Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
I woke up in the middle of the night, gasping for breath. Trapped in a prison I’d never escape, the soulless whites of Silk’s eyes haunted my dreams. His final words before I left ringing in my ears as I woke up.
“Our secrets and lies are going to catch up with us.”
“Quinn?”
Kingston blinked away sleep as he sat up beside me in the bed. My body shook, but I didn’t know why. Something was nagging the back of my brain.
Secrets and lies…
Catching up with us.
But which ones?
We all hid the truth in some way, fighting quiet battles against monsters no one else could see. Was that what he’d meant? Or was it something else?
I’d learned yesterday that working together, bridging that divide, had been the only way to win in the end.
We almost failed again—I almost failed—because I hadn’t checked with my teammates before handing over the garter. And the last person I expected had saved my ass. The last person I would’ve asked for help.
Because she couldn’t be trusted.
She’d attacked me. She’d proven we were completely different and that was the truth.
That was the lie I’d told myself.
And it was catching up to me, as I learned I’d do whatever it took to survive. And discovered others here were fighting the same battle as well.
What other lies would catch up to us?
Some felt innocuous. Like the prison challenge and finding out Kingston had been watching the whole time, when we hadn’t known at first.
Others felt dangerous. Like the one between Max and Landon, and what the truth could lead to if it ever came out.
But I hadn’t considered the lies we told ourselves.
The secrets we kept, believing it was better that way.
“Last night, you said something…About how you thought you’d failed once. What did you mean?”
“When my father called to tell me about Elaine’s threat. I thought everything I’d done at that point had been for nothing.”
“How, though? We ended up at Pendragon together without Merle. We’ve been here getting through it.”
Kingston shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I had.
I’m not even sure I’m right, but…I keep thinking about what he said to me on the call.
About you and Landon. Even with everything I’d done to throw him off, he made it sound like he suspected that I was working against him.
Not just what I feel for you and still feel for Landon, too. ”
“What made you think that?”
“He said if he found out I was making moves against him, he’d take everything I loved and destroy it.”
I thought it over, trying to recall all the plans and moves Kingston had made. But I couldn’t see where he’d figure out that Kingston was working against him.
“Quinn, he had to have been bluffing. Maybe testing me to see how I reacted, because he didn’t come here right after to see for himself.” Kingston ran a hand through his hair. “And if he really knew, he would’ve been here.”
Bluffing.
What Merle said that day to Kingston in the office when I came to get the key to Pendragon. Merle…
My lie from the Maiden Appeal.
Landon’s voice ringing out inside the Round Tableau. No.
Kingston’s lies to his father.
“Quinn, talk to me.”
Secrets and lies…we held onto them to protect ourselves from being hurt again. To keep us from spiraling, because our worlds needed to fit into neat little boxes. Where everything was black and white, when the truth was that reality consisted only of shades of gray.
Nothing was that simple.
Other than the biggest lie we’d been telling ourselves.
That, at least for a moment, we were safe.
Because how else did we keep going when the threat was out there, waiting for its chance to destroy us?
“Kingston, do you think he’s watching us? Do you think?—”
“Pendragon is my home, Quinn. He doesn’t have access to install cameras.”
“But Kingston, if there are cameras—I know he shouldn’t have, but if he said that…”
The words wouldn’t come out, because how did I explain it to him? How did I deliver that kind of blow?
“Could he have also had people install them without your knowledge? Merle before he left? Or what about the guy who kicked me out of the room?”
“It’s my home.” Fury like I’d never seen roared to life in Kingston’s eyes, and he shook his head, refusing to believe it. “The one place I’m supposed to have that’s safe. He?—”
And I saw the truth.
“He knew that.” My voice trembled. “So, he’s waited this whole time, letting you think you were ahead...”
His fierce expression cracked as I held his gaze.
“But he took it from you, too. As soon as you believed it was yours to keep.”
Realization struck us both, and my heart broke as he jumped to his feet, reaching for his clothes and his phone.
As he pulled on his pants, the door to his room flew open.
I screamed.
Kingston stepped in front of me, standing between me and the intruder. His hands came up, and one reached for me on the bed behind him. Pinning me to his back, he held me there out of sight.
My heart thundered in my chest, as a cold, cruel laugh shattered the illusion of peace we’d wrapped around ourselves.
“Well, well, well…I finally get to meet The King’s Maiden .”
I tightened my grip on Kingston’s arm.
While he faced down the monster who’d finally shown his face in the dark.
“Our very own Guinevere …foolish enough to think she could simply waltz in and destroy Camelot Court.”
The bedroom door swung on its hinges and slammed shut, trapping us inside the room.
“Let’s have a little chat about that, shall we?”