Landon
LANDON
I woke up the next morning to a different world. Relief crashed through me, because even when I’d fallen asleep last night, a part of me wondered if it had all been a dream.
But she was still there, curled against me.
The second change brought confusion.
I’d been so deeply asleep that I completely slept through it, but Max Dread lay on the other side of Quinn, his hand thrown over her hip…
And on top of mine.
I eased backward so it would fall to Quinn, where he’d no doubt meant for it to be. We’d gotten past our shit two nights ago to help her, but we were nowhere near cuddle buddies.
That would never happen.
I still hated the guy.
But she didn’t, and that was all that mattered.
In her sleep, she rolled over. Her eyes still closed, her perfect face scrunched up adorably as she tried to get comfortable. Max Dread ran at about a thousand degrees overnight.
I pulled her to me, kissing her forehead and smoothing out the wrinkles in her disgruntled, half-woken face.
“No Maiden Luncheon for me, Buns. I’m sick. Kingston, you’ll see.” She growled in her sleep. “Master Max.”
Chuckling at her sleep talk, I whispered in her ear, “You’re burning up, alright. Dreaming of three men.”
I smiled at her as she got her bearings, glancing over her shoulder at Max, unable to hide the soft smile that touched her lips at the sight of him behind her. When she rolled back over to me, her eyes held a hint of reservation.
“Is this okay? After last night, I…It didn’t feel right not having you both here. But I know we, you know, and I’m not sure how we do this. You’re still okay with it, right?”
Her words jumbled out of her in her sleepy state, but I quickly put her at ease. Feeling more at ease myself if she was.
“Yes.” I kissed her. “Yes, you’re mine. It doesn’t change anything for me.”
“Really?”
“I mean, are we completely sold on it being Max? You don’t want to get to know any of the other Knights instead?”
She smacked my chest, mostly playfully.
“Alright, fine. The broody asshole stays.” I laughed. “What my Lady wants, my Lady gets.”
She shot me a look. “Alright, easy there. Or you’ll make me think you want to be addressed as My Lord. And that is not happening. I’m already trying to make sure Master Max doesn’t become a thing.”
I arched an eyebrow at her.
Although, she had to admit My Lord did have a nice ring to it. Master Max was alright, if that was what she wanted. She could put them on stickers. Or make us t-shirts and force us to wear them on group dates. I didn’t give a fuck.
Cupping her face in my hands, I kissed her. “Quinn Everly, I told you I loved you last night. You can call me whatever you want, as long as I get to call you mine.”
Her eyes softened and fell closed for just a second as she drew in a deep breath, and the feeling in my chest expanded.
Then, she pinned me with her shrewd gaze. “Even Buns?”
I groaned, feigning exasperation and a shudder because I’d let her call me Honey Bunny at this point. “Yes, even Buns.”
“Now you’re talking.” She grinned broadly, looping her arms around my neck and breathing easily.
The unraveling inside me finally settled.
Even though it didn’t stop completely.
Last night had been everything. Falling asleep with her in my arms, knowing she was still mine. I hadn’t lost her. It had been everything.
But there was more I had to tell her. So much more I needed her to know, and I didn’t want to wait. My dreams last night hadn’t changed. They were still messing with my head.
She’d asked for no more secrets.
I needed her to know the truth.
“I am yours, Quinn. And we don’t have to talk about all this now, but I need you to know…The things I don’t remember about my past? They’re starting to come back to me. Mostly in bits and pieces or in my dreams, and I can’t make sense of them. I just?—”
I frowned, warring with how to say what I wanted, but ultimately, I just needed to tell her.
“I’m his, too.”
Her head tilted, but whatever I’d been expecting the response to be, even if I couldn’t explain what or why that was, she only said, “I know.”
When I breathed a sigh of relief, she cupped my cheek. “He’s yours, too, . When I talked to him yesterday, he was so scared of losing you.”
Nodding, I swallowed past the dryness in my throat. “It’s always been me and Kingston. He’s been my best friend since we were kids, and I think…What he’s trying to do? I think it has to do with me. And I don’t know if I can help him, but I can’t leave him alone, either. We were all each other had for our whole lives. I’ve always been by his side.”
