I’d caught a hint of it at other times, too, but I’d never been able to place it on one person or thing. The last few times I’d smelled it had been here, and I’d written it off as whatever Miss Alice had been cooking in the kitchens.
But it was the laundry.
The scent lingered on clothes, just as it lingered in my memory, tying it to my first attack at Camelot Court.
After the murder mystery trial, my mind jumped into crime-solving mode. I couldn’t remember what days those events had happened on, but if Miss Alice did the laundry on specific days of the week, she could help me narrow down the list of suspects.
I swallowed past the lump forming in my throat, unsure where it was coming from. Unsure why all I smelled was lemons.
Rationally, that had to be the citrus she used in the detergent. It had just never been quite as prominent before.
I didn’t know if it was really there or my mind playing tricks on me. Was I simply recalling the smell I linked to bad moments in my life? Or was it a coincidence?
Something told me it was more than that, and the feeling in the pit of my stomach worsened.
My steps faltered. “Kingston?”
He stopped walking and turned to face me. Holding me steady, he scanned my face and body quickly. As if checking me over for signs of dizziness.
While I squinted and wrinkled my nose, trying to get rid of the smell, he slid his grip down from my elbow to circle my wrist. And another thought occurred to me.
“Back at the appointment with Dr. Barrow, you mentioned something Miss Alice said to me about Nanny and asking for help...How did you know she’d told me that?”
“I asked her to meet you and tell you that when you arrived at Pendragon.” He didn’t hesitate to answer, but guilt flashed across his features.
But other than the experience weirding me out, I couldn’t think of a reason why he’d feel guilty about it. Convinced the smell was messing with my head, I laughed it off. “Yeah? Did you ask her to bring me to that creepy bedroom, too?”
Even though I said it as a joke, Kingston nodded.
“But…why?”
Kingston stepped closer to me, taking my hands in his and pulling me toward him. The serious expression on his face amplified the dread building in my gut.
“Because I needed you to go to Merle for your contract. But, once you’d done that, I needed you to know you couldn’t fully trust him.”
I tried to wrap my head around that, but I couldn’t.
I thought through the different things that had happened the day I arrived at Pendragon. The room had been the creepiest part, but the look on Miss Alice’s face when she saw me, the way her tone had hardened, and the offhand remark she made about how she’d thought they’d put a stop to something...
Not to mention the jerk I’d run into in the tiny bedroom.
“What about the guy who found me and kicked me out? Did you plan all that?”
I stepped back, unsure why I wanted space but suddenly needing it. He took in the distance I’d placed between us with a pained expression.
“Wait. What do you mean you needed me to go to Merle? Landon said you assumed I’d ask for my contract after my attack, but why does it sound like…”
“Quinn…”
Then, dropping his head, he told me the truth.
“I needed a way for you to be locked into The Quest, but to also throw off my father’s suspicion over my intentions to keep you here.”
My mind raced as I processed what he was telling me, searching for anything else he could mean, because the only explanation in my head couldn’t possibly be true.
“Kingston, what did you do?”
Chapter Nineteen
