Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Our first day of training thrust each Maiden into her schedule for the coming week. With ten back-to-back sessions each day, I hit the ground running.
Literally.
When Izzy and I got dressed the next morning, I put on my special outfit from Gia. I ignored the quirk of Izzy’s brow as she glimpsed the sheer nude material, and we both pretended a knowing smirk wasn’t on her face once I snapped the too-tight pieces in place over my ass and boobs.
The things one did for a surly brute, I tell ya.
My session with Max wasn’t until the end of the day.
To satisfy my impatience, I hunted for meaning on the four-by-six scrap of paper listing my sessions in the order I’d train with each Knight. “This place loves their S words, huh?”
She picked up her schedule, and we compared. “I noticed that, too. No idea why.”
Of the ten sessions, three started with the letter E, and the rest began with S. Izzy’s first session was Escape with Tristan. Mine was Endurance with Landon, and I quelled the anxiety brewing in my gut with some good ol’ fashioned deflection.
“I hope Endurance is code for you know what.”
With an exaggerated wink, I tightened my ponytail, then pulled on athletic wear to cover my risqué workout attire.
Izzy laughed. “We all have that lesson with Landon, not just you, so I’m pretty sure you don’t want it to mean that.”
A soft growl rumbled in my throat, but I quickly cleared it. “You’re right. No code words for things on the list, please.”
Dressed and ready, we stepped onto Camelot Courtyard before splitting off. I met up with Landon on the back lawn, and he confirmed Endurance training wasn’t code for sex.
I didn’t even have to ask.
He just knew.
“Let’s go, horndog.”
When he winked at me, his broad smile did not lessen my arousal, especially after the prior night’s tryst.
“Please.” I smirked as I stretched my quads. “You love it.”
He ran his heated gaze over my body, a smile curving his lips since he knew exactly what I had hidden underneath my track pants and T-shirt. Even beneath the lingerie.
But before his dark amber gaze lured either of us into full distraction, he turned and took off at a run.
I sighed, accepting my fate included cardio, and chased after him while admiring the view.
He guided me through a loop of the grounds, mostly around the lake, but veered sharply into the woods near a cluster of lemon trees. His attempt to keep my spirits high for the run were noted, but it wasn’t necessary.
On the list of all my favorite things to do in the morning, running a mile, even at my slower, more out of breath pace, didn’t make the cut.
But I’d joined The Quest to win it.
So, I focused on my breathing and did my best.
Landon didn’t say much through most of the run, but he patted my butt when it was over as he called me his good girl, and that was good enough for me.
After coming down from my lackluster runner’s high, I had Strategy training with Peter Valencourt.
As the twin of my archnemesis, Vivian, and the Knight paired with Elaine for the first challenge, I wanted Strategy to be code for tell me all their secrets.
It wasn’t.
Peter’s training sessions took place in the sitting room with the Maiden photos. When I arrived, he sat at a table with a chessboard in front of him. I groaned, unable to help myself.
I was not a fan of chess.
Peter’s eyebrows rose. “I take it you’ve played before.”
“My dad tried to teach me.” I shrugged as I sat across from him. “There wasn’t much in life my dad and I disagreed on, but chess was one of our sticking points.”
Peter chuckled but didn’t comment, resuming his task of setting up the pieces on the board.
I got lost in memories of my dad.
No matter how many times he tried to talk me into learning—convinced if I got the hang of it, I’d love it—I always sided with my mom on the game.
It was so…boring.
People sat around for hours just waiting for someone to do something. What was the point? I’d never been able to understand the appeal for him.
And I’d tried to get it. Repeatedly.
Because the idea of not sharing one of my dad’s interests, of hating a game he loved, when he was the ever-flowing source of all my favorite pastimes?
I had not accepted that lightly.
But after several attempts—and embarrassingly quick losses—I finally gave up, declaring myself hopeless and a stain on the Everly family name.
“Best I can do is name the pieces.” I stared at the castle-looking one and the ones shaped like a dick. “I always confuse these two, but the King, Queen, Knights, and pawns? Easy.”
“By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be a master.”
“Bishops!” I blurted, before I blushed at the shock on his face. “Sorry. I remembered. But don’t worry, if you ask me how to move them, I’ve got nothing.”
Peter laughed. “We’ll get to that. For today, let’s start small.”
He held up a familiar piece.
