Page 103 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

I stay close to the buildings as I make my way through the town and toward the forest, not wanting to gain any unwanted attention. My shoulders relax a little as I walk into the forest, but I can’t help but start to shake as everything comes crashing down on me.

“It’s not good to be out here alone.” Kieran’s voice flows through the forest, but I don’t react.

I need to keep walking around to get my attention off everything. I need to forget, or I’m going to go crazy.

“Sweets.” Kieran’s voice is calm. “What are you doing? Are you okay?”

I bring my hands out of my pocket and take a shaky deep breath in, trying to calm myself, but after almost an hour, my body is still sweaty and shaky like I just woke up from a nightmare.

Am I ever going to get the image out of my head? Am I ever going to get past this and be able to look at my mother the same way?

“Sweets, what’s wrong?” Kieran cups my face. “Why are you so sweaty and shaking? I felt your panic a couple of minutes ago and rushed to the forest. Is everything all right? Why are you not answering me?”

I open and close my mouth several times. Am I okay? Physically, I am, but mentally, I don’t think I am. What kind of nightmare was that? I’ve never had anything like that before in my life. Why now?

“Sweets, talk to me. Are you all right?” Kieran asks again.

“I don’t know,” I whisper, tears pooling in my eyes.

Panic is all I see in Kieran’s eyes as we look at each other. I don’t feel all right.

“What happened, Adeline?” Kieran continues to cup my face.

The warmth of his hands seeps into my skin, making me feel less numb and out of place. It’s bringing me back to him and not letting the nightmare continue to run through my mind, pulling me into it every chance it gets.

“Nightmare.” I close my eyes, letting the tears slide down my face.

“I’m going to look,” is all he says, and I don’t argue.

I wouldn’t be able to tell him what the nightmare was about. I don’t want to think about it anymore.

“Oh, Sweets.” He pulls me into his embrace. “I’ve got you.”

I grip his shirt, holding it tight as he holds me against him.

“Why?” I whisper. “Why me, and why that?”

I’ve never had anything like it before, so why now?

“I don’t know, Sweets, but we’re going to figure everything out. You might be worried since you lost your father, that you are going to lose your mother,” he tries to explain.

“Then why was she telling me people were after me, and why did she call me High Lady?” I ask, pulling away so I can look up at Kieran. “She doesn’t know what that is.”

I don’t even really know what it is either.

“People are not after you… yet. Once they know who you are and who your mate is, there will be a couple of people who won’t like you being in the High Lady position,” Kieran says.

“High Lady. I’ve heard you being called High Lord, but what is a High Lady, and why is it in my nightmare?” I take a step back and wrap my arms around myself.

I want to be back in his embrace, feeling his warm and muscular arms wrap around me, but I need to know. I need to know why I’m getting called this and what I’m going to do about it.

“I am the High Lord of the Fae, which means I rule over them. The king is what it’s equivalent to,” Kieran starts to explain. “You are my mate, which means you are the queen over them, their High Lady.”

“Say that again?” I look at him with wide eyes, not expecting him to say that.

I should have guessed it was going to be something like that, but I didn’t. Maybe deep down, I knew and didn’t want to believe it. I never thought I would be someone in power, someone important.

And yet here I am.