Page 36 of The King's Maiden

The hair on the back of my neck rose. Something about hearing him call me by my name…Not to say it thrilled me to be called Maiden, but hearing it now, it didn’t sit right.

“Why does it matter?” I hedged carefully. “Am I not allowed to talk to the other Knights? Because if so, I didn’t know that either.”

“Did he tell you to say you’re a virgin? To put that on your application so we’d pick you?”

“What? What do you mean?”

He crowded my space, towering over where I knelt on the bed. “You expect me to believe that you applied to be a Maiden knowing what it involved when you’ve never had sex before?”

“I—I don’t—It doesn’t matter to me what you believe, Landon.” I shuffled back on my knees. But I couldn’t get far, and when Landon followed me, I lost my balance. Falling backward, my hands braced my body on the bed. Landon planted his fists beside me, cutting off my escape.

“I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but I don’t like it.” I leaned back farther. “And I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about. No one told me to put that on my application. I put it because it’s the truth.”

He scoffed and dropped his head, so he was right in my face. “You’re lying.”

“And you’re insane!” I shot back, working my legs out from under me. “What do you want, physical proof? A gynecologist to verify my hymen is intact? Blood on the sheets?”

No longer kneeling, I dug my heels into the mattress and scooted back. Landon’s gaze flicked down between my legs, like he might actually be considering that as a real offer.

“What the actual fuck?” I shrieked, snapping his eyes back to my face.

I scrambled back farther on the bed. Letting my back fall onto the mattress, I drew my knees to my chest. Before he could react, I planted my heels on his stomach and kicked my legs out as hard as I could.

He grunted, recoiling from the kick and stumbling back off the mattress. I seized the opportunity and shot for the foot of the bed. I almost made it over the side when he caught hold of my leg. He dodged my kick at him and didn’t loosen his grip. Yanking me toward him, the quick jerk of my legs knocked my arms out from beneath me.

My chest hit the mattress, forcing the breath from my lungs. Landon gripped my upper body and flipped me onto my back. Before I could get in another kick, he climbed on top of me, straddling my hips.

He braced most of his weight on his knees, but I still couldn’t get out from under him. I swiped at his chest, hoping to claw my way free. With one hand, he pinned my wrists above my head.

I bucked my hips and tried to throw him off.

Shifting his weight back, he hooked his feet over my legs so I couldn’t use them to force him off. He stretched the full length of his body over mine, sinking down and pressing me into the mattress. I hated the way my traitorous body noticed how good it felt—how my alarm evenly matched my arousal the second I felt his cock against my pubic bone.

“Let me go, Landon,” I all but growled in his face.

He didn’t budge. “Tell me the truth, Quinn.”

His grip tightened on my wrist, and while his voice rose with his demand, he didn’t shout. He was completely unmoved by my reaction—scarily in control.

Suddenly, his weight felt heavier. My awareness of how it pressed on my chest sharpened painfully, and tears pricked my eyes. I started to panic. My lungs cried out for deep breaths I couldn’t take as a tear escaped and slid down my cheek.

Wheezing past the tightness in my chest, I shouted, “I yield!”

Landon immediately let me go.

He climbed off me, almost falling as he sprang from the bed. His eyes widened as he stared between me and his outstretched hand. The one that had been holding my wrists.

Blinking rapidly, he stumbled backward towards the door.

I pushed myself up, panting hard and watching as his back hit the door. Slamming against it seemed to jar him out of his shock. He pushed the hair back from his eyes and met mine one more time.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

And then, he was gone.

The door ricocheted off the wall and slammed shut behind him.

I lay on the bed, breathing hard and staring at the closed door. Like he might burst through it in the next second and tell mewhat the actual fuckjust happened. So, we could get back to the part where things had been going really fucking well.

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