Page 55 of The King's Maiden

“Perhaps she wasn’t what you thought, son?”

The voice clicked in my brain—the one from the intercom at the gate, who had specifically told me I’d been dismissed. My brow furrowed. I didn’t know who the hell that voice belonged to or what they were playing at, but I wasn’t going to stand there while they lied.

I tried to tell Landon what happened, but he muffled the sound of my voice with his hand, the look in his eyes clearly ordering me to wait.

Huffing and resisting the urge to lick his palm again, I decided to chill. Only because Landon seemed hell bent on staying hidden, and I wanted to know what was going on more than I wanted to get a rise out of him.

Momentarily, of course.

Kingston’s voice rang out sharply in the open hall. “Search the grounds.Now.I want her found and brought directly to me.”

“As you wish.”

My lip curled at those words delivered by whoever that lying, duplicitous, totally shady jerk was. I had a good feeling his search would come up empty. And if Landon hadn’t already found me, the place I’d be going if that guy hadwouldn’tbe to Kingston.

Maybe my concern over ending up on a milk carton hadn’t been so off base.

Footsteps retreated down the hall, and once the front doors opened and slammed closed, Landon whistled. The sound rang in my ears, followed by quick footsteps approaching. Landon’s eyes never left my face, but he slowly removed his hand as Kingston walked up to us.

“Quinn!” Kingston rushed forward. “There you are! Are you alright?”

Landon stepped back to let Kingston take his place, clasping his hands behind his back and dropping his eyes to the ground. My eyebrows rose, but I couldn’t dwell on it. Kingston took my face in his hands and pulled my gaze to his.

“I’m fine,” I assured him, and the relief on his face made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, which I reminded myself was ridiculous as I told my lady bits to cool it. “But that guy is lying. He turned me away at the gate. And he sent Brutus after me.”

Landon’s head popped up. “That’s why you look like that?” Blurting the question as though he couldn’t help himself, he raised his hands in defense when he caught my answering glare. “I didn’t know that happened. I was just asking.”

“Maybe next time you can askbeforeyou insult me and imply I went a few rounds in the dirt. Hmm?”

Kingston’s head snapped to Landon, who dropped his back down. “I thought you agreed to be nice.”

“I didn’t say she looked bad after doing it.”

My jaw dropped. “Oh, please! Don’t even pretend you said it like a compliment.”

Landon shrugged.

I growled my frustration and turned back to Kingston. “Do you see what I’m dealing with here?”

Kingston couldn’t hide his amusement or lack of any genuine sympathy for my plight. “I trust you can handle him. Now, back to what happened earlier. You said Merle turned you away at the gate?”

“Yes. I heard his voice on the intercom. It’s the same one I heard in the Round Tableau talking to Max after he unlocked?—”

“You talked to Max in the Round Tableau?”

I glanced sharply at Landon, disliking the accusation in his eyes. “Yes, oh gallant Knight of mine. He freed me after you left me locked in the room.” I refocused on Kingston. “Max just let me out. He was a dick, as usual. And when his dad came, he saidsomething about Max having news for him about a development before they went to his room…And I swear it was the same voice on the intercom and just now on the stairs.”

Kingston searched my face before sharing a look with Landon. “Merle’s been with me for the last hour, Quinn. It couldn’t have been him.”

“Oh.” I wracked my brain, trying to recall the voice I’d heard that night. “I thought it was the same voice.”

Kingston took hold of my hands and squeezed them. “It’s okay. We’ll figure out who it was and make sure they’re off campus as soon as possible.”

He looked sharply at Landon, who nodded once, flicking his eyes to mine for a millisecond before he retrained them on the ground. Maybe it was just the way all the Knights acted around Kingston, but it was weird to see the dynamics of their roles here play out. Deference to someone only a year older than him made me think they took their wholeKing-and-his-loyal-Knightsroutine seriously.

That, or Landon knew Kingston kissed me.

But I didn’t know what to do with that, and the thought of addressing it exhausted me. The entire day had been fucking exhausting, and it wasn’t even noon.

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