I wanted to be offended by the surprise, but who was I kidding? It was obvious I had something on my mind and planned to avoid it.
Thankfully, he gave me space to process.
His trust that I would come to him when I was ready gave me the space to breathe and clear my head. It was exactly what I needed and pulled me out of my funk.
In return, I let him beat me around the lake, stopping to use my rescue inhalerbeforeI needed it.
He sent me off to my next training with a meaningful kiss goodbye, and I tried not to cry over how good it felt to be truly seen.
In my next session with Peter, as I stared at the Queen chess piece on the board in front of me, doubt gnawed at me.
With what Max had thrown in my faceandmy realizations before I’d veered off my path to fall down a cliff, I reached one inevitable conclusion. If I wanted to turn things around, I needed the spot at the center of the wheel.
I needed to win and become Queen.
My only priority had to be solving the clues, which meant putting Max, Vivian, and anyone else who got in the way out of my mind completely.
As my train of thought spiraled toward full distraction, Peter quizzed me on my knowledge of the rules. “Do you remember what these guys are called?”
He touched a phallic-shaped piece.
“Bishops. They sit beside the King and Queen.”
The right and left hands of the King, protecting him in different ways.
Peter smiled. “Yes, and they move diagonally. Not side to side or in a straight line like the Queen.”
My lips quirked. “They cross the board in X patterns.”
He chuckled. “Yes. Good job, Quinn.”
When he smiled warmly, it still threw me for a bit of a loop. But, like Izzy had said, he and Vivian were as different as night and day.Two sides of the same coin.
Just like my Knights.
Despite sharing the same black hair and ice-blue eyes, Peter was friendly as we engaged during each lesson.The opposite of my every interaction with her—cold and bitchy.
Maybe the same could be said for her and me.
Vivian had been my biggest threat when I’d first arrived. She’d proven that the night she tried to drown me in the lake, but she’d quickly lost her place asenemy number one.
There were larger opponents forcing both our hands and controlling our movements. I’d questioned her motivations and intentions ever since Kingston had.
Were we fighting the same battle?
Peter pulled me from my thoughts. “You’re lost in your head again. What’s up?”
“I’m trying to remember the Knights’ movement.”
“They move to the nearest space not on the same rank, file, or diagonal as their current space. And?—”
Shaking my head, I put a hand up. “Every time you explain them, you lose me.”
Brow furrowing, his mouth twisted as he thought through a better explanation. His blue eyes lit up, and he made an L-shape with his thumb and forefinger. “Like this.”
I shot him a look. “You can’t call me a loser before the game ends, Peter.” Staring pointedly at his completely innocent hand gesture, I couldn’t help but tease him.
He’d made it his personal mission to make me a fan of the game, ever since I told him about my dad. I had no idea why he cared, but it was sweet.
