Page 292 of Vexatious Queen

Caps were thrown into the air as we all cheered, and it felt like more than just graduation. We had survived years of trials. A gauntlet designed and used as a test for those who would step outside of these walls into danger that no one else could ever comprehend.

To survive Wayward was a win all on its own. I caught sight of Dean Henry, shaking hands among the crowd. We locked eyes, and he gave me a single nod, but I knew it was so much more.

I didn’t like all the secrets he kept, but once I stepped outside of my own pain, I understood him. Only now could I appreciate his role here and in our lives. He walked over to me, and his lip twitched.

“So, I guess this is it,” Dean Henry said.

“I have a feeling that I’ll be seeing you around,” I said, and he chuckled.

“God, I hope not,” he said, smiling and making me laugh.

He glanced at Ren and my guys talking to the rest of our family and friends.

“I’ll be honest with you, Nash. When you first arrived, I wasn’t sure this was how your story ended, but I genuinely hoped you’d prevail. I’m proud of you.”

He held out his hand, and as I took it, my throat tightened.

“Thank you.”

“You deserve it.”

My expression sombered. “Dean…Camden is a good kid, give him a chance like you gave me. I think he’ll surprise you too.”

With a slight smile, he turned and started to walk away.

“Dean Henry?”

He paused and glanced back.

“You know any more secrets about me?”

He chuckled. “What do you think?”

“Not creepy at all,” I called out sarcastically, and I heard him laugh as he disappeared into the crowd.

I shook my head. Always a mystery. I turned around and found Ren—my Queen.

The world had tried to burn us all to the ground. Instead, it had forged something lethal.

I’d learned early what fire felt like. Not the kind that warms you, but the kind that strips flesh from bone and teaches you exactly how much pain a body can endure before it breaks.

Lawrence didn’t need fists every time. Sometimes it was the silence. He looked at me as if I were already dead while I waited for the final blow. I was property, nothing more than a thing, and not a son.

I’d learned how to stand still. How not to flinch. How to survive in a house where love was a weapon and mercy didn’t exist. I’d told myself that if I endured long enough, if I became harder, smarter, meaner, then I could win…and I did. But why was it that winning felt like a loss? There were so many casualties along the way, a list that could fill my arm.

Loss like that didn’t give warnings. It gutted you and left you breathing through something that should’ve killed you. I couldn’t even count how many nights I lay awake praying that I didn’t become the thing I wanted to destroy. And for a while, I wasn’t sure if that was possible.

Among the bullets and torture, betrayals and broken oaths, I found my brothers, not by blood, but by choice. They saw the worst in me and stayed anyway. They knew exactly how ugly this world was and decided to fight back rather than bow. We learned that loyalty wasn’t words. It was standing shoulder-to-shoulder when everything went to hell.

And then along came Ren.

Like she felt my thoughts brush against her, she looked up and found me. Her cheeks were flushed from the heat of the day, her eyes bright with everything she carried and somehow still survived. I’d never seen anything more devastatingly beautiful. There was no comparison, no competition—there never had been.

Princess carried a light inside her that was fierce and constant, something that pulled everything toward it. She was the sun, and I wasn’t circling her by choice anymore. I needed her warmth to breathe, and to remember why the world was worth surviving.

She crooked her finger, summoning me over, and there was nothing that could stop the smile that spread across my face. There was never a moment when I stood a chance against her, and it took me far too long to see it.

Hands in my pockets, I stalked toward her, and with each step, my heart pounded harder.