“Pawn.” I nodded, far too pleased with myself for naming the easiest piece to remember.
When I said as much, Peter smiled. “Yes, but don’t let that fool you. Rules for their movements are the most complex.”
“That tracks,” I muttered under my breath, but then dove into my knowledge of them.
“One square straight ahead, if it’s not taken.
Two squares on their first move, if neither are taken.
They can only go forward and only capture other pieces on the diagonal squares one space away from them.
But that’s the only time a pawn moves like that. Right?”
His eyebrows rose.
“I lost interest, or got frustrated when my dad easily captured my first piece. Eventually, I memorized what he told me so I could recite it whenever he asked. He spent most of our time on the pawn, and I remember a lot of what he tried to teach me. We just never got much further than that.”
Peter laughed. “It is the most interesting piece. Especially since it can be promoted.”
A faint memory of that stirred. “To any of the pieces, right?”
“Except for the King, yes. Most commonly, though, it’s promoted to Queen.”
“How fitting,” I deadpanned.
Peter quirked an eyebrow. “Sorry?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just fitting that you’re teaching us how to play chess, considering the Maidens are basically pawns, hoping to be promoted to Queen.”
A bit on the nose, really.
And somehow, so easy for a Knight to forget.
“Ah.” Peter nodded, picking up on my meaning. “Right.”
He didn’t respond further to my comment, as he lined up the remaining pawns on his side of the board.
When he was done, he caught me watching him instead of doing the same with my pieces. With a nod to my pile, I took the hint and finished setting up.
Once I was done, Peter spoke again. “The pawn can also move to a vacant diagonal square when capturing an enemy pawn en passant. Right after they make their first move two spaces out. The strategy and rules are a lot to follow, but being the most easily captured pieces on the board, they’re the most important for the player to understand. ”
His hand hovered above the pawn he’d just set down, and he met my gaze. “They have more power...more ability than you might think. Especially if their attacks are coordinated and carefully planned.”
“Oh.” I kept my expression neutral, nodding as if he’d said nothing more than a simple rule.
But he held my stare.
On one hand, I wanted to believe there might be more allies for the Maiden Rebellion brewing in my head, especially amongst the Knights. At the same time, this was Vivian Valencourt’s twin.
I couldn’t hand him a sign-up sheet for said rebellion without risking too much. But using our time together to figure out exactly where Peter’s allegiance lay? I’d do that, and hopefully, I’d gain insight into my biggest opponent, too.
It surprised no one more than me that it wasn’t Vivian.
Instead I’d set my sights on the Camelot Society.
I’d use whatever I learned about Camelot Court, and its families, to understand the larger evil.
Maybe I’d figure out how they operated. How they controlled the Maidens and kept the Knights in check, too.
Since Kingston and Landon had their reasons for being tight-lipped on certain specifics, I decided right then to use my training sessions to pick up as many details as possible.
Then I’d piece them together to come up with a plan.
Without knowing Kingston’s full plan, I didn’t know how Max factored into it. I trusted Kingston to see us all to the end, but Max and Vivian’s announcement had taken everyone by surprise.
Including him.
I needed more than promises to try.
More than using the lingerie hidden under my shorts and T-shirt to make the big guy fold like a house of cards. If my plot for this afternoon failed, I needed assurances.
Even if I cracked Max’s controlled exterior, I had no idea what he was up against.
But I wasn’t giving up without a fight. I wasn’t resting until he was safely away from whatever or whoever had control over him. So, I had to be as prepared as possible, even if it meant going a little rogue.
Kingston would have to understand that.
And besides, could it really hurt to have a backup plan?
As I asked myself that question, I hoped my dad was looking down on me.
Thanks to my new goal of uncovering Camelot Court’s secrets with my available resources, I couldn’t walk away from this chess game. Which meant I’d finally learn how to play.
Just like he’d always wanted.
I gestured at the pieces in front of me. “I go first, right?”
He nodded.
And a new game began.
I lamented my unsurprising failure in my first Strategy session on my walk to Sublimation training with Dax, Morgan’s assigned Knight from the first challenge.
I met him in a cabin close to Pendragon Estate, with no idea what to expect for his session, either. When I entered the cabin, all the furniture was gone, and canvas tarps covered the walls and floor. Save for a row of small tins set along the floor by the patio doors, it was completely empty.