Ididn’t wait for Kingston to respond. I pushed past him, going into my room and shutting the door.
I grabbed my backpack, aware I probably needed to pause and take a breath, think about what I was doing before I did anything rash, but unable to stop myself from moving.
When I rushed out of my room and tore down the hallway, Kingston called my name.
I kept going.
With everyone retired to Camelot Courtyard after the full day of activities, no one stopped me as I rushed out the front door. Racing down the steps and through the extended archway, I reached the driveway of Pendragon and ran.
I slowed to a jog once I felt far enough away, my lungs burning, and I scrambled to grab my phone out of my backpack. Needing to call Gia. Needing a voice of reason. Needing?—
But I couldn’t reach it without stopping and taking the damn thing off. And I refused to stop moving.
So, I just kept going.
Halfway down the driveway, the engine of Kingston’s bike rumbled behind me. I ignored it and pushed forward, quickening my pace as if outrunning him was even a possibility.
When he reached me, pulling up ahead of me and turning off the bike, he didn’t block my path. I didn’t know why my brain felt that was important, but it did.
And still, the only thing I wanted to do was keep going.
Run from whatever truth I was about to face.
I wasn’t ready.
“Quinn, please.” His voice was laced with pain and regret, and a note of panic I couldn’t understand. “This isn’t safe.Please. Stop for a second. Let me get Gia here for you, at the very least. But please, don’t keep walking alone.”
“I’m not alone,” I snapped at him, fury rising as high as my panic. “You’re here. Keeping secrets, as usual. What are you going to say next, I wonder?” I barked a laugh as if we were sharing a hilarious inside joke. “You’ll see…”
“No,” he breathed, his voice pained. “No, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, just please stop putting yourself in danger by trying to leave alone.Please, Quinn.”
I swung around. “Okay, so tell me.”
As I stepped back toward him, fingers pointed at the ground, I started ticking off things I needed to know.
“Tell me the truth about my contract. Tell me why you needed me locked into The Quest. Why your father was suspicious, and why it was so damn important to throw him off? Tell me why I’m here, if he wants me gone so badly. Answer the one question I’ve been asking you.Why me, Kingston?”
My chest heaved as the list rushed out of me, even though it barely scratched the surface of everything I needed to know.
“But first…” My voice shook with quiet fury, eyes burning as he held my gaze. “Tell mewhat you did.To my face. BecauseI’m not stopping. I’m sure as hell not going back in there—I can’t behere—with a secret that feels this big between us.”
“Okay.” He nodded, his hands held out in front of him. “Can you…Will you hear me out until the end?”
And while he was in no position to make requests, I huffed and snapped at him, “Yes. If you can be honest.For once.”
His jaw tightened, but he released a breath and started talking. “The morning of your attack, my father came to Camelot Court. He’d been receiving complaints from the other parents about The Quest. About you, specifically, and the rumor going around that I’d picked you as the winner before The Quest had even begun.”
I scoffed, my hands shaking as I threw them in the air. “I know that already. So, why did he care so much? Why do any of them give a shit about me?”
Kingston’s breath came out in rapid succession, his eyes jumping to the gate before holding steady on mine. “Because power is a rare, much-sought-after commodity in our world. The winner of The Quest…the ties it offers to the D’Arthur line, at least, are supposed to be open to the Camelot Society members whose daughters have come of age. Since the year prior, their sons had no chance of being named King.”
“And that’s what? A Golden Ticket to something?”
“Yes. When they thought I’d picked you, they thought they might lose that chance. And, for most of the families, another chance doesn’t come, ever. So, there was outrage over it, the same way there was when Elaine’s family threatened to invoke the statute. But with you, when I picked you, my father suspected I’d stepped out of line. Trying to circumvent him. Trying?—”
“And you couldn’t just tell him—lie and say it wasn’t true?”
“No.” His soft laugh held no humor. “I told you I pulled you into this without thinking. A Knight saw my fingertwitchoveryour file when I’d set it aside, and once he did, things were set in motion that there was no way to undo.”
