“Miss me?” Morty puckered his lips and blew Ben a kiss as he dropped his hands.
While Ben growled and shook his head, Morty slipped something into my palm. The cool metal object curved into my hand as I closed my fingers around whatever he’d given me. Sharp edges dug in, but they didn’t cut.
I glanced down at the small silver blade clutched in my fist.
When I lifted my head, Morty winked and whispered, “Surprise.”
Then, he turned on his heel and walked away.
Chapter Twelve
Thoroughly confused by Morty’s sudden arrival and equally abrupt departure, I kept my eyes on his back as he disappeared into the house.
Ben grumbled about the Dreads, lumping Max in with his brother as he ranted about their privilege, as misinformed about their family legacy as I’d been when The Quest began.
The longer he complained, the more my fist tightened on the small blade. And the more I wanted to act on my threat.
But thanks to mySublimationlessons, channeling my rage over Max into Ben Devereaux made sense, and I also possessed a modicum of self-awareness. So, begrudgingly, I accepted thatshanking a Knightwould be frowned upon for a Lady and reined in my need for blood.
Even if the guy deserved it for his douchebag behavior.
Instead, I called it a day and got the hell out of there.
Washing off theickfrom Ben’s training session took about three scrub downs, but after cleaning myself up and tucking the blade under my pillow, I went to my session before lunch.
As luck, and the detailed training schedule I’d triple-checked that morning, would have it, my combined sessions before and after lunch were with Elaine and Vivian.
I failed to muster up enthusiasm for our time together, since I’d been hoping for a chance to get to know the other girls a little better. Now that we’d bridged the divide in the Courage Challenge, I wanted to dig into their feelings about the way things worked here.
Sniff out their allegiance to the Good Old Boys’ club.
Fuel the rebellion.
Normal girl stuff.
On top of derailing those plans, I also had to spend two hours of my day with the two people here I didn’t want to be around at all. But alas, I accepted my fate, and instead of scratching their eyes out during sparring, I went in with the goal ofgetting along.
I considered thatFighting the Powersince petty-rivals-turned-allied-Maidens had to be on the Camelot Society’s list ofDon’tsfor a prosperous and thriving patriarchy.
Unfortunately, Elaine had other plans.
She was hellbent on being intolerable the minute I walked into the sparring gym.
“What’s the matter, Quinn?” she sneered, her blonde curls bouncing around her face as she waited for me across the ring.
Who sparred with their hair down?
Honestly.
“I wonder how quickly Kingston will want to start a family.” She rubbed her belly, as if already carrying his imaginary childandstill betrothed, even though they’d voted against the statute. “I’m sure his father can’t wait to be a grandfather.”
I muttered under my breath, “More like secure the next heir he can torment.”
“What’d you say?”
Biting my tongue, I growled as I shuffled my feet and tried to find the best place to whack her.
Josh, the Knight leading my firstSparringsession, had welcomed me when I arrived and told me where to put my stuff.
