Kingston
W aking up beside her felt like being caught in a dream.
She’d curled toward me, her legs intertwined with mine and her arms wrapped around my waist. Quiet breaths puffed out from between her soft, parted lips. Her hair flowed across the pillow like silk.
And if I could’ve, I would’ve stayed there forever.
A deep tug of recognition pulled at my heart, so sharp my breath caught. Because I recognized the feeling stirring in my chest, and I never thought I’d feel it again.
But as I lay there with her, it hit me.
For just a moment, I was free.
We were safe.
And it wasn’t a dream in that moment…
It was real.
I hadn’t felt it quite as strongly as I did now. But then, I’d let her in far more than I had thus far.
It was as if my body wanted to remind me of what my mind already knew.
I was right about her.
She would change everything at Camelot Court. Even my most loyal Knight. Even my best friend.
Even me.
Healing from the past didn’t feel as impossible as it once did. Finding a new way forward didn’t make me feel alone. And letting go…it didn’t hurt with her in my arms.
I had always been careful with my words. And I had the ones I wanted to give her perched on my tongue. Ready for when that moment came.
But first, she deserved the truth.
The whole truth.
My hands being tied by the rules of The Quest, by what she’d face if she won, and the interrogation to confirm she earned the victory on her own, it meant withholding so much I wanted to share.
So much we’d all wanted to share.
But to get to the end and lose it all…
We’d all known the risk because we’d witnessed it play out. We’d seen what happened to those who won through foul play.
Just like we’d watched what happened when someone got too close to winning while playing by the rules, simply because she hadn’t come from our world.
But Quinn had something that couldn’t be taught. Something that only came from a life of loss and pain. A hunger to survive on her own—to win on her own—that would be the missing piece.
It had to be.
Because the thought of them sinking their claws into her now? The thought of losing her?
I would burn Camelot Court to the ground. I’d tear the Camelot Society apart. And plunge the vial hiding in my bedroom wall straight into my father’s heart before I let that happen. It wouldn’t happen.
We wouldn’t fail.
I would not yield.
My heartbeat hammered in my chest, racing at the thought of them coming for her. I’d known the risk, but I hadn’t at the same time. I’d wanted to imagine she would be all I hoped, but I scarcely dared to believe it would be true.
And now that it was, I’d do whatever it took to get her to the end.
Even take myself off the board for good.
Her features scrunched as she began to wake, the slightly disgruntled expression calming the storm inside me. I leaned forward and kissed her wrinkled nose. And when her eyes flew open, the smile that followed cemented my path.
I told myself I’d make any sacrifice necessary to get to the end. Now, I’d die to keep her safe and happy. To protect and free the ones I loved. And with those two paths so entwined, finding the way forward wouldn’t be easy.
But I’d fight with everything I had left to do it right.
For her .