QUINN
T he next day, I met up with Gia after class. My meeting with my financial aid advisor had gone about as well as I’d expected it to go. I had to drop my summer classes, and until I paid off my overdue fees, I couldn’t register for fall semester, either.
I’d also gotten a call from my parents’ lawyer, a real leech of a guy who always called from unknown numbers, letting me know their life insurance policies were tied up in litigation.
He said something about the insurance company disputing the claim, which made no sense to me, but I didn’t give him long to explain it. As soon as he said it’d be a legal battle to free up the funds, I thanked him and hung up the phone.
Fighting over money I’d only get because my parents were dead wasn’t how I wanted to spend my time—no matter how badly I needed it.
Why would I when I had plenty of other options available? That time could be used to keep applying for jobs that wouldn’t hire me. And I could still try begging on the streets or finding a pimp to start my career as a high-priced escort.
I’d already donated the maximum amount of blood and plasma they’d let me donate. Maybe I could try selling a kidney on the black market.
To be honest, even that sounded like a better alternative than proving my parents died under normal circumstances to a bunch of sleazy insurance suits.
Sure, my logic may have been flawed.
But what could I say?
Grief was weird.
The more I went over it, the more I had to take a semester off, unless…
Gia walked up, glancing at me with wide eyes before jerking her chin over her shoulder. I followed her gaze to a cluster of students. Three guys stood out over the heads of the girls around them, and one of them I immediately recognized.
“That’s them.” She bounced on her feet when she got to my side. “It was kind of hard to get close to them during class with, you know, the gaggle of girls around them, but I overheard bits and pieces. Come on, let’s head back to the apartment and I’ll fill you in.”
She looped her arm through mine and dragged me away.
I glanced back over my shoulder for one more look at the guy from the pharmacy.
My real-life Knight in Shining Armor—or more accurately, Kingston D’Arthur—looked right at me. His eyes narrowed as we walked away before someone else stole his attention.
As Gia guided me toward the parking lot, I watched his interaction with the pretty blonde girl at his side. And I tried not to be pleased when he didn’t give her his full focus. Not very hard, but I tried.
I could be a petty bitch like that. So, sue me.
Just as we rounded the corner of the building and disappeared out of sight, I caught his final glance in my direction and tightened my grip on Gia’s arm. “Holy shit.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t wait until we get to the apartment. Tell me everything. My meeting with the advisor was a total bust, and unless you have black market connections I don’t know about, I think I need to apply.”
“You might change your mind when you hear what I found out.”
I stopped her in her tracks. “Tell me.”
“The girls who are picked? The Maidens—They’re, like, completely, irrevocably owned by their Knight for the first thirty days. He controls everything from their training for The Quest, their clothes, and…”
I groaned. “Let me guess. Their bodies?”
She nodded. “No exceptions. Most of what I overheard was a little crude. But I mean, I’m not going to lie, I wouldn’t exactly be opposed if I liked the guy. It’s just, you…”
“Your virgin best friend with limited interest in the opposite sex after my last relationship ended with my dad dying? Psh!” I swatted away the potential problems as if they weren’t giant red flags waving in my face. “Maybe a Round Table of dick is exactly what I need to get past it?”
Gia’s features tightened at my attempt to deflect. “Maybe. But you’d have to be really sure before you signed up.”
“Why’s that?”
“They made it sound like swearing a blood oath. One of the girls in class mentioned backing out, and Landon looked at her like she’d completely dishonored herself by even suggesting the idea.”
“Ew. What an asshole.”
“That’s what I’m saying. She just asked because there’s a rumor going around that a girl died last year. I mean, who wouldn’t be nervous if they heard that? And he looked at her like he wanted to ban her from Camelot Court for just thinking of backing out.”
I wrinkled my nose in disgust, then gnawed on my lower lip. “But it’s just a rumor?”
She nodded. “But my point is that apparently backing out comes with some form of repayment that ruins you in front of Camelot Court. So, maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
When I didn’t say anything, she started toward the car again. I went back and forth over the new information, trying to decide what was purely speculation and what I should take seriously. In the end, though, nothing she’d overheard changed my mind.
“Kingston recognized me across the lawn just now. After my run-in with him at the pharmacy, this might be my one shot to apply, get in, and get the money I need without delaying my program. I might get picked if he recognizes me on the application.”
She blinked at me in surprise.
I couldn’t blame her, but I also didn’t want to tell her that a tiny part of me didn’t hate the idea of spending thirty days belonging to Kingston D’Arthur.
Not after seeing him again.
Not after what he’d done to help me.
“I know it’s crazy. But what do I have to lose, right? My virginity? I want to get rid of that, anyway.”
“Um, did you not hear what I just told you? What about your life?”
I shot her an exasperated look as we reached my car. She bit her lip and nodded, her nostrils flaring as she let that part go.
“Thank you. Now. With that settled, we need wine.”
“Wine?”
“Yes, wine.” I pulled out my keys to unlock the door. “If I’m about to apply to belong to a Knight for the month, wine will be one hundred percent necessary. No matter how hot he is.”
Gia waved a hand in front of her to gesture for me to get going. “As you wish, Princess.”
I rolled my eyes at her reference to one of my favorite movies and started the car. “Don’t get any ideas, Gia. This is a means to an end. I use his White Knight complex to get in, and then I find a way for me to be my own damn hero and save myself. It’s not a fairytale love story.”
“Whatever you say, Buttercup.”