My words came freely, and his grip tightened on my arm.
But as quickly as the pressure came, it vanished. Kingston released me and stepped back, turning back toward his desk. “Good night, mate.”
I surveyed his posture as I replayed his goodbye, wondering why he’d called me that. When it had started and why it felt…familiar. But I wasn’t ready for the truth yet, so I turned to leave the room.
“Good night, Kingston.”
Kingston
PRESENT DAY
Ascream pierced through the darkness, waking me from my dream. Remnants of the nightmare I never truly escaped faded in the dark.
My chest heaved. Just as his had in the dream, each breath pained me more than the last, and I stared up at the ceiling as his gaze lingered in my mind.
Dark amber eyes…the light inside them guttered before they faded from my vision.
I closed mine, wanting to hold on for just a moment longer. Wishing for a simpler time. And slowly accepting that I couldn’t hide forever.
Secrets came to light whether we wanted them to or not.
Soon, I would have to face mine.
My breathing quickened as my chest grew tight. Three days had passed since we came to Pendragon. Three days since my father’s threat. His congratulations for a future I’d never wanted, while I fought for a past that didn’t exist anymore.
I fought against what I still struggled to accept, even as reality sought to force it upon me. Even as I pulled strings with no choice but to let everything unfold.
It was a strange thing.
To want—need—something to happen while the eventuality of it actually occurring terrified—broke—something inside me at the same time.
The last piece of my heart still holding onto hope.
I breathed slowly through my nose.
In and out.
Every day the same until I could end it.
But what if I couldn’t?
What if our world—the depraved, dark underbelly of Mosaic Falls—spun madly on? What if Drake D’Arthur proved unstoppable, and the plans he’d set in motion long before I’d been born played out? What if sin and greed and power-hungry men would always rule, crushing anyone who dared to challenge them?
What if I failed?
My hands shook where they hovered above the bedspread. Anxiety wasn’t a feeling I typically experienced, but recently, it wouldn’t rest. What if, after what I’d done, I still failed?
There hadn’t been another way.
He’d threatened them. He’d wanted to meet her.
The idea that a D’Arthur heir might choose a commoner over our own had incensed him, sparking outrage among the Camelot Society members from the minute the rumor had spread. He would’ve seen her eliminated from The Quest.
And we would have lost.
Right then, all hope would’ve been lost.
I’d had to act. The time for second-guessing had long passed. And I’d done everything as carefully as possible. Calculated every move to throw him off.
