Chapter Three
P endragon Estate sprawled across the northwest side of the lake. Like a miniature castle, square keeps comprised the four corners of the gray brick house, standing slightly above the main roof.
Large white stones outlined the windows, walkways, and extended archway leading to the front door. With old-fashioned torches instead of porch lights and parapets along the front-facing wall, it gave off a fairytale vibe. Whether it belonged to the princess or the villain in that story, I couldn’t say.
To the right, a curved wing attached to the main house had exactly twelve windows. Red ferns planted beneath them added a splash of color to the gray. Flowers and neatly trimmed hedges peeked out across the sprawling lawn, as well, but the gardens extended far beyond my line of sight.
And the left side of the house held my attention.
A large tower rose high above the rest of the house, with one small window and a D’Arthur flag set atop the cylindrical roof. I half-expected a Maiden to be locked away inside it, for the King to visit whenever he liked.
As I walked inside, the interior amplified the regal aesthetic. Alcoves to the right and left of the entrance offset a long hallway lined with glass-paned doors. Toward the back of the house, a staircase with a wrought-iron railing led upstairs.
I hunted for the entrance of the tower.
To answer any muffled cries for help, of course.
But when I found it, the door was locked with no sign of a keyhole. I searched the walls for a loose brick or keypad to gain entry but found nothing. My suspicion grew the longer I looked, until a voice interrupted me.
“Can I help you, Miss?”
I jumped, spinning around to find a slender, middle-aged woman behind me. A ruffled white cap I’d only seen in British movies covered her tawny curls. A few sprung loose of the bun at the base of her neck, and bits of gray peeked out at her temples.
Her blue eyes were kind with soft wrinkles in the corners, but the set of her mouth and her tone conveyed she meant business. “I asked you a question, dearie. No one is supposed to be here yet, so I’ll be needing an answer.”
“Oh, sorry. I’m here for the Match Selection. Merle sent me.”
Her eyes widened slightly before narrowing on my face. Appraising me, she lingered on my cuts and bruises. She stared at the marks around my neck for a minute before meeting my eyes.
Her shrewd gaze and sharp tone softened. “I see. You’ll be The King’s Maiden, then.”
“So they tell me.” I shrugged. “Merle said I could wait somewhere here until tonight. Is there somewhere…”
Her eyes misted, and she waved a hand over her face. Her sandy complexion reddened as she hardened her expression. “I thought they’d put a stop to this.”
“I’m sorry?”
She shook her head. “Oh, it’s not my place. Don’t mind me. I just…If you need anything while you’re here, I want you to ask for Nanny. Understand?”
“Not in the slightest. But honestly, that’s par for the course here, so.”
She assessed me again, nodding curtly when she’d looked her fill and clicking her tongue. “Grab your things. I’ll show you to the room.”
As I lugged my suitcase behind me, she led me past the main staircase and toward the back of the house. Pendragon’s interior decorator had replaced medieval tapestries with Victorian wallpaper and gold accents. Beautiful paintings hung between each doorway into the other areas of the house.
The modern, abstract art called to me as we passed by it, but I ignored the unfamiliar tug in my chest and pressed forward.
At the end of the hall, sparse walls and two doors waited. A larger carved oak door in the center, and a smaller plain white door on the right.
Nanny—or so I assumed—pointed to the smaller door, a sudden edge to her voice. “You’ll wait there.”
I couldn’t place the slight change from when we’d been talking in the foyer. She glanced behind her, down the empty hallway, and checked a small watch on her wrist.
She probably had better things to do than lead random girls around the house.
“Thank you, Nanny.”
“I’m not—No, dear. You can call me Miss Alice. That’s what the boys call me. If you need anything while you’re here, you ask for Nanny, and someone will make sure she comes to you.”
“Oh.”
Another odd piece of information.
How swell.
“Okay. Thank you, Miss Alice.”
She pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded again. Without another word, she went back the way we came and disappeared around the corner.
I opened the plain white door to head inside.
My nose wrinkled.
The room was small, barely the size of a large closet. It had a single bed with a thin-looking mattress, simple sheets, and a blanket. An end table sat beside it with nothing on it. There wasn’t even a dresser.
But there was a mirror on the wall above where a dresser should be. It shot off a warning in my head.
Why the fuck would I be brought here when I would’ve been perfectly fine sitting on a couch or something?
Point me to a library. Give me a seat in the kitchen.
I could eat.
The weirdest—okay, skeeviest , creepiest—part was the locked door on the left wall.
I tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.
Stepping back into the hallway, I glanced at the large wooden door and tried my luck with that doorknob, too.
No dice.
The doors were so close to each other that the extra one in the tiny room had to be either the world’s smallest closet or an adjoining door.
I full-body shuddered and shook out my limbs as if bugs crawled down my back before grabbing my suitcase.
I would not be changing in there.
I’d go outside and get some air. Find another place to sit and wait. Jump in the lake to wash off the ick .
I didn’t know what to do. But I had better options than changing in front of what could be a two-way mirror.
With my Resting Skeptic Face firmly in place, I put my finger on the glass. My finger and my reflection did touch.
“Oh, hell no.”
I marched straight to the door and swung it open, almost running right into someone. The sudden presence jarred me backward, looming as it was, and the scowl I received didn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
My body ran cold.
Dark eyes flicked over me as I took in the stranger’s shaved head, buzzed so close to the scalp it had only a hint of a shadow. The mix of his bald head and smooth face made it difficult to pinpoint his age.
I didn’t have a chance to ask, either.
“What are you doing in there?” he demanded as he took hold of my arm. His grip squeezed tight. “No one is supposed to be back here.”
