Page 91 of The King's Maiden

He froze. Maybe even stopped breathing.

And I grew nervous as I waited for his response. Considering what had happened the last time the wordvirginityleft my mouth, my unease made sense.

But I’d needed to ask—whatever the fallout.

Not knowing how he felt about it now was eating me up almost as voraciously as he was.

“Landon?”

“That wasn’t a question.”

I blinked a few times, processing his response. “Okay…Do you want to take things further?”

He pushed himself up and climbed off the bed. “Quinn, we don’t have to do that just because you’re my Maiden. I can train you without?—”

“But what if I want to?”

His body tensed, eyes darting to the space he’d just left on the bed. He scrubbed a hand over his face and averted his gaze to the window.

“I just…I don’t think it’s a good idea. All of this—I’m sure it feels like something you want right now, but when it’s over, you might?—”

“Don’t do that.”

His eyes snapped back to me. “Don’t do what?”

“Tell me what or how I’m going to feel.”

We stared off for a minute, me standing my ground and him trying to get a read on me. He finally gave in and shook his head, expelling a heavy breath.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I just…” He came back to the bed, sitting down beside me. “When the twenty-one days are over, we go to Pendragon Estate, Quinn.”

My brow furrowed. “I know that.”

His eyebrows rose, prompting me to connect dots I failed to see. “Are you worried I’ll sleep with you and sleep with someone else right after? Because I already told you, it’s not going to happen. I’m getting through the challenge.”

“No, it’s not that. I know you’ll get through it.”

I ignored how that made me all warm and sparkly on the inside. “I don’t understand, then. What are you trying to say, Landon?” I tapped my chest twice in acome at me, brogesture. “Just spit it out. I can take it.”

He fought a laugh and rolled his eyes at my antics, but his expression sobered quickly.

When he dropped his eyes to the bed, I got a little nervous.

“You’re not the only one with a challenge in front of them at Pendragon, Quinn.”

“Oh. You mean, you?—”

“Yes.” He averted his eyes. “I have to do whatever is necessary to get the Maiden assigned to me to ask for more. Iwilldo that.”

Something ugly unfurled in my chest at the thought—something I refused to name or fully acknowledge. It hadn’t been there when he first told me about the next challenge, but it was there now.

I knew it.

And so did he.

“It’s one less player on the board, Quinn. If you keep going past the first thirty days, the less you’re up against, the better.But it means I have a job to do, too. Can you really say it wouldn’t bother you, knowing I was seducing someone else after taking—? Can you see how that might bring in feelings that could get in your way?”

“I’m not going to let anything get in my way, Landon.” Not a King, not a cocky bastard—not even the thought of my Knight and what he’d have to do in less than two weeks.

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