Page 124 of The King's Maiden

And now, I wondered if mine was, too.

My dreams were messing with my head. Something was happening to me, and I didn’t know what it meant. But I couldn’t have her like this, even if I couldn’t stand it.

And yet, knowing I had to pull back didn’t change what I had done.

It didn’t change the truth.

Quinn Everly was mine.

And I was, and always would be, hers.

Chapter Thirty-Four

QUINN

Landon and I spent the whole day together, until that evening when he had to leave again. All the Knights had to help set up for the next day. The Knights’ Quorum.

I couldn’t believe twenty days had passed already, and that this part of The Quest was finally coming to an end.

Everything felt different.

I felt different.

Deciding to walk around the campus grounds one more time before we left for Pendragon Estate, I packed my clutch with my essentials. I put the inhaler in there out of habit. But I hadn’t needed it all day. At least, not more than once this morning like I was supposed to use it.

A part of me believed Landon was right. That, while I had asthma, the attacks I’d had since my dad died where I felt like I couldn’t breathe had stemmed from panic.

But still, I felt better with it close by.

Hearing something and trusting it were too completely separate things.

Leaving the house through the front doors, I took the path going in the opposite direction from the Round Tableau building. The way I’d run from Brutus. Thankfully, the giant dog was still nowhere in sight.

I walked past my lemon tree. Not realizing I’d claimed it as my own until I called it that in my head. Heading down the sloping hill toward the lake, I gazed out over the water.

The moon reflected across the surface, calling to me and pulling my body forward.

Voices to my left distracted me.

Rushed whispers and hissing remarks as whoever was over there argued.

“We need to do it now.” Recognition tugged at my senses.

“This doesn’t feel right.”

A shaky voice responded. “Yeah, I’m with Inez.”

“What the fuck is this?”

At that louder, shriller reply, I distinctly recognized the voice and stepped forward—like an idiot who’d never seen a suspenseful movie and yelled at the actors on the screen for doing the same thing. Wondering what the hell Vivian was up to, though, I had to get closer.

“You two idiots are acting like you don’t understand the stakes here. We were given a job to do. If she?—”

My foot crunched on a stray branch.

A loud, hissing shush sounded from the trees. My head scanned my surroundings, trying to find a place to hide. As their footsteps approached, I jumped between the rows of kayaks and paddle boards, crouching down and out of sight.

“What was that?” one of the girls—Inez, maybe—asked. “I don’t see anyone.”

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