Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
I didn’t wait for Kingston to respond. I pushed past him, going into my room and shutting the door.
I grabbed my backpack, aware I probably needed to pause and take a breath, think about what I was doing before I did anything rash, but unable to stop myself from moving.
When I rushed out of my room and tore down the hallway, Kingston called my name.
I kept going.
With everyone retired to Camelot Courtyard after the full day of activities, no one stopped me as I rushed out the front door. Racing down the steps and through the extended archway, I reached the driveway of Pendragon and ran.
I slowed to a jog once I felt far enough away, my lungs burning, and I scrambled to grab my phone out of my backpack. Needing to call Gia. Needing a voice of reason. Needing?—
But I couldn’t reach it without stopping and taking the damn thing off. And I refused to stop moving.
So, I just kept going.
Halfway down the driveway, the engine of Kingston’s bike rumbled behind me. I ignored it and pushed forward, quickening my pace as if outrunning him was even a possibility.
When he reached me, pulling up ahead of me and turning off the bike, he didn’t block my path. I didn’t know why my brain felt that was important, but it did.
And still, the only thing I wanted to do was keep going.
Run from whatever truth I was about to face.
I wasn’t ready.
“Quinn, please.” His voice was laced with pain and regret, and a note of panic I couldn’t understand. “This isn’t safe. Please . Stop for a second. Let me get Gia here for you, at the very least. But please, don’t keep walking alone.”
“I’m not alone,” I snapped at him, fury rising as high as my panic. “You’re here. Keeping secrets, as usual. What are you going to say next, I wonder?” I barked a laugh as if we were sharing a hilarious inside joke. “ You’ll see …”
“No,” he breathed, his voice pained. “No, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, just please stop putting yourself in danger by trying to leave alone. Please , Quinn.”
I swung around. “Okay, so tell me.”
As I stepped back toward him, fingers pointed at the ground, I started ticking off things I needed to know.
“Tell me the truth about my contract. Tell me why you needed me locked into The Quest. Why your father was suspicious, and why it was so damn important to throw him off? Tell me why I’m here, if he wants me gone so badly. Answer the one question I’ve been asking you. Why me , Kingston?”
My chest heaved as the list rushed out of me, even though it barely scratched the surface of everything I needed to know.
“But first…” My voice shook with quiet fury, eyes burning as he held my gaze. “Tell me what you did. To my face. Because I’m not stopping. I’m sure as hell not going back in there—I can’t be here —with a secret that feels this big between us.”
“Okay.” He nodded, his hands held out in front of him. “Can you…Will you hear me out until the end?”
And while he was in no position to make requests, I huffed and snapped at him, “Yes. If you can be honest. For once. ”
His jaw tightened, but he released a breath and started talking.
“The morning of your attack, my father came to Camelot Court. He’d been receiving complaints from the other parents about The Quest. About you, specifically, and the rumor going around that I’d picked you as the winner before The Quest had even begun. ”
I scoffed, my hands shaking as I threw them in the air. “I know that already. So, why did he care so much? Why do any of them give a shit about me?”
Kingston’s breath came out in rapid succession, his eyes jumping to the gate before holding steady on mine.
“Because power is a rare, much-sought-after commodity in our world. The winner of The Quest…the ties it offers to the D’Arthur line, at least, are supposed to be open to the Camelot Society members whose daughters have come of age.
Since the year prior, their sons had no chance of being named King. ”
“And that’s what? A Golden Ticket to something?”
“Yes. When they thought I’d picked you, they thought they might lose that chance.
And, for most of the families, another chance doesn’t come, ever.
So, there was outrage over it, the same way there was when Elaine’s family threatened to invoke the statute.
But with you, when I picked you, my father suspected I’d stepped out of line. Trying to circumvent him. Trying?—”
“And you couldn’t just tell him—lie and say it wasn’t true?”
“No.” His soft laugh held no humor. “I told you I pulled you into this without thinking. A Knight saw my finger twitch over your file when I’d set it aside, and once he did, things were set in motion that there was no way to undo.”
I drove my hands into my hair, half tempted to tug it out.
