Ever since I’d been trapped by fear that when he remembered, I would lose him anyway.
Frozen by one mistake I could never take back, when he ran from me, I dropped my hand.
And I let him go.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Gia and I sat on the floor in my room, clues strewn around me while she dabbed my skinned knees with a cotton ball.
“Ouch!” I cried, swatting at her hand.
“Don’t be a baby.”
She leaned down and blew air on my knee to calm the sting.
I pouted, but it helped.
As she covered my scrapes with ointment, I read the cyphers again. “I feel like I’m missing something. I need to make a list of my clues.”
Gia grabbed a pen from her bag and tossed it to me.
“Okay, so I got the lockbox from Landon, then the black light from Morty. That led to the code, and inside the lockbox, I found the magnifying glass and the photo with the bear statue, which I didn’t get to check out before I was so rudely assaulted by Ben.”
“Excellent deflection, as usual.” Gia tipped an imaginary hat to me.
I bowed my head. “Why, thank you.”
She pointed a finger at my face. “How are you doing with that? Ready to talk about it?”
“Nope.” I shook my head, aware that deflecting would only last so long. “I can’t react to what happened with Ben until I end this. Not fully. Not the way I need to unpack it.”
Gia gave me a sympathetic smile. “I know, babe. As long as you know I’m here when you’re ready.”
“Always.”
She reached out and squeezed my hand, assuring me without words, and I returned her smile before moving on. “Okay, the riddle is from Kingston, and the diary came from Max, so if my theory about the order is right, I’ve gotten a clue from everyone I met at the Maiden Selection.”
“The next significant part of my journey was being attacked by the girls and going to Merle. But what clue did I get from Merle? Kingston wouldn’t have left him out if he designed this around my journey here.”
We lapsed into silence as I thought about it.
I needed the map of Camelot Court that Merle had given me, but I had left my laundry bag at the apartment after finding Max’s napkin. “Hey, did you bring my laundry bag?”
“Yeah!” She hopped up and grabbed it from her overnight bag before she tossed it to me.
I rifled through its contents and pulled out what I’d shoved into the pocket of a rumpled dress.
The map of Camelot Court Merle had given me before the Honor Challenge wasn’t something I’d expected to need again, but I’d held onto it just in case.
Scanning it quickly, I saw nothing that helped, but my eyes fell on the pledge paddle as I set the map beside it.
Merle had given one to everyone. He’d also been a part of everyone’s journey, whether directly or indirectly, so it was possible the paddle was a clue.
I picked it up, examining the wood.
“It’s pretty!” Gia pointed at what I’d carved into it afterBonding Day. “Got a little heavy-handed with the knife, huh?”
I ran my finger over the word Princess.
