“Okay, well, I’vetriedto ask,” Morgan corrects. “She won’t appear to me. Extremely rude. But?—”
There’s a sudden, sharp rap at the door. Morgan looks at me, frowning.
“Bodyguard?”
I shrug. “I guess? It’s Lanz out there.”
Lanz looked…better when I saw him today. Not 100%, I guess, but not on the verge of collapse, either. Hopefully nothing’s wrong.
“Hmm.” Morgan gets up, crosses the room, and opens the door.
ItisLanz. And Callahan.
And Kingston.
AndKai.
My heart starts pounding as soon as I see him, thinking of thelasttime I saw him. I can’t even meet his gaze or else I might spontaneously combust.
Morgan’s eyes go wide at the four of them. “To…what do we owe the pleasure?” she asks.
“We need you,” Kingston says. Says it right past Morgan, to me.
“Me?” I pull back in my chair a little. “Why? Did something happen?”
“No,” says Lanz, while Kingston, Kai, and Callahan all say “Yes.”
“Um…” Morgan frowns.
“We need you, Gwenna,” Kingston repeats, stepping through the door. “We all need you. It…can’t wait.”
They bringme to Camlann House.
To their underground room.
High walls. Banners and swords. The massive, round, black wood table.
I shiver. I don’t like it here. I wouldn’t like it in here even if it hadn’t been the place where I’d learned exactly how they’d lied to me and felt like my sanity was crumbling away. It’s austere. Grand. Cold. Demanding respect in a way that makes me uneasy.Maybe this what some people mean when they say they feel uncomfortable in churches, I think as I take step after tentative step into the space. Like they’re being judged simply for daring to exist in a space like this.
“Pick a chair, any chair,” Kai says, gesturing to the table. “We’re all equals here. Hence the…” He spins a finger in a circle.
I glance around at the options. But my gaze falls on the seat against the wall: a gleaming, tall, empty chair. Pure white.
“Any chair but that one,” Lanz corrects, stepping into my field of vision and shooting Kai a look.
“Figured that went without saying,” Kai retorts. He presses his hands together. “Gwenna, if you please, don’t sit in the magical mystery ejector seat, mkay?”
“The…what?”
I frown. Everyone looks at Kingston.
He’s frozen, hands on the back of one of the other chairs.
“Le siège perileux,” he says, after a moment. “It’s…for whoever succeeds. On the first Whitsunday after the grail is found, they’ll sit there, and if their quest is truly pure and complete, they’ll be safe.”
“And if not…” Kai draws a finger across his throat.
I blink at it. “Killer chair,” I murmur. “What’ll they think of next?” I fold my arms, shivering, as if the chair could lash out and get me right where I stand. “Is that what you wanted to show me?”
