“Yes. Camelot Court is an echo of the real world. It exists inside a bubble, operating almost independently from the laws of society, because of the power they’ve accumulated over centuries. People they’ve placed in important positions out in the real world, who all serve Camelot at the end of the day. Anypower or status they’ve obtained by being part of it survives only if the Camelot Society does. So they ensure it thrives and prospers. My father, above everyone else, would stop at nothing to keep that power. He protects Camelot above all else.”
“But how does all this play into Landon’s memory and the secrets you can’t share with him?”
“Who Landon is to me and his family’s position, both give Landon…a protection of sorts. But my father hates him. He’d jump at the chance to hurt him, if he had reason to do it.”
“Why does he hate him so much?”
“Because Landon refused him.” Kingston smiled sadly, glancing at me with regret shining in his eyes. “Because he choseme.”
My heart ached for those two young boys who’d been put in a terrible position. Even after doing the right thing, they’d paid for it.
Theystillpaid for it.
I stared at Kingston’s chest, my eyes burning as the truth reverberated in my head. How his father had manipulated him and those other children. Isolated him. Branded?—
He’dabusedhim. The man who was supposed to love him the way my father had loved me. My chest tightened as it overwhelmed me—what Drake D’Arthur had done to try to turn his son into themanhe wanted him to be. Just to get his way. Just to hold onto power.
“Has anyone told your father he sucks?” I croaked, emotion lodging in my throat. “He’s, like, the literal fucking worst.”
A tear escaped my eye before I could stop it, and Kingston brushed it away. “I hope I get the chance to tell him that—exactlythat—one day.”
“Good.” I choked on a laugh, imagining Kingston standing over his father and saying it. “I want to be there when you do.”
We shared a heavy look, forcing smiles, because deep down, neither of us joked. Even as we attempted to lighten the heaviness.
When I took a breath and nodded, assuring him I was okay, Kingston warned me that what I was going to see might shock me, but he asked me to hold onto the truth.
I had no idea what that meant, but I kept going.
“Quinn, I know this is a lot to take in, but it’s hard to explain why I’ve done anything without sharing all this. The way the Camelot Society works—what its members prioritize—its power. Above all things, they’ve joined, pledged their lives, and bound assets to tie themselves to our world, for the sake of power and greed. They’ll do anything to protect that power, especially my father. And when you face an opponent willing to do anything…”
When he offered a half-hearted shrug, I understood.
“You can’t bring a butter knife to a gunfight.”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “Exactly. So, to protect Landon—to protect you both—every move I make against my father has had to be hidden in so many other moves that keeping track feels impossible, at times. Once your file was stolen, I had to think through to the end of the game. Be several steps ahead. It was letting Merle believe I wanted you to be a D’Arthur Queen, but never confirming it. Then, denying it—proving it wasn’t true by treating you just like any other Maiden, but onlyafterhe’d gone to my father with what I’d let him believe about my feelings for you.”
“Why?”
“Because my father would’ve heard the rumors, anyway. Eventually, he would’ve come to me to question it. To deal with the scandal. Which is what he did the morning of your attack. Having a plan for when he came meant I had to know what Merle would tell my father, so I could respond in a way that worked in our favor. By telling him I lied to Landon about myfeelings for you to get him to join the Knights, I planted a seed of doubt in my father’s head. Even though he initially brushed it off, he questioned why Merle’s information had been wrong. Whether it had been a mistake or intentional.”
I shook my head, unable to keep the incredulity out of my voice. “Oh my god. It really is like chess.”
Kingston nodded. “Yes. It was getting him to suspect for just a second that Merle might be working against him, so that eventually, there’d be just enough suspicion, and enough liability risked by leaving him at Pendragon—near you while you recovered—that my father would pull him away.”
“He wouldn’t pull him just because of the liability?”
“No.” Kingston cleared his throat. “No, my father trusts Merle to take care of those situations, even when he has a hand in them. And he wants Merle at Pendragon, whenever possible, since Merle has a legitimate reason to be there.”
“What do you mean?”
“Pendragon is the only place my father can’t touch. It’s mine. My mother made sure it would be that way. That I’d have something solely for me. And Drake D’Arthur despises that fact with every fiber of his being. But the loophole is that the Advisor to Camelot Court lives at Winchester Hall during the year and the first challenge of The Quest. And he lives at Pendragon during the remainder, which is why Merle was always around.”
I nodded, taking everything in and trying to process it. “This is what you’ve lived with your whole life?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “The Camelot Society shields its daughters from everything. Stifles their growth to an extent, but its sons? We’re taught early and quickly what our lives will become. Shown the men we’re supposed to be one day. And I knew the things my father was teaching me—they weren’t the way the world was supposed to work. The normal world, at least. But Camelot Court never felt like the normal world. Itwas all we knew, and Landon and I—we got through it together. But…I failed him, and when my father realized how deep our friendship had become, he brought me here.”
“Kingston…”
