The King’s Maiden (Camelot Court #1)

Chapter Fifteen

QUINN

“ D on’t hold your breath,” I muttered. “Or do. Cocky bastard.”

Shaking off Max’s parting remarks, I refocused. As much as I’d wanted to give Kingston a piece of my mind for kissing and dismissing me without a word, running for my life had given me perspective. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. Lick my wounds in peace, without the looming threat of three hot dicks hanging over my head.

Rounding the corner of the building, I groaned.

The mere thought of the hot dickheads had manifested another, and the next person I laid eyes on was Landon Scott. He’d found my things at the gate. And he was in the process of dragging them inside the building.

“Hey!” I called out, jogging up to him. “That’s my stuff.”

“And you’re my Maiden,” he responded without turning his head, as if the sound of my voice triggered him to be a jerk. “You’re also late.”

Eying me as I hurried up the steps after him, he didn’t stop moving. He was an efficient bastard—I’d give him that —managing to survey my disheveled appearance with an unimpressed sweep of his gaze while dragging my stuff behind him.

Something about my face even provoked a frown, but he pushed through the main doors with his back, going inside without another word.

I chased after him, catching the main doors before they could slam in my face. They swung closed behind me and a boom echoed through the giant foyer.

“Holy shit,” I breathed. “That’s just like the table at Winchester.”

The main house opened to a large foyer with high ceilings and doors leading to different areas on my left and right. Straight ahead, a staircase made of dark wood led up to the second floor, and hanging on the wall above it was a replica of the Round Table. It had twelve green and twelve white rays radiating out from the red circle in the center, with an image of King Arthur at the head of the table.

Landon assessed me from the corner of his eye. “You read up on the Knights this week?”

I nodded, my eyes still fixed on the replica. From where we stood, I couldn’t make out the names scribed above each seat, but I wondered if their version had the original names or the corresponding families in their society. A society that was becoming more real and less like a game of make-believe the longer I spent around its members.

“That’s good.”

“It is?” I cocked my head toward him. “Why? Will that help me in The Quest?”

He shrugged. “It depends. It comes down to you more than anything. I’ve heard of Maidens winning in the past because they found a clue using the old lore, but plenty have won without ever picking up a book.”

“Found a clue?”

“You’ll see when you get to the last challenge.”

When—not if.

I liked that, but I didn’t point it out to him.

Even after a week away—time I’d hoped would give him the opportunity to reflect on what he’d done—he still acted standoffish and way too serious. No use giving him a reason to sour this civil moment between us by pointing out he’d said something nice.

I shouldn’t have worried about it.

He found an opportunity on his own.

“But you’re already at a disadvantage, so you’ll need all the help you can get.” He wrinkled his nose at my clothes. “You know, it reflects on me if you show up late, looking like you just went a few rounds in the dirt.”

My eyes rolled, but since I’d already verbally sparred with one hot dickhead this morning, I decided to take a different approach.

“Jealous?” I couldn’t help myself. “Could’ve been you if you hadn’t been a raging dick the other night.”

“Hardly,” he said, ignoring my last comment on his reaction altogether and quickening his pace so we fell out of step. “I have a job to do, Maiden. Duty is something I happen to take seriously.”

My snicker earned me a glare.

“What now?”

“You said you take duty seriously.” I chuckled just to be a brat. “Doodie. That’s all I heard.”

His eyes narrowed. “What are you, five?”

I threw up my shoulders, smiling broadly as I jogged to keep up with him. “Maybe.”

He groaned at my reply, shaking his head. And my plans to ignore him fully went out the window.

Getting under his skin sounded so much better.

It was so intriguing, watching his irritation rise while he acted indifferent. I wanted to crack his composed exterior.

Maybe there’d be someone human underneath it.

Thoughts of how I’d achieve this distracted me as we approached the large, central staircase leading to the floors above. So much so, I almost forgot that I’d been turned away at the gate. But when Landon’s critical gaze flicked over me for the third time, it came rushing back.

“Hey! Why didn’t they let me in at the gate? They said I’d been dismissed.” My arm swung out and swatted his chest. “Was that y—Landon!”

I screeched his name as he grabbed my arm, spinning me into the wall to his left.

He stepped in front of me, clamping a hand over my mouth. His arm braced over my chest, pinning me to the brick.

For a second, I worried it had only taken one swat to unravel him, but I was also getting a little tired of being tossed around like a rag doll. So, despite the potential for consequences, I did the only thing I could think to do.

I stomped on his foot.

He grunted but stifled the sound behind pursed lips. His eyes bore into mine, willing me to be silent.

Instead, I licked his palm, enjoying far too much the appalled look on his face when I did it.

He brought a finger to his lips and then to his ears. Footsteps echoed throughout the room. And my heart leapt stupidly in my chest at the sound of Kingston’s voice.

“Where is she?”

A voice I couldn’t place answered him. “I’m not sure, Kingston. Perhaps she got intimidated by everything and left?”

“She wouldn’t leave,” Kingston argued in my defense, and I couldn’t ignore the relief that rushed through me.

He hadn’t been behind my less-than-warm welcome.

“Perhaps she wasn’t what you thought, son?”

