I shook my head, confirming that I wanted to hear Max’s story from him.
“But he’s…gone through a lot. His family life, as I’m sure you’ve pieced together, hasn’t been easy. Not since we were children and my father’s test…”
Thinking over the things Max had shared with me, I couldn’t help but wonder if that played into why he didn’t feel like he was good enough. And I wondered if, at the end of the day, what he’d chosen over Kingston had been worth it, or a regret he still held onto. Picking up the knife.
“What was it?” I finally asked. “The item Max coveted that finally got him to side with your father.”
Regret infiltrated Kingston’s voice as he shared that small piece of the truth with me. “Hismother.”
“No.” My hands flew to my mouth, and I stared at him, eyes wide.
He nodded, the heaviness of their shared past lining his face with tension. When his jaw clenched, he held my gaze. “That’s how Merle Dread became my father’s right hand. Max chose his mother, but his father…”
“Oh my god.”
I couldn’t imagine what kind of monster made his son, or any boy, choose between their mother and another child. Or what kind of husband sacrificed their wife for power.
But the resentment between them, the hatred simmering beneath the surface whenever Max interacted with them, it made sense in a lot of ways. “Kingston, is this part of why he hates you both so much?”
“I believe it is. Some of it goes back to last year, but I think…I don’tknowfor certain what he was told about that day. What the test was for and what it meant that he’d chosen his mother. Most of the boys were told they’d succeeded. They’ve never held it against me, but then…”
“None of them refused more than once.”
Kingston shook his head.
“If Max knew all this, maybe he wouldn’t feel the way he does about you both. At least, I don’t think he would. He’d see that you’ve been pawns in this as much as he has.”
“Believe me, I’ve thought about telling him, but…” He released a breath. “We can never predict or control how someone might react to the truth. And we shouldn’t. Max would have every right to hate me, or Landon more, if he knew the whole truth. Maybe simply because I couldn’t share it for so long. Whether it seems rational to us or not, feelings are…they’re just feelings. He’s entitled to them, because his life has been harder because of mine.”
“But Kingston, you?—”
“It’s what he might do, Quinn. How he might act on those feelings. That’s the piece I can’t risk. Not with you involved. I mean it when I say if anything I’ve shared with you gets out before we reach the end, it’s over. Any chance we have to stop my father, it will be gone.”
“I hate this for them. I hate it for all of us.”
“I know, love.” He pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly, as if to convince himself I was there and safe. “I do, too.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Getting pulled out of the cocoon of Kingston and Landon’s arms later that morning to go back to prison felt like a perfect metaphor for my current situation, and I was not happy about it.
I’d slept again, too drained after everything with Landon and Kingston the night before to fight it. But as soon as I woke up, thoughts of Max and his mother, the rivalry between them, and everything they’d gone through hit me.
It helped me understand how deep the issues between the three of them ran. How they’d been pitted against each other as children, taught to mistrust andhateanyone who might rise, because it meant they fell.
Or lost something they loved.
Overcoming that…I had to believe it was possible.
But right now, the one thing tying them together was me. And for the first time, I wondered if it would be enough. IfIwould be enough for them towantto fight through all that.
Was it possible if they didn’t want each other, too? Maybe not even romantically. Hell, not even sexually. But as friends?Could rivals really stay on the same side for long, especially with so many secrets between them?
I hoped so.
Unfortunately, I had to push it from my mind.
I jumped back into the challenge ahead, because the only thing I could do to help was get through The Quest and win it. I didn’t know what that led to exactly, but it didn’t matter. I had faith I’d see what it had all been for in the end.
