Landon
THREE NIGHTS EARLIER
K ingston looked up, sensing my presence and meeting my eyes, as his father’s voice filled the room.
“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.”
“I understand, father.”
“When you leave what you love exposed, son, someone will always come for it.”
Kingston’s eyes widened, jumping between me and the door. He mouthed her name, a frightened question in his eyes. I quickly shook my head, mouthing Max Dread in return.
His rigid posture slackened, shoulders dropping, and he refocused on his father’s voice.
My eyes narrowed on his relief while the urge to go upstairs and confirm she was safe with him turned my body toward the door. I was moving away from him before I consciously decided to leave the room.
Kingston cleared his throat. He held out his hand, asking me to wait, before his eyes returned to the fireplace.
I stared at his outstretched hand, palm out.
Sharp pain lanced my temple.
Father, please. I can explain ? —
“I’m through with your explanations, boy.”
Drake D’Arthur seethed through the phone, pulling me back to the present.
“When the time comes, I’ll see for myself that the past remains buried, and that any plans you’ve made against me come to an end. Don’t forget your place, Kingston . Don’t forget that all you have—all you are—is because of me . Or you’ll be no son of mine.”
Kingston’s grip tightened on the phone, his father’s threat both a temptation and a death sentence. Even if he wanted his father to disown him, take the responsibility of Camelot Court away, he would never be free once he did.
That realization struck me.
I didn’t know how I knew it, but I did.
Resignation hung heavy in his response. “Yes, father.”
The line went dead, and I stepped fully into the room, crossing to where he sat by the fireplace in three quick strides.
He rubbed at the wound on his chest, the skin raw and weeping, but he didn’t flinch at the pain.
He hadn’t flinched.
I shook my head to clear it as Kingston let me guide his hand away, his voice shaky. “How much did you hear?”
“Enough. Another Maiden invoking the statute. What he offered the family. His threat.”
Kingston cursed under his breath, his jaw tightening as he fixed his gaze across the room. His blue-gray eyes glinted in the firelight, sparkling like the jeweled prize he’d become in his father’s twisted game.
“Every time I think I’m a step ahead of him, he…”
Grief-stricken eyes met mine. Emotions warred beneath the surface. Regret I couldn’t understand.
It weighed down his next words.
“Why are you here, Landon?”
I blinked at him, trying to process the question.
He’d never asked me that before. Never questioned my presence at his side. Until I’d made him doubt it.
Until I chose her.
And left him to wonder if I’d still be with him. By his side.
“The last time we talked…”
His hand shook, and he clenched it into a fist.
But I swallowed my hesitation. “I told you I don’t want to live in the dark anymore.”
His breathing faltered.
“You said I’ve been in this…half-life. Playing a role instead of truly living.”
He nodded, the movement stiff like it had taken effort. Head bowed, he wouldn’t face me.
He barely looked at me.
And I didn’t understand.
“I told you I love her.”
Standing abruptly, Kingston stepped away from me. “I can’t do this.”
“What?”
He shook his head, his hand trembling as he brushed it down the front of his shirt. “I can’t do this right now, Landon. I can’t?—”
Jerking away from my outstretched hand, he rushed to the doorway. But I followed him.
I always followed him.
“Kingston, I don’t understand. I’m trying to tell you?—”
“ Landon, please .” His voice strained, tight with emotion threatening to escape. “That call—I can’t hear this right now. Please .”
He put up a hand in front of him, palm out.
Again, my mind jolted with a memory. Him, keeping me at bay. Like I was an animal—wild and dangerous—that needed to be steadied.
But calm radiated through my chest.
Kingston—he was the one who needed to be steadied.
“I’m—”
“Landon, stop it!” He whirled away from me, and my eyes widened. “You don’t get it. You can’t understand it. But I can’t do this right now. Please. Give me a few days to process what my father said. We can talk about everything then, alright? I promise.”
Tension radiated down the muscle in his back. Long and lean. Familiar after years spent a step behind him. So, I moved by his side, my hand brushing the crest of his shoulder.
But he spun away from me, moving toward the door, as if he couldn’t bear to be touched. Couldn’t bear my touch.
Crimson palms flashed in front of my eyes, but I swallowed past the pain in my head. “If I don’t get it, then tell me.”
“I can’t,” he croaked. “I told you. I can’t.”
My frustration mounted, pressing down on my chest like a steel-toed boot and digging into my flesh. “My memories are coming back, Kingston.”