She nodded, her eyelids heavy as she fought to stay awake. “Maybe you should talk to him about what you’re remembering. Maybe it would help both of you?”
“Yeah, I will. I’ll talk to him.” I leaned forward and kissed her, pulling her into my chest.
With that truth out, the discord settled more. And when Quinn fell back to sleep, I waited until she turned, snuggling into Max’s side for warmth, and slid out of bed.
Max wrapped his arm around her. And when he opened his eyes and found me standing there, a protective growl rumbled in his throat, one hand fisting her sleep shirt and pulling her closer.
I wanted to begrudge him that moment with her, but her lips twitched with a smile, and I focused on that.
I nodded to him. “You’ve got her?”
He stared at me for a long moment, his eyes narrowing, but eventually, he nodded back. “Yeah, Golden Boy, I got her.”
Before I could respond, an image flashed in my mind. I couldn’t figure out what it was, and I shook my head to clear it.
“I’m his, too.”
My words echoed in the dark.
“What?” Max asked.
I shook my head, opening the door as quietly as I could, and I left the room.
For weeks it had been happening, my dreams messing with my head.
I dreamt of her.
I dreamt of lemon trees.
A grumpy cat, fur soft as I rubbed its belly. Hands holding each other in the dark. And blue-gray eyes in the sunlight, shining with relief over what I’d done.
Filling with tears as everything faded away.
What had I done?
I walked across the hall. Kingston’s door was slightly open, but I didn’t see him inside. With no idea what time it was, I went downstairs. He stayed up late some nights in his office, and I assumed I’d find him there, going over plans for the cabins in the second phase.
But I didn’t expect to find him the way I did.
He sat alone by the fireplace, his back to the door and his shirt discarded on the floor behind him. With one hand pressed over his chest, he stared into the flames without blinking as he held his phone in his free hand.
“Did you hear me, Kingston?”
Tension rippled through his back like a tremor in the earth as he released a shuddering breath.
“Yes, father.”
He pressed his hand into the spot where his wound remained unhealed, wincing slightly but refusing to leave it alone. I almost stepped inside to pull his hand away.
But his father’s voice stopped me in my tracks.
“If her claim is verified, and we can’t find another who contradicts it, the number of problems that will create amongst the other Camelot Society members—I should come there right now and beat you within an inch of your life, you stupid boy.”
I stepped forward as Kingston clenched his jaw, biting out a question while his heel dug into his chest. “What do they want?”
Drake D’Arthur huffed a laugh. “Ah, yes. You’re not so ignorant, after all, are you?” He clicked his tongue on the end of the line, drawing out the suspense to toy with Kingston. “I taught you well, and you know everything is negotiable as long as you hold something of value in your hand.”
“Yes, father. I’ve learned so much.” Kingston’s eyes pressed shut, as if he hadn’t meant to let that slip.
Drake D’Arthur hummed. “If that’s the path I decide to take, it would seem congratulations are in order, my boy.”
“Congratulations?” Kingston asked. “What do you mean?”
“They intend to invoke the statute on Ultimate Female Virtue. The one this Quinn Everly declared to the entire Camelot Court, because I’d been foolish enough to believe you’d take care of her.”
Kingston hung his head.
The venom in his father’s tone sank into my flesh as the reality of what it meant—what I’d done—hit me.
“If their daughter wins The Quest, she’ll be crowned Queen and take all that comes with it. So, I offered the snake a diamond, instead, to keep this error of yours from rattling the cages of the other families.”
Kingston’s eyes widened.
“My offer buys time to find a way out of this mess, but you’ll be expected to clean it up.” Drake D’Arthur’s laugh made my blood run cold. “And if I suspect you’ve been making moves against me, son…”
Kingston looked up, somehow sensing my presence and meeting my eyes across the room, as his father’s voice and cruel laugh filled it.
“That boy . The girl. The problems you brought to my doorstep. If you step out of line, I will take everything you love and destroy it.”