Maybe it was about who had seen me.
Landon had still seen me first. Then the gatekeeper, or Morty, and then the pledges and Max, but…unless I had to hunt down the pledges, I had to be missing an option.
Had there been someone who’d seen me before I saw them?
As I ate, the list of options ran through my head on a loop. Landon, Morty, an unseen option, the pledges, Max.
Landon, Morty, the pledges, an unseen option, and Max.
Landon, the gatekeeper, the?—
I got up and marched straight to Kingston’s office.
“You saw me enter the gate. On your phone.”
Kingston lifted his head at my arrival, and his smile confirmed my suspicion. “I certainly did.” He held out a piece of paper and waited as I stepped forward and took it. “Clever girl…”
I lit up at the praise and proof that I was on the right track. “Thank you!”
His lips twitched, but he only nodded. “You’ve made excellent progress.”
Beaming, I walked over to his chair and gave him a kiss. Eager for answers before meeting Ben. “Thank you,darling.”
He smiled broadly, cupping my cheeks and kissing me firmly—taking his time. By the time he released me and planted one last soft kiss on my lips, I’d melted into a puddle.
“Alright. Go on, love.”
As I left his office, I unfolded the paper he’d given me. Kingston had written a riddle on it in his elegant scrawl. I read it a few times, unsure what it meant and too distracted to puzzle it out right then.
But I headed for myEndurancesession feeling lighter, with more hope than I’d felt in days.
Chapter Twenty-Four
After my run with Landon, I went to the sitting room forStrategywith Peter. When I entered, I realizedI hadn’t lamented the walk over. While I wasn’t surprised that even a food poisoning outbreak wouldn’t save me from chess, I was weirdly looking forward to my lesson.
Peter sat at the table, so I smiled at him but I didn’t sit down right away. I went to the picture wall.
He joined me as I examined the row of photos. “Looking for something in particular?”
I held out the photo clue for him to see it. “That statue. It’s not there anymore. I’m trying to figure out when it was last pictured in the photos.”
Peter glanced up at the wall of photos. “I don’t remember the year, but it was moved to the Round Tableau.”
“It was?”
He nodded. “It’s still there, hidden in one of the alcoves. The pledges carve their names into it.”
My eyes widened. It might have the clue I needed from the pledges I’d met outside the Round Tableau. The next stop on my journey through who had seen me at Camelot Court.
“Thank you so much!”
Without thinking, I threw my arms around Peter and hugged him. He stiffened, and I instantly pulled back.
“Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry.”
He smiled, his cheeks reddening as he cleared his throat. “It’s alright. Just unexpected.” His brow furrowed. “I honestly can’t remember the last time someone did that.”
My face fell and my heart broke a little for him. I held out my arms. “May I?”
