But still, somehow, Drake D’Arthur remained one step ahead.
My final chance to stop him slipped further out of reach. My last hope to get back what he’d taken from me?—
I couldn’t fail.
Iwouldn’t.
But I needed to figure out what wasn’t working. Something…A flaw existed in my plan. One I hadn’t seen, but it kept us from progressing. Adjusting my plan, again, had become necessary. Because of her.
Her words that day on the lawn replayed in my head.
She’d been right. My secrets had grown too heavy, and I couldn’t shoulder them on my own. I couldn’t keep them in the dark. Even though I always had.
It was time to consider a different path.
Maybe I didn’t have to fight alone…
But if my father got to her first, I’d lose everything. More so now than ever. Landon—he’d never forgive me for it, even if he knew the truth. Even if I explained to him what we’d been fighting against—what it had all been for—this whole time.
Now, losing her completely? It would destroy him.
Sometimes the world was that simple.
Sometimes shades of gray didn’t matter, and everything was black and white.
If anything happened to Quinn Everly, Landon would be lost in the dark.
And I wouldn’t be able to pull him out of it.
Not without the light inside her. That light, what little I’d once had of it, had been snuffed out of me a long time ago. Lost the minute Landon had begged me to let the pain stop.
Lost once I’d made a mistake that cost everything.
And lost along with my best friend. I’d lost?—
Another scream pierced the silence.
I sat up, heart pounding in my chest.
It hadn’t been a dream. But he couldn’t have?—
Every thought bled from my mind, leaving only one behind.
“Quinn.”
Chapter One
Trauma was a bitch.
Even waking up for the third night in a row sandwiched between two Knights of the Round Tableau hadn’t been enough to keep the nightmares away.
I hadn’t expected my trauma to be miraculously cured by their dicks, but I had hoped to sleep through one night during the break in The Quest.
Instead, I woke gasping for breath before the sun came up.
I clutched my heart. It raced beneath my palm as if it might beat out of my chest.
“Shhh. I’ve got you, Princess.”
