Until Kingston sighed. “I’m trying not to be too hasty while there are still options on the table, and I do want the blame for this fairly distributed to everyone who deserves it.”
“Kingston—” Landon started at the same time I asked, “What options?”
“One way around this is if someone else claimed what she has. If you were willing to challenge her, then…”
Landon paled.
And it hit me that Kingston must not have seen my new forehead stamp, announcing I’d beenPenetrated.
Landon hadn’t shared it with him after the Maiden Appeal, and his paling complexion assured me he hadn’t shared it with him since then, either. Which explained why Kingston now stared at me with a hopeful expression.
Oh, fuck.
Well, this was awkward.
Chapter Four
Istared between Kingston and Landon, not completely surprised that the question of my goddamn virginity had reared its ugly head again but irked nonetheless.
“Wait…”
My mind turned, and pieces fell into place. Kingston telling meyou’ll seeevery time I askedwhy mepopped into my head. I didn’t want the answer, but I’d taken up the annoying new lease on life where I faced hard truths instead of avoiding them.
So, I had to ask. “Isthatwhy you picked me?”
Thankfully, Kingston shook his head. “No. I know that’s what everyone assumed, and that’s because Drake D’Arthur has made no secret that he’d prefer I take a virgin bride. He said if I chose one before my twenty-fourth birthday, he’d grant that betrothal over the winner of The Quest.”
My nose wrinkled, but the disgust in Kingston’s voice eased the flash of nausea I experienced over his father’spreferences.
It didn’t surprise me that Camelot Court, or the head of it, at least, placed a high value on a woman’s virginity. Not after reading the by-laws. But this?
There was absolutely nothing wrong with someone choosing to stay a virgin, or being one when they got married.
But some creepy old guy fantasizing about that for his son’s future wife? So much so that he made offers to tempt his son toward that option?
I shuddered, repulsed by this man I’d never even met. I masked it with a scoff, but I couldn’t hide my disdain over it. As if a woman’s value decreased somehow, once she had sex with someone else.
I needed kerosene and a match.
The only saving grace was that all three of my broody assholes didn’t share Camelot Society’s views on women.
Or what decided their worth.
A thought that reminded me Max hadn’t been let in on mine and Landon’s little secret yet, either. But Kingston distracted me before I could figure out how I’d approach the conversation without bloodshed between my two Knights.
“Quinn, I picked you for reasons I still can’t share with you.” He shot me a look of apology. “Not yet, at least. But Iwantto share them with you. You being a virgin meantmaybeit left the option open for you to invoke the statute, if it came down to it. But that’s still not why I picked you, and I always believed you’d win The Quest without doing that. And your prior experiences wouldn’t have mattered in the end. You could’ve slept with everyone inside Camelot Court, if that was what you’d wanted, and Drake D’Arthur couldn’t have done a thing about it because I wouldn’t choose anyone else.”
Before I could react to that last part, Landon growled, raising Kingston’s brow.
I rolled my eyes, smirking at my White Knight. “Oh, calm down, caveman. The three of you are a big enough handful.”
Landon made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat, and I took that as his agreement to tone down the alphaenergy before turning back to Kingston. He beamed at me, and the sparkle in his eyes sent a zing of electricity through me.
He’d lit up over my use of the wordthree.
My confirmation that this hadn’t taken him off the table.
“Quinn, I didn’t know, until we met at the Maiden Selection, ifthatprize for winning The Quest was something either of us would want…or choose to even consider as a possibility. It wasn’t until that night…”
