Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
KAI
To his credit, King doesn’t immediately lunge for me and try to wring my neck. Guess murdering me in the middle of a church is too much even for him.
He just stares. Blinks. Gives his head a little shake like he’s not sure he heard me right.
“Why are you telling me this?” he says at last.
Because I have to? I think. Because those are the rules.
But no. Even I know that’s bullshit.
“Because you deserve the truth,” I say. I throw him a little smile. “If you’re going to have to beat the shit out of me every time I fuck up, I can at least give you a courtesy notice.”
Kingston sinks down into a pew and puts his head in his hands.
That is…not what I was expecting.
I jog over to him and crouch at the end of the pew so I can stare up at him.
“King?”
Kingston doesn’t lift his head.
“You okay?”
He still doesn’t move.
“This is all such a fucking mess,” he murmurs.
Well, fuck me. Kingston Pendragon’s dropping F bombs. I glance at the window to make sure the sky isn’t literally falling, then look back at King.
“This…all?” I ask. Because I’m starting to think that there’s…more than just me involved here.
Slowly, he lifts his head, pressing his hands to his mouth, eyes staring a thousand miles into the distance.
“Lanz and Callahan,” he says from behind his fingers.
“What about ‘em?”
“I saw them.” He shuts his eyes briefly. “Like, I saw them…together.”
Together. Together.
Oh shit. Oh shit.
The realization literally knocks me on my ass, and I’m helpless against the massive grin that overtakes my face.
Because, sorry not sorry, this is fucking hilarious.
My mood goes from guilty and resigned to lowkey delirious in the span of two heartbeats.
“So…wait. Wait. Wait wait wait.” I spring from the ground to standing, hands on my hips. “You’re telling me we’re all getting our dicks wet except you?”
Kingston lowers his hands, nonplussed. “I wouldn’t put it that way.”
“Yeah, of course you wouldn’t. But damn.” I run a hand through my hair, smiling even wider. “You know, I felt like those two were sparring together an awful lot.”
Kingston closes his eyes in a long, long blink. “This isn’t funny, Kai.”
I snort. “Sorry, bro, but it’s extremely funny.” In a dark humor kind of way, admittedly. Because this means we’re probably in deeper shit than any of us realized. “Whew.” I pace back and forth in a little circle, taking it all in.
Meanwhile, Kingston’s frowning. He looks up at me. “You…Gwenna?”
I stop in my tracks. “Yes. Welcome to five minutes ago. We, ah…” I swallow, scratch the back of my neck, abruptly reconsider.
“You know what? I shouldn’t kiss and tell.
Forgive me, okay?” I spin to the altar, do a quick spectacles-testicles-wallet-watch, and duck my head in penance. “But suffice to say it was…”
Her skin in my teeth.
Her breath in my ear.
Her little moans when she—
I clench a fist. Fuck me, I am not going to get hard in a church.
“Uh.” I cough-swallow to interrupt my runaway train of thought. “Lustful,” I finish.”
Kingston’s back to staring into space. “She…wanted to, I presume?” he says, mechanically.
I slacken a little. “Yes,” I mutter. “Jesus, yes. Do you really think so little of me?”
Kingston does a micro-wince. “I’m only checking.”
I swallow. He is…protective of her. In his own weird way. If he had any social skills whatsoever, he could probably have gotten to her first.
Then again, I guess he did. That night in Luther’s office.
That’s kind of what kicked a lot of this mess off.
Boy, oh boy. I…don’t envy Kingston right now.
“So…” I stuff my hands in my jacket pockets, take a few exaggerated steps one way, then the other, letting the soles of my boots ring out in the empty hollow of the chapel. “What do we do now?”
Kingston slowly shakes his head, eyes front. Says nothing.
I scoff. “Come on. You have to have a plan. That’s your job.”
Kingston responds by putting his face back in his hands.
Ah, shit.
“Hey, hey.” I slide into the pew in front of him and lean over so I’m facing him. “King. Kingston.” I snap my fingers a few times. “Stay with me.”
“I’m here.” Kingston mutters from behind his hands. “I’m just…” He lowers them. Looks up at me.
“I don’t know what to do, Kai.”
At that, my mouth actually drops open a little. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Kingston say those words, in that order.
“Yeah,” I say at last. “It’s a real pickle. We’re all kinda fucked, eh?” I smirk. “Except you, I guess.”
Kingston just glares at me. Then he looks at the ground.
“We were getting so close,” he says softly. “And now this is going to…tear us apart.”
“I don’t…” I catch my lip ring in my teeth, considering. Call it post-nut clarity—because I absolutely had to rub one out as soon as I was off duty—call it my feminine intuition, call it what-the-fuck-ever, but something’s tugging at my brain. “I don’t think it is.”
Kingston darts his eyes back up. “What?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t think it is.”
Kingston frowns.
“Okay, well, obviously you can’t rat anyone out,” I rush on. “That’s going to have to be table stakes. But do you really want to write a formal letter to a bunch of old French monks telling them that all your boys are getting laid but you’re not?”
“That’s not what I…” Kingston works his jaw. “No.”
“Right. So, yeah, the way I see it…” I pause. I’m kinda building the airplane as I’m flying with this line of reasoning, but there’s a distant point I think I might actually be able to make. I squint. “The way I see it, the vows are supposed to keep us focused on the quest, right?”
“And keep us worthy,” Kingston says. “Pure.”
I wave a hand. “Okay, well, that ship has sailed.” I smooth the sides of my hair, regrouping. “Point being, it’s all in service of finding the grail. But we did. Ish. It’s found—she’s found.” I lift a shoulder. “So did we really mess anything up?”
Kingston exhales hard. “This is a pretty willful misinterpretation of the vows,” he says.
“Okay, well, Lanz and Cal apparently beat me to the ‘alternative reading’ game,” I retort. “And kudos to them for finding a loophole, by the way. Honestly kind of mad I didn’t think of it.”
Kingston’s eyes widen. “You’re gay?”
“What? No.” I shrug. “Just…any port in a storm, I guess. Not the point.” I steeple my fingers in front of my face. “What I’m trying to say is that the ends justify the means, I guess. Besides, who’s going to know?”
“God,” Kingston deadpans.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake.” I roll my eyes. “Literally. God knows people fuck, Kingston. He gave us all the parts to do it. You think you came about from Immaculate Conception or something?”
Kingston doesn’t say anything to that. And—fair.
Alluding to his mom, even tangentially, is kind of a dick move.
I blow out a breath and wait.
Kingston stares and stares and stares. Then blinks. “What if one of us breaks rank?”
“And narcs to the Consistory, you mean?”
He nods. I shake my head.
“Then you rig up some kind of mutually-assured destruction, I guess. An eye for an eye.”
Kingston’s brows knit. “Like how?”
“You’re the smart one.” I say, getting to my feet. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” I take a few steps towards the door, then look back. “You’re not going to tell on me,” I say slowly. “Right?”
“I…no.” My foster brother shakes his head. “Just…don’t mess with her feelings, Kai.”
A surprise rush of relief comes over me. That’s it? That’s all he asks of me?
I nod. “Wouldn’t fucking dream of it.”
And I mean it.