“I stopped running.”
His throat bobbed as he nodded. “So, you start again. Maybe…add a swim.”
“I haven’t swam since last year, Kingston.”
“It might help keep the memories at bay.” His eyes got that faraway look, as if lost in the past. “You always had so much energy…If it’s pent up, maybe it’s letting things escape that you’d prefer to keep contained.”
I tilted my head. “You think I should fight them, then? You don’t think I should remember?”
His mouth parted but nothing came out. The words lodged in his throat before he returned his gaze to mine.
A deep breath shored up his courage to speak. “It’s not up to me, Landon.”
He said it as if he didn’t have a choice. When, in reality, Kingston decided every move we made. He always had.
And yet, on this, he refused to choose.
I shook my head. “All these secrets, Kingston…these lies between us, between everyone, what good are they?”
“People hide things for a lot of reasons, Landon.”
A part of me suspected why he hid my truth, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask him. He was right, as always.
Sometimes we hid to protect what we cared about, and we lied to ourselves that it was better that way. That it would all be fine. But eventually, things always came to light.
My mind jumped to Quinn. To the secret I kept.
I owed him the truth, but that secret didn’t belong to just me. And I needed to talk to her before I shared it.
So, I didn’t say anything.
Kingston released a heavy breath and stepped toward his desk. “For now, let’s just focus on keeping her safe. I convinced my father I’m digging into the attacks, and she’s here under our protection until we remove the threat and liability over her head. As long as he believes that I’m doing it for the good of theCamelot Society, we have this momentary reprieve before phase two of The Quest begins. And itwillbegin. It must.”
He straightened and ran a hand down his clothes.
“I’ll tell Quinn about the statute, but I need…Please just give me a few days to?—”
“I won’t lie to her.”
Instead of facing me, he bowed his head over the desk. “We won’t. I just want to figure out what exactly I have to tell her. If my grandfather finds a way out of this, we won’t have to tell her it’s over unless it really is.”
I nodded. “A few days. That’s it.”
“I promise.”
“But she needs to know before everyone gets here.Beforeit comes out. A secret is always worse when the truth doesn’t come from the person hiding it, Kingston.”
“She will.” He finally turned to look at me. “I swear, Landon.”
“Okay.”
I walked forward without thinking and extended my hand.
Surprise colored his features, his brow rising.
But he recovered and gripped my arm. “Thank you.”
“I’m yours, too.”
