Chapter One
When I signed up for the annual challenge thrown by my college’s elite fraternity, Camelot Court, I expected it to be my ticket to financial relief.
I’d get in, get out, and walk away with the prize money.
All I had to do was spend one month belonging to a Knight.
They called it The Quest.
Paired with the King’s broody best friend, sequestered from the other Maidens, and dressed up like a doll for parties, I judged them based on what I sawandhow they treated me.
I received a lukewarm welcome at best.
But my first impression that they were just a bunch of spoiled rich guys getting off on calling themselves Knights, play-acting with a round table, and holding a medieval tournament couldn’t have been farther from the truth.
And now, my heart belonged to three of them.
Two Knights—both college juniors like me—and one King, a senior carrying an invisible weight on his shoulders.Alone.
Landon Scott, the King’s right-hand man and best friend, was loyal, steadfast, and haunted by guilt. Over the first three weeks, he broke down my walls and showed me my limits.
My White Knight with a dark, forgotten past surprised me in more ways than one and reminded me how to trust myself.
Max Dread, Landon’s biggest rival, presented himself as the villain. The bad guy. The asshole. But when fate paired us together in the Honor Challenge, he spent six days showing me how much hid beneath his carefully constructed exterior.
My Dark Knight with a soft side—he pushed me to honor my voice and speak my truth.
Finally, Kingston D’Arthur, the elusive and charming King of Camelot Court, kept so many secrets I didn’t know what to make of him, and he repeatedYou’ll Seelike the words had been programmed into his internal voice box to play on a loop. With his cards held so close to his chest, I struggled to have faith in the promise of answers.
But when he opened up during the Courage Challenge and shed light on his childhood, Idid seehis truth. How growing up as the D’Arthur heir, living with abuse, and worrying over his every move had shaped him.
How it prompted his brave, quiet fight to give everyone at Camelot Court a chance to love without limits.
And how he hid secrets from everyone, even his most loyal and trusted Knight.
His best friend, whom he’d loved all his life.
Every move Kingston made was to outmaneuver his father, Drake D’Arthur, the reigning King of the larger Camelot Society, and to beat him in what I’d thought had been just an antiquated, barbaric, and downright medieval conquest.
The more I learned, the more I saw it was a crusade for power and control. With antiquated traditions, especially where women were concerned.
The Camelot Society viewed its Maidens as pawns. It forced them to play silly games—a series of vague challenges,clearlydesigned by a man—and tested their worth to keep them in line. A tradition they followed without question.
Until I showed up.
I had plenty to say on the subject of sitting still and looking pretty. But despite my modern views, I still wanted to win.
Even if the prizes were as vague as the competition itself.
One prize turned out to be Kingston’s hand, an arranged marriage he wanted out of, but wouldn’t escape if his father had anything to do with it, and I suspected another prize would burn down the patriarchy. So, I’d vowed to fight with him, stand by his side, and get us all to the end.
Less than an hour ago, I’d received the good news: I’d made it through the Courage Challenge in good standing.
But now, every shred of bravery left my body.
My pulse pounded in my ears, and a scream tore from my throat. Terror laced through my piercing cry as it echoed in the room, and Kingston stepped in front of me.
Our time together had been full of secretsandsurprises.
