But I’d seen some shit since then.
I’d been around the block. Attended my first rodeo, as they say. And I’d learnednothingat Camelot Court was what it seemed. Especially the three broody assholes I’d claimed as mine. Mine to choose, mine to care for, and mine to do whatever the fuck I decided came next.
No matter what anyone else thought.
I’d vowed to fight for the life I wanted.
And witnessing Max Dread be the complete opposite of Max Dread?
I called bullshit.
Bull. Shit.
I vaguely heard Drake D’Arthur announce that Camelot Court would get with the times and remove the Ultimate Female Virtue statute from over our heads. Rah rah.
But past that, I barely listened to the rest.
As soon as the Nobility Introduction ended, Landon steered me out of the parlor. “Are you okay?”
He probably didn’t want me to lose my shit in the parlor, but his tone didn’t contain the appropriate concern for that. Safely away from everyone, his dark amber eyes studied my face. But he wasn’t eyeing me like a bomb about to go off.
His sharp gaze held mine like the White Knight he was, holding everything together, and waiting for me to tell him what I needed.
So, he knew it, too.
“That was suspicious as fuck, right?”
Before Landon responded, Kingston appeared. He jerked his head in the direction of his office, signaling to Landon. With a gentle grip on my arm, he pulled me inside as Kingston checked around to make sure no one saw.
A moment later, he joined us.
He shut the door behind him and spoke quietly, “I have one minute before I have to get back, but I needed to do this.”
He strode forward, captured my face in his hands, and kissed me as his whole body shook.
Then he pulled back, he pressed his forehead to mine. “Please don’t do that to me again.”
My brow creased with a mix of worry and concern. “What do you mean?”
“You are fiercely stubborn, incredibly prideful, and unapologetically reckless. And I cherish that about you. I genuinely do. Ineverwant you to lose those qualities, especially when it comes to the three of us.”
He glanced at Landon, and the tremor in his fingers had me covering his hands with mine.
Kingston snapped his gaze to me. “But Drake D’Arthur is stubborn, prideful, and completely heartless. He’ll get rid of you for sport, Quinn, almost as quickly as he’d do it to hurt me. He eliminates anyone he suspects is a threat. Vivian and Max’sspectacle in the parlor? It put them on that list. And I can’t, for the life of me, understand why they did it now.”
“We were just talking about how weird it was.”
“I’ll see what my father knows, but until then, I don’t believe it was a move made lightly. Vivian’s parents are as cunning as my father, so if they’ve decided to make that move, they have a plan. So, I need you to remember something. Can you do that for me?”
I nodded without hesitation.
“When it comes to my father, sometimes, the bravest thing you can do—the only way to beat him at his own game—is by staying on the board. Your greatest strength, for now, will be convincing him you aren’t an obstacle in his path, while we wait for a chance to strike.”
As I tried to process that, Kingston ran out of time. He kissed me again, gripped Landon’s arm, and left us as quickly as he’d appeared.
“What happened in the Quorum?”
Landon took my hand, rubbing his arm where Kingston had grabbed him. He led me out of the office as he filled in details. “The families argued over the statute, whether it should be invoked or not, and Percy Valencourt, Vivian and Peter’s father, called out whether other by-laws should be called into question if the statute wasn’t upheld.”