He froze, his entire body rigid.
“Pretty soon you won’t have a choice, either.”
Venom laced through my words, and I hated it.
But this line Kingston walked between secrets and the truth had nearly cost us everything. And now, with the new information about his father and his request for time…
If he wanted me to lie to her, I wouldn’t do it.
I was his, too. But I wouldn’t lose her for it.
Spinning slowly to face me, his eyes swirled with fear and relief before tightening with pain. “What do you remember?”
His distress heightened mine, but I pushed it away and shrugged.
“Bits and pieces right now, but my dreams…They’re becoming more vivid.
I thought—I came to tell you I thought I was dreaming of her.
Grumpy cats and lemon trees. I thought it was about Quinn, mixing with nonsense. But Nana was there this time. She?—”
My fingers twitched over soft fur soothing me in the dark.
“I remember Oscar.”
Kingston’s eyes widened, glistening in the dim light. He processed the information quietly, pressing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of his nose. The way he did when the pressure became too much.
“Is that what you want?” he finally asked. “To remember?”
He asked as if I had a choice. As if the memories weren’t coming whether I wanted them to or not. “I don’t know. Every time they come, the pain in my head?—”
“It hurts?”
When I nodded, he did the same, the movement shaky and undignified. Two words I’d never used to describe Kingston before. I tracked his slow steps back inside the room.
His eyes jumped from the bookshelf to his desk and back to me. “Aside from what happened with Quinn, has anything changed since the memories started coming back?”
I thought about it.
The week I’d spent believing she’d never forgive me had nearly unraveled me. After being with her—sharing one perfect moment with her—I couldn’t stand what I’d done.
I’d barely eaten or slept, but it wasn’t that.
“I stopped running.”
His throat bobbed as he nodded. “So, you start again. Maybe…add a swim.”
“I haven’t swam since last year, Kingston.”
“It might help keep the memories at bay.” His eyes got that faraway look, as if lost in the past. “You always had so much energy…If it’s pent up, maybe it’s letting things escape that you’d prefer to keep contained.”
I tilted my head. “You think I should fight them, then? You don’t think I should remember?”
His mouth parted but nothing came out. The words lodged in his throat before he returned his gaze to mine.
A deep breath shored up his courage to speak. “It’s not up to me, Landon.”
He said it as if he didn’t have a choice. When, in reality, Kingston decided every move we made. He always had.
And yet, on this, he refused to choose.
I shook my head. “All these secrets, Kingston…these lies between us, between everyone, what good are they?”
“People hide things for a lot of reasons, Landon.”
A part of me suspected why he hid my truth, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask him. He was right, as always.
Sometimes we hid to protect what we cared about, and we lied to ourselves that it was better that way. That it would all be fine. But eventually, things always came to light.
My mind jumped to Quinn. To the secret I kept.
I owed him the truth, but that secret didn’t belong to just me. And I needed to talk to her before I shared it.
So, I didn’t say anything.
Kingston released a heavy breath and stepped toward his desk.
“For now, let’s just focus on keeping her safe.
I convinced my father I’m digging into the attacks, and she’s here under our protection until we remove the threat and liability over her head.
As long as he believes that I’m doing it for the good of the Camelot Society, we have this momentary reprieve before phase two of The Quest begins. And it will begin. It must.”
He straightened and ran a hand down his clothes.
“I’ll tell Quinn about the statute, but I need…Please just give me a few days to?—”
“I won’t lie to her.”
Instead of facing me, he bowed his head over the desk. “We won’t. I just want to figure out what exactly I have to tell her. If my grandfather finds a way out of this, we won’t have to tell her it’s over unless it really is.”
I nodded. “A few days. That’s it.”
“I promise.”
“But she needs to know before everyone gets here. Before it comes out. A secret is always worse when the truth doesn’t come from the person hiding it, Kingston.”
“She will.” He finally turned to look at me. “I swear, Landon.”
“Okay.”
I walked forward without thinking and extended my hand.
Surprise colored his features, his brow rising.
But he recovered and gripped my arm. “Thank you.”
“I’m yours, too.”
My words came freely, and his grip tightened on my arm.
But as quickly as the pressure came, it vanished. Kingston released me and stepped back, turning back toward his desk. “Good night, mate.”
I surveyed his posture as I replayed his goodbye, wondering why he’d called me that. When it had started and why it felt…familiar. But I wasn’t ready for the truth yet, so I turned to leave the room.
“Good night, Kingston.”