“Unless you don’t think he, or you, would consider that?”
Landon cupped my face and kissed me. “I’d give all of this up in an instant if that was the only way to keep you. I told you, Quinn. I’m not leaving you again. Or choosing anyone if that’s what that choice means.”
My heart melted at his words, but I couldn’t shake the feeling in my gut telling me it wasn’t that simple. “But…”
“Kingston might not be able to make that choice.”
“Do you think that’s why he wants to change things?”
“Maybe.” Landon’s gaze fixated on a spot in front of him. “I do know if he can’t change things, the Camelot Society responds to traitors and deserters the same way. They’d get rid of us before they let us walk away scot-free. Or they’d teach us a lesson and go after you.”
My jaw dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”
He frowned, pain etched in his features, before he brought a hand up to his eyes. After the pain passed, he stared at me. Confusion over my horrified expression colored his. “What?”
“Um…what? You just dropped a bomb on me. The Camelot Society would come after me to make you and Kingston pay if you tried to walk away? I thought they just had it out for me because I’m poor. But what the fuck?”
“I-I don’t know why I said that.” Landon shook his head. “I don’t—I can’t remember how I know that.”
“But you think it’s true?”
He shook his head, trying to clear it. “I don’t know, honestly. I can’t separate what’s really a memory and what’s just a dream. Or nightmare. We need to talk to Kingston and ask him.”
Horrified by the thought, the position I’d put myself in became clear. If I didn’t win The Quest, if Kingston couldn’t change things—whatever his plan was exactly aside—and if we failed, it was all over.
I couldn’t go there. My mind refused to consider it, so I resigned myself to a life on the run as an excellent and familiar form of deflection. “Eh. It’s not like I wasn’t built for it.”
Landon’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
I shrugged, feigning bravado. “Life on the run.”
At my matter-of-fact, oh-so-casual tone, Landon shot me a look. One that told me he knew damn well what I was doing. “Well, we’d do everything possible before asking you to consider going on the lamb. Even if you’re ready to pack your bags.”
Laughing it off, I shook my head. “It was just a joke. Mostly because I didn’t grow up with a huge circle of friends or a big family. I only had my mom and dad until I met Gia at my first dance camp and latched onto her like a giant squid. Even after we moved away, my dad had to figure out a way for us to stay in touch. Even then, our friendship was mostly virtual until…”
I didn’t have to say it. Landon already knew I’d moved to Mosaic Falls to live with Gia after my dad died.
So I wouldn’t be completely alone.
“I guess I’m just saying…I’m able to be happy with the people I care about. I don’t need all this.” Gesturing around the room, as if to encompass all of Camelot Court, I released a heavy breath. “But I guess that’s not the same as running because people are after you.”
“No. And in that scenario, staying in contact with people would only put them at risk. I wouldn’t be able to ask you to leave with us knowing you’d have to leave Gia.”
“Oof.” I grimaced, teasing him to ward off the big, scary feelings that brought up. “Yeah, I’m not going to lie if it came down to her or you guys…”
But he didn’t take the bait and responded seriously. “None of us would fault you for choosing her, Quinn.”
Tears pricked my eyes. Reality settled over me, a heavy cloak of sadness pressing in at the thought of losing any of them.
He ran his thumbs over my cheeks when a few slipped free. “Hopefully, it never comes to that. For any of us.”
I nodded, fighting back the emotion building in my chest. “We’re spiraling a little, right? All this—it’s not really something we’d ever have to think about, is it?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so.” But the worry on his face had me squeezing his hand, prodding for the rest. “But we might have to accept that all of us couldn’t be with you.”
My heart plummeted.
“Have I mentioned I hate it here?”
