Page 15 of The King's Man 2

His gaze commands me to continue.

I clear my throat. “It’s actually one of the reasons I want to attend the spring gala. It’s held on Queen’s Island, and she’s... a friend.”

Quin schools his face again, but a bit of tea sloshes out of his cup.

“Once, we were thick as thieves.”

A long, slow blink. But he doesn’t sound surprised. “Is that right?”

“We used to spend our summers together in Hinsard.”Hinsard.I shake off the sudden deep sad dive my stomach makes and jostle Quin with an elbow to his side. “Iamfamiliar with that city, you know.”

“Scholar Calix Solin of Hinsard.”

The moment he says the name, I shiver violently.

Quin notices, a lingering look at my arm, a slow analysis as he lifts his eyes to mine.

I hurriedly and shakily duck my head into another sip of sweet tea, and Quin stares at me over the rim of his own cup.

He sips, and lowers it, and looks away. “Tell me about you and the king’s wife.”

I choke on my tea. “It’s nothing like that!”

“You can’t be blamed if you liked each other as children.”

“You know me, Quin... that is not possible.”

“Certain truths take time to realise.”

“I never felt that way toward Veronica.” I pause. “Only one person has ever fascinated me.” My stomach twists at this, but I hold my head high. “Definitely only one.”

Quin looks at me, sceptically.

I knock back my drink, veins buzzing. A little laugh slips up my throat. “And thatonehas fascinated me twice.”

“Twice?”

I stroke my soldad softly. “I was a child the first time.”

Quin takes my cup and pours, right to the brim.

I lounge with it, the tree trunk the perfect support at my back. “Do you want to hear the story?”

“I won’t be begging.”

“Can’t imagine that’s something you’d ever do.”

Quin spares me a contemptuous look as he drinks the tea.

I smirk over my teacup.

His jaw twitches, but he doesn’t deny it. Instead, he pours another round of tea, and his fingers bump mine as he hands me the cup.

Redcloaks, water wyverns, a mysterious boy with magic—I tell Quin the story of the violet oak. Of my first encounter with the young Prince Nicostratus.

“That’s theonlymemorable someone in your life?” Quin murmurs, his face turned away from mine. There’s an edge to his voice, but it could also be the effects of the thorn tea. “Have there been no others?”

I tilt my head back against the trunk and shut my eyes against the swaying world. “I slept with a prince.”

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