He tugged me from the room before I could protest, throwing me out into the hallway.
“What the hell?” I yanked my arm out of his hold, rubbing at where he’d squeezed too tightly. “I was told to wait here!”
Ignoring me, he grabbed my things and all but flung them out of the room with me. Then, he scanned it to make sure I hadn’t disturbed anything else before shutting the door.
Using a vintage brass key from a chain around his neck, he locked the room before he turned back around.
Flabbergasted that I hadn’t run off immediately, he barked at me like I was a dog hunting for scraps. “Are you deaf, girl? Get out of here!”
My hackles rose.
If he wanted me to be a bitch, I’d gladly oblige. It had been a fucking day already.
I refused to be treated like a stray.
“What the hell is your problem? I told you I was sent here and told to wait in that room!”
He narrowed his beady eyes, crossing heavily muscled arms over his wide chest. “Oh, yeah? Who sent you?”
“Merle did!”
The stranger’s eyes widened, but whatever shock my words had caused vanished quickly. His surprise morphed into fury, and he clenched his fists. I took the cracking of his knuckles as my cue to get the fuck out of there.
I grabbed my stuff and spun on my heel. “Forget it. It doesn’t even matter because I wasn’t staying, anyway.”
“That’s a lie,” the strange man spat out.
Annnd…On second thought, I swung back around. “Excuse me?”
“You’re lying.”
“Yeah. I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you do not get to call me a liar. Last guy who did turned out to be the biggest liar I’ve ever met. Well, second biggest. No, tied for first.” I growled, a single thought of Landon, followed by Kingston, throwing me completely off track. “Merle sent me from the other house. He gave me this key and this map and even the golf cart outside if you want more evidence. But again, since I don’t know who the fuck you are, I’m not explaining myself to you. Anymore. Starting now. Ugh!”
I took off down the hall.
“Hey! You need to give back that key!”
Swinging around, I pelted it at him. “It’s all yours!”
I stormed down the hallway. Annoyance with myself for lashing out at someone probably just doing their job, even if he’d been a total jerk about it, came swiftly.
But it faded just as quickly.
I felt…better.
Even if I hadn’t shouted at my desired targets, releasing some of the rage felt good. I could only imagine what it would feel like to unleash it on the responsible parties.
Maybe I’d give it a try.
I wove through the large house and found another employee. This one didn’t bite my head off for existing where I’d been told to exist.
“Hi, I need a spot to sit for another hour. Does this place have a library? A sun terrace…I don’t know, a tea party room?”
Or whatever beautiful, rich people’s houses had.
The thin, older man led me to a small room overlooking the lake. Bookshelves lined the far wall, and a deep mauve, velvet couch sat in front of them.
As soon as the staff member left the room, I toed off my shoes and sank onto the cushions. Reaching my arms above my head, I stretched out along the couch.
The next thing I knew, a sharp noise outside the window woke me up. I blinked the lingering sleep away and rubbed my eyes. Resting them had settled some of the discord inside me, but I was ready for this shindig to get a move on.
I had no idea what today would bring, but I wanted to face it.
I also wanted food.
As I sat up and shook out my limbs, the wall opposite the bookshelves, filled with rows of old photographs, caught my eye. I hopped up to take a closer look.
Each picture, inscribed with Maiden Introduction and a date on the bottom of the frame, showed a different year of Maidens and Knights. Everyone had been lined up in two rows, with the Maidens in front and their assigned Knights standing behind them. In the one from this year, two people didn’t have partners.
Not surprisingly, Max Dread had skipped the group photo.
The freaking recluse.
Vivian stood alone at one end, and Landon stood alone at the other. His serious face was as expected. Slightly disgruntled, if anything. He’d probably been wondering where the heck I was and why I was reflecting poorly on him .
I chuckled.
Man. That stick up his ass really had needed removing.
Before I could stop it, my mind jumped to memories of slowly cracking his hard exterior.
Bouncing by the lemon trees and calling him Buns. How his sweet side had surprised me. From his gift and our dance at the party to our whipped cream fight.
I’d slowly opened up to him. About the accident and what happened to my dad. And I’d cried in his arms as he’d pushed me to let go. Somehow, he’d made it easier to breathe…
And his voice had found me in the dark.
I’m yours.
He swore it like an oath, and a few hours of happiness followed. One heartbreakingly perfect moment when we had our surprise first date.
I remembered all of it.
But it ended with a single word.
No.
And that moment, the end, I couldn’t make sense of it. I couldn’t understand how it had all been a lie.
So, obviously, he was a sociopath who’d worn his mask so well that I hadn’t seen his true colors shining through at all.
I’d missed it.
Just like I’d missed the Maiden photo.
I circled back to those thoughts. Safer territory.
Well, not at the time. Since I’d been busy getting chased down by Brutus.
Hey! Speaking of Brutus, I hadn’t seen that big mutt again since my near-death tree-climbing experience. Not that I was complaining. But I made a mental note to look out for him or ask Max, who’d saved me from the big brute of a dog.
A knock at the door pulled my attention.
Miss Alice stood in the doorway. “The others are starting to arrive, Miss Everly.”
I nodded. “Is it okay to leave my things in here for now? I got kicked out of the other room.”
“Sure. Now, hurry along.”
With that, she turned away. Not a comment about the room or even a bye, Felicia.
She just left.
I shook my head. Everything about the house was weird as fuck. Better to just meet the others and get this over with.
Time to find out if fate would totally fuck me again or give me a break with the Match Selection. I had a sneaking suspicion that the former was the surest bet, and I mentally prepared myself for what came next.
Because for some reason, as I left the room, all I smelled was lemons.