A bougie thrift store, but a thrift store nonetheless. My excitement rose as soon as the limo pulled up, but most of the other girls had never strayed from fancy boutique shopping.
Elaine made sounds of disgust in the back of her throat the entire walk inside. That actually opened the minds of some of the other girls to the experience.
In true Camelot Court fashion, we’d been given vague instructions, at best. Find an outfit that went with our hair and makeup, and it couldn’t be something from our generation.
Since my braids didn’t give me much to go on, I used butterfly clips as a marker for the decade I needed to aim for and searched the racks.
Izzy joined me, randomly holding up items to get my opinion. “How are you doing with everything?” she asked once most of the girls had disappeared to the dressing rooms.
“Fine, I guess.” I shrugged. “It’s weird. Carrying on like nothing. Like the girls I’m supposed to work with didn’t—You know, hold my arms while another pushed me under water.”
I caught myself right before I let our big secret slip, infusing my voice with false brightness. It assured Izzy I wasn’t overlyconcerned by the girls, but she still touched my arm gently before pulling away.
“It is weird. Not entirely surprising with the way our parents handle issues, but still. Did you hear about Tara?”
I shook my head, placing Tara as the very vocal Maiden who’d prompted my decision to let Landon train me for The Quest. The one who saw stars on her Knight’s tongue before phase one began. “What happened with her?”
“Her parents pulled her. They said The Quest this year wasn’t what they signed up for, and unless Drake could fix some big problem, they’d bring their issue against him at the next Round Table meeting.”
“What, like, he’d actually face judgment for something?”
Izzy’s mouth twisted as she thought about it. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t really know much about how it works. Just what I’ve picked up over the years listening to my parents. There’s a lot you catch if you’re paying attention. Most of us just…don’t.”
I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”
She kept searching through the clothes racks. “Remember when you asked me if I spent more time thinking about guys here than usual? And I mentioned how my mom gives terrible relationship advice?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, most of us, the girls at least, have grown up kind of…preparedfor a certain lifestyle. We go to school, we marry a Knight, if possible, or a match our parents arrange. Eventually, we have babies, and our job is to be good wives and mothers for our families. To keep all this going.”
“To make sure the Camelot Society thrives and prospers…” I stared at her. “Landon said something like that to me on my first day here. But what if you wanted to do something else? You know, besides being a baby making factory and saddled with a husband you didn’t choose.”
She eyed a pink crop top before adding it to her pile to try on. “Our parents don’t really give us that option. My mom has been drilling it into my head since I was little. And the others…Elaine being boy obsessed and how she thought she’d end up with Landon? It’s not really that odd in context. Her mom gives mine a run for her money. The only one who’s worse is Vivian’s.”
I tried to wrap my head around it. I mean, women with these kinds of expectations on their shoulders wasn’t anything new. My mom used to say her family had been like that, but she chalked it up to Hispanic culture and traditions she didn’t bring into her life with my dad.
Or put on me.
But I hadn’t considered it for the girls here.
When I first arrived, they seemed as rich and spoiled as I assumed the guys were. Having the world at their feet and their pick of D’Arthur University’s elite, the idea of some poor girl coming in and taking one of their men had been preposterous.
How dare I think I deserved that?
Now, I wasn’t sure it was like that at all.
I remembered things Elaine told me throughout the first challenge, and what Vivian had said the night of my attack. They’d grown up preparing for this—being prepared for it—and I didn’t know what they faced if they failed.
Or if they even had a choice.
“What if you loved someone else?” I asked. “You can’t choose a different path if this isn’t the one meant for you?”
To my surprise, Izzy’s emerald eyes filled up with tears.
She buried her face in her hands, the clothes hangers on her arm jangling, and I froze, unsure of what to do. I pictured Gia in my head, mouthing at me to go to her instead of just standing there awkwardly like I’d never had more than one girlfriend.
So, I walked up beside Izzy and patted her on the back.