The voice clicked in my brain—the one from the intercom at the gate, who had specifically told me I’d been dismissed. My brow furrowed. I didn’t know who the hell that voice belonged to or what they were playing at, but I wasn’t going to stand there while they lied.

I tried to tell Landon what happened, but he muffled the sound of my voice with his hand, the look in his eyes clearly ordering me to wait.

Huffing and resisting the urge to lick his palm again, I decided to chill. Only because Landon seemed hell bent on staying hidden, and I wanted to know what was going on more than I wanted to get a rise out of him.

Momentarily, of course.

Kingston’s voice rang out sharply in the open hall. “Search the grounds. Now. I want her found and brought directly to me.”

“As you wish.”

My lip curled at those words delivered by whoever that lying, duplicitous, totally shady jerk was. I had a good feeling his search would come up empty. And if Landon hadn’t already found me, the place I’d be going if that guy had wouldn’t be to Kingston.

Maybe my concern over ending up on a milk carton hadn’t been so off base.

Footsteps retreated down the hall, and once the front doors opened and slammed closed, Landon whistled. The sound rang in my ears, followed by quick footsteps approaching. Landon’s eyes never left my face, but he slowly removed his hand as Kingston walked up to us.

“Quinn!” Kingston rushed forward. “There you are! Are you alright?”

Landon stepped back to let Kingston take his place, clasping his hands behind his back and dropping his eyes to the ground. My eyebrows rose, but I couldn’t dwell on it. Kingston took my face in his hands and pulled my gaze to his.

“I’m fine,” I assured him, and the relief on his face made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, which I reminded myself was ridiculous as I told my lady bits to cool it. “But that guy is lying. He turned me away at the gate. And he sent Brutus after me.”

Landon’s head popped up. “That’s why you look like that?” Blurting the question as though he couldn’t help himself, he raised his hands in defense when he caught my answering glare. “I didn’t know that happened. I was just asking.”

“Maybe next time you can ask before you insult me and imply I went a few rounds in the dirt. Hmm?”

Kingston’s head snapped to Landon, who dropped his back down. “I thought you agreed to be nice.”

“I didn’t say she looked bad after doing it.”

My jaw dropped. “Oh, please! Don’t even pretend you said it like a compliment.”

Landon shrugged.

I growled my frustration and turned back to Kingston. “Do you see what I’m dealing with here?”

Kingston couldn’t hide his amusement or lack of any genuine sympathy for my plight. “I trust you can handle him. Now, back to what happened earlier. You said Merle turned you away at the gate?”

“Yes. I heard his voice on the intercom. It’s the same one I heard in the Round Tableau talking to Max after he unlocked?—”

“You talked to Max in the Round Tableau?”

I glanced sharply at Landon, disliking the accusation in his eyes. “Yes, oh gallant Knight of mine. He freed me after you left me locked in the room.” I refocused on Kingston. “Max just let me out. He was a dick, as usual. And when his dad came, he said something about Max having news for him about a development before they went to his room…And I swear it was the same voice on the intercom and just now on the stairs.”

Kingston searched my face before sharing a look with Landon. “Merle’s been with me for the last hour, Quinn. It couldn’t have been him.”

“Oh.” I wracked my brain, trying to recall the voice I’d heard that night. “I thought it was the same voice.”

Kingston took hold of my hands and squeezed them. “It’s okay. We’ll figure out who it was and make sure they’re off campus as soon as possible.”

He looked sharply at Landon, who nodded once, flicking his eyes to mine for a millisecond before he retrained them on the ground. Maybe it was just the way all the Knights acted around Kingston, but it was weird to see the dynamics of their roles here play out. Deference to someone only a year older than him made me think they took their whole King-and-his-loyal-Knights routine seriously.

That, or Landon knew Kingston kissed me.

But I didn’t know what to do with that, and the thought of addressing it exhausted me. The entire day had been fucking exhausting, and it wasn’t even noon.

My body sagged against the wall. “I need a shower. And a nap. Maybe not even in that order.”

Kingston chuckled softly and released his hold on my face before turning to Landon again. “See to it that your Maiden gets what she needs.”

At Landon’s nod, Kingston turned back to me.

“I’m glad you’re here and safe. I left something for you upstairs. An apology for not reaching out this past week, and because I won’t be around as much during the first challenge. But Landon will take care of you. He’ll fill you in on what you missed during the introduction, too. After you rest.”

I nodded, touched by the unexpected gesture. He took my hand, toying with a charm on my bracelet before he placed my palm in Landon’s. A current of electricity rolled through me when our skin connected, fading slightly as Kingston pulled his hand away.

But something remained between Landon and me—a connection flowing differently, but present all the same.

And I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

Kingston stared at us both with a look I couldn’t comprehend in his eyes. No jealousy. No fear. Just peace.

It was confusing as fuck.

With one last smile at me and nod to Landon, he took off down the hall. And then, it was just the two of us, standing together where he’d hidden us away behind the stairs.

I looked up at Landon as he returned to my side. Right where Kingston promised he’d be.

“Come on,” he said quietly. “Let’s get you to bed.”

I told the tiny part of my brain that said yes, sir to lock it up. It wasn’t even noon, for crying out loud.