Kingston
PRESENT DAY
A scream pierced through the darkness, waking me from my dream. Remnants of the nightmare I never truly escaped faded in the dark.
My chest heaved. Just as his had in the dream, each breath pained me more than the last, and I stared up at the ceiling as his gaze lingered in my mind.
Dark amber eyes…the light inside them guttered before they faded from my vision.
I closed mine, wanting to hold on for just a moment longer. Wishing for a simpler time. And slowly accepting that I couldn’t hide forever.
Secrets came to light whether we wanted them to or not.
Soon, I would have to face mine.
My breathing quickened as my chest grew tight. Three days had passed since we came to Pendragon. Three days since my father’s threat. His congratulations for a future I’d never wanted, while I fought for a past that didn’t exist anymore.
I fought against what I still struggled to accept, even as reality sought to force it upon me. Even as I pulled strings with no choice but to let everything unfold.
It was a strange thing.
To want— need— something to happen while the eventuality of it actually occurring terrified— broke —something inside me at the same time.
The last piece of my heart still holding onto hope.
I breathed slowly through my nose.
In and out.
Every day the same until I could end it.
But what if I couldn’t?
What if our world—the depraved, dark underbelly of Mosaic Falls—spun madly on? What if Drake D’Arthur proved unstoppable, and the plans he’d set in motion long before I’d been born played out? What if sin and greed and power-hungry men would always rule, crushing anyone who dared to challenge them?
What if I failed?
My hands shook where they hovered above the bedspread. Anxiety wasn’t a feeling I typically experienced, but recently, it wouldn’t rest. What if, after what I’d done, I still failed?
There hadn’t been another way.
He’d threatened them. He’d wanted to meet her.
The idea that a D’Arthur heir might choose a commoner over our own had incensed him, sparking outrage among the Camelot Society members from the minute the rumor had spread. He would’ve seen her eliminated from The Quest.
And we would have lost.
Right then, all hope would’ve been lost.
I’d had to act. The time for second-guessing had long passed. And I’d done everything as carefully as possible. Calculated every move to throw him off.
But still, somehow, Drake D’Arthur remained one step ahead.
My final chance to stop him slipped further out of reach. My last hope to get back what he’d taken from me?—
I couldn’t fail.
I wouldn’t.
But I needed to figure out what wasn’t working. Something…A flaw existed in my plan. One I hadn’t seen, but it kept us from progressing. Adjusting my plan, again, had become necessary. Because of her.
Her words that day on the lawn replayed in my head.
She’d been right. My secrets had grown too heavy, and I couldn’t shoulder them on my own. I couldn’t keep them in the dark. Even though I always had.
It was time to consider a different path.
Maybe I didn’t have to fight alone…
But if my father got to her first, I’d lose everything. More so now than ever. Landon—he’d never forgive me for it, even if he knew the truth. Even if I explained to him what we’d been fighting against—what it had all been for—this whole time.
Now, losing her completely? It would destroy him.
Sometimes the world was that simple.
Sometimes shades of gray didn’t matter, and everything was black and white.
If anything happened to Quinn Everly, Landon would be lost in the dark.
And I wouldn’t be able to pull him out of it.
Not without the light inside her. That light, what little I’d once had of it, had been snuffed out of me a long time ago. Lost the minute Landon had begged me to let the pain stop.
Lost once I’d made a mistake that cost everything.
And lost along with my best friend. I’d lost?—
Another scream pierced the silence.
I sat up, heart pounding in my chest.
It hadn’t been a dream. But he couldn’t have?—
Every thought bled from my mind, leaving only one behind.
“ Quinn .”