“Your file was stolen, and the rumor circulated. At that point, no one wanted to forget it. Not after another outsider had joined The Quest the year before. Not after I kept my distance. And even more so, not after the rumor mill believed history might repeat itself.”
“What history?”
“That the King’s most loyal, trusted Knight had fallen for the woman he’d chosen as Queen.”
“Oh.” I frowned as I recalled the legend. The infamous love triangle, an affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, that ended King Arthur’s reign. “Has anyone ever told them they all need to get a life?”
“That is life here, Quinn,” he admitted sadly.
“I convinced my father I lied to Landon about my interest in you to get him to join the Knights, because he’d been hesitating after the Maiden died the year prior.
I convinced him the rest had all been blown out of proportion by those seeking my father’s power through their own manipulation of The Quest. It worked, but only so much that he allowed me a chance to prove it to him.
Prove you meant nothing...and prove that Landon remained loyal to me. ”
“Landon saying no at the Knights’ Quorum.” I nodded. “But I know all that, too, Kingston.”
“Yes. But the problem was you had to remain in The Quest. Still possible at that point because of the Maiden Appeal, but if I had given you my vote to go on, then it would’ve negated the point of Landon saying no.
It wouldn’t have convinced my father that I wasn’t trying to get you to the end, because I would’ve been locking you into The Quest.”
I thought about that moment, when I’d asked Kingston if we were done at the Maiden Appeal and I could go pack my shit for the lake. “That’s why you looked to Merle for his approval…”
He swallowed and nodded again. “Merle is my father’s right-hand man.
He claims he’s loyal to me. My trusted advisor.
But at the end of the day, he always answers to my father.
And my father trusts him. As much as he can trust anybody.
So, I needed Merle to choose to keep you in The Quest unprompted.
Without any doubt that he’d do it, before Landon said no.
I needed him to believe it was the best course of action so deeply that he would vouch for the plan to let you continue to my father. Without any of it coming from me.”
I thought about the way Merle had acted when I went to him after my attack. How horrified he’d been over what happened on his watch. And how willingly he’d given over the documents I requested. All before wishing me a safe journey home. Expecting, or maybe hoping, for me to leave and not come back.
And then, after the Maiden Appeal, when I’d overheard them talking in Merle’s office, I thought about what he’d said about me in there. About having no choice but to side with me. All while Kingston voiced his displeasure over it.
But…even that made sense, too.
“And Merle did,” I said. “Once he thought I was a liability.”
“Exactly. My father loathes scandal. No matter where it comes from, and since your safety and well-being fell under Merle’s duties, tying your liability to him became paramount.”
The reality of what he’d done hit me, and I stepped away from him. Tears filled my eyes, my voice breaking as I forced myself to ask a question I didn’t want answered.
“So, you had me attacked?”
“ No , Quinn.” He took a step forward before freezing in place.
His eyes pleaded with me to see the truth, but then he dropped his head.
“But I am responsible for what happened to you. I called for help. From someone who knew the stakes and who could give you a reason to need your contract without doing any serious or lasting damage.”
“Like what? Drugging me?”
Swallowing deeply, he admitted, “It was an option, yes, but one I refused to take. The attack didn’t have to be much. All they had to do was put a hand on you, and you would’ve had a reason to go ask for your contract, which is what I thought you’d do after Landon said no. Never before.”
“So, what happened?” I swiped at the tears falling down my cheeks. “You asked for help using paper cups and strings, and the message got jumbled? You’re very intentional your words, Kingston. I find it hard to believe you weren’t clear.”
“I was explicitly clear. But I failed you by not considering what that opportunity in the wrong hands might bring up for the person presented with it.”
“Whoever you called—What? They picked Vivian?”
“No, I did.” His voice cracked over the admission.
“Her family is the one my father is most suspicious of, and you had a natural rivalry with her because Max Dread was interested in you from the minute you walked through the doors. At least, to those of us who had reason to see it, it was obvious. She seemed like the natural choice. She’d jump at the chance to scare you off , and I’d plant doubt in my father’s head about the Valencourts in one go. ”
“Oh, she jumped at the chance, alright.” I scoffed. “I mean, I could’ve told you that if Vivian was given permission to give me a little bitch slap, she would’ve run with it.”