Page 105 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

No.

He can’t be reported to the prince, not when he’s already been whipped because of him. I don’t want Kieran to die. I try to wiggle free from his embrace, but Kieran holds me tightly against him, even though it doesn’t help with the panic seeping into my body. This is all going wrong.

“I will do no such thing and neither will you.” Kieran sounds confident and worry floods through me. “Nothing is going on here.”

“Then I guess we will have to deal with it here,” the man replies. “Come over here so I can kill you.”

Kieran pulls away from me, cupping my face. “You stay right here, and no matter what happens, don’t do anything to interfere. I want you out of harm’s way.”

I open my mouth to argue with Kieran, but he gives me a pointed look before standing to his full height and striding toward the man. Gasping as I take the man in, I realize it’s the town drunk, Marvin. What is he doing in the woods in the middle of the night?

Marvin opens his mouth, getting ready to say something, when Kieran’s hands wrap around his head, snapping his neck. Marvin’s lifeless body hits the forest ground, and I stare at it in shock.

What… what just happened?

CHAPTER 30

Iblink several times, trying to see if the image in front of me will change, but it doesn’t. Kieran is standing over Marvin’s dead body.

“Kieran.” I whisper his name as he continues to look at Marvin. “What did you do?”

He turns to look at me, his face void of any emotion. “What needed to be done.”

“Killing him?”

Kieran nods and walks toward me, but I take a step back.

“You killed Marvin,” I whisper, still not believing it.

“You knew him?” Kieran asks. “Marvin as in the one who saved you?”

I nod, but then shake my head. “I didn’t know him well. He saved me once. He was the town drunk, but you didn’t have to kill him.”

Kieran closes the distance between us and holds my shoulders. “Yes, I did. He was going to tell people what happened, putting both of us in danger. There was no reasoning with him. If he is a drunk, he will run his mouth to anyone who will listen, and it won’t be good for either one of us.”

I open and close my mouth, trying to come up with something to say, but Kieran isn’t wrong. Marvin would have told everyone who would listen to him, and it would have created a mess for us. But I wish he didn’t have to die.

“I’m sorry for killing him in front of you. I’m not sorry for killing him,” Kieran says. “I will kill anyone who puts your life in danger.”

And I find that really sweet and hot when I probably shouldn’t.

Kieran hums and smirks at me. “If only I could act on those feelings,” he purrs. “Soon.”

I clench my thighs together and my cheeks heat at getting caught. This is when blocking him from feeling my emotions would be amazing. Then he would never know when his words turned me on. But part of me likes him knowing when I’m turned on.

“What are you going to do with Marvin?” I ask, looking over at his body once again.

Sadness fills me, and I quickly look away. There has been too much death around me recently.

“Elias and Zayden are going to take care of it. They will dig him a proper grave and mark it,” Kieran replies. “We are going to treat him with care and respect.”

“O-okay,” I whisper. “Can.” I clear my throat. “Can I be there? I feel like I should be there for him. I know I didn’t know him well, but I need to do this.”

Kieran cups my face. “Of course you can, and don’t feel bad for wanting to.”

My shoulders relax as Kieran says those words. Everyone deserves at least one person to come to their funeral, and this time it’s going to be me. If I had never come out here to calm my mind, Marvin would have never had to die, but how was I supposed to know that?

“Do not feel guilty over this,” Kieran says, looking directly into my eyes. “It was not your doing.”