He stretched his arm up, bracing his head and forcing a smile as he met my gaze.
“He’s the first person I remember seeing when I…came to. Woke up from whatever caused my memory loss. Kingston was there, and even though I didn’t recognize him, Iknewhim.” He huffed a quiet laugh. “I’m not sure that even makes sense, but that’s just how it was.”
I touched a spot over his heart. “You remembered him here.”
“Yeah.”
His smile was sad as I recalled our talk from the first challenge. The night he shared about his memory loss for the first time, and I opened up about my dad.
Landon and I both knew that some things never left us.
For him, Kingston was one of them.
“Do you remember how you felt when you saw him there?”
“Safe,” he said automatically before clearing his throat. “I felt safe. Even though I had no reason to do so, I trusted him. And as I learned who I was and my role within the Camelot Society, I understood it. What I was meant to be for him. But even before they told me, somehow, I knew.”
Emotions played over his features so quickly, I couldn’t read them, as if they were as jumbled as his memory.
“What happened? Or at least, what did they say happened that took your memory away?”
The furrow in his brow deepened, and he winced but clenched his teeth to fight through it. “They didn’t tell me anything. They just said it was an accident. A horrible accident that was better left in the past. My sister?—”
My eyebrows jumped, and he laughed.
“Yes, I have a sister. Nancy. She cried for weeks after I woke up. It felt like someone had died when I first got home, but I didn’t remember who. It took me a few days to realize my mother wasn’t there, and she wasn’t coming back.”
He winced sharply, his hand flying to his temple.
“What happened?”
“Every time the memories come, I get this sharp pain.” His nostrils flared as he drew in breaths, his teeth gritted. “It’s like my mind is trying to force the memories away.”
“My therapist said our minds can block things out to protect us.” I rubbed his temple to ease the ache. “But I didn’t know it could hurt like that. For me, it’s like I put them in a box hiddenfrom sight. And whenever they come out, it hurts, but it’s never been like yours. It just hurts here.” I touched my heart, leaving a hand over his and mine. “I wonder why it hurts you like that.”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the injury? Whatever caused my memory loss. Maybe my body remembers that pain?”
I searched him as if I might find a wound I’d missed, wanting to heal it. “I wish I could help you through this.”
He leaned down and kissed my forehead. “You do help. Just by being here, you help me through it.”
“Good thing you’re stuck with me, then.” I smiled, but it faded quickly as I thought about everything to come.
I couldn’t stop thinking about it. What might happen once the other Knights and Ladies arrived. What they’d think of Elaine’s threat, if they’d even know about it. And what would happen if she went through with it.
Kingston would need to marryher, and I would’ve ruined my chances of being with all of them without knowing it. Now that I’d found out they were open to it, the thought of that future being ripped away before we could fully explore it…
Well, it sucked.
As if he was reading my mind, Landon whispered into my hair. “I’m so sorry.”
I did my best to find an optimistic outlook and consider all the possibilities before assuming the worst would happen.
Growth.
“Hey, we don’t know that this means anything bad yet. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Someone else might come forward. And Kingston…maybe he has a choice? Maybe we can walk away from this. Live a normal life where you guys argue over who didn’t pay their portion of the rent or whatever.”
But a different thought struck me.
