Page 132 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

Hands dig into my hair, yanking me up so I’m face to face with Prince Archie. Before I can do anything, his hand wraps around my throat, tightening with each passing second, cutting off my air supply.

“You’ll regret saying no to me,” he whispers, his voice deadly calm as he looks me in the eye.

Tears pool in my eyes and run down my face as I blink. My lungs are screaming for me to take in a breath of air, but I know I won’t be able to with Prince Archie’s hand around my neck.

“You are going to listen, and you are going to listen well.” He gets closer to me, garnering all my attention.

His hand loosens just a little bit, and I gasp for a much-needed breath before he tightens his grip again. I don’t dare look around the forest to see if any Fae are watching our interaction. I don’t want to give Prince Archie a signal that Fae are watching and might do something. I don’t want the Fae to think a single moment of eye contact is me wanting them to step in.

“We are going to revisit you marrying me in a couple of months after we get to know each other better,” he demands. “But know this, the wedding and us getting married are going to happen. No matter what, we are going to get married. Even if I have to drag you down the aisle to the priest myself. Do I make myself clear?”

I nod, black dots starting to form in my vision with every passing minute as he continues to squeeze my neck. Suddenly, Prince Archie lets go, and I drop to the ground, coughing and gasping for breath.

“I will see you in a couple of days,” Prince Archie announces. “Make sure you cover your neck. If I find out you told anyone what just happened, there will be consequences.”

Leaning my head on the ground, I heave in deep breaths, trying to ease the ache in my throat but also trying to calm down my pounding heart.

Everything is going to be okay. I just need to avoid Prince Archie at all costs and if I can’t, then I need to make sure I’m never alone with him.

I push myself up to stand, gingerly touching my neck and hissing as pain explodes across it.

“Shit,” I hoarsely whisper.

Slowly, I start to walk back toward my house, making sure once I get to town I cover up my neck and keep my head down.

I quietly walk into the house, hoping Mother is off doing something else and not in the kitchen.

“Adeline!” she gasps. “What happened to your neck?”

“You can’t tell anyone,” I start before I go into detail, knowing she’ll keep it safe.

CHAPTER 40

“Why are you wearing a scarf?” Skylar asks when I stand in front of her shop.

I sigh and shake my head. The bruising has only gotten worse two days after Prince Archie choked me. I tried putting on the salve Henry gave me from Zahra, but it doesn’t seem to work very well. Maybe she was lying to me this whole time and wanted to see if I would trust her or not.

“Come on, Adeline. You can’t lie to me. What happened? You never wear scarves, even on the coldest days,” Skylar points out. “Agnes! I’m going on break for a couple of minutes, but I’ll be back soon!”

She doesn’t wait for Agnes to reply before she links her arm with mine and drags me away from the store. I follow, not wanting to fight with her. Ever since I ran through the forest from the prince, I’ve been exhausted. My body is trying to heal my neck and it’s taking a lot out of me.

“Tell me what happened.” She pulls us into an alleyway between two houses.

We are close to the forest, and nerves run through me as I look over. There are several Fae walking around, working like they are supposed to. Do all of them know I’m hurt or were the people who saw keep it to themselves?

“I really can’t,” I whisper, not knowing who is listening.

What if someone walks by and reports it? Prince Archie’s warning still plays in my head every single day. I don’t want to do anything against him now. What happened changes everything.

“You can tell me anything. I’m here for you. I’m not going to tell anyone else,” Skylar gently says. “You know that.”

I do, but there is just something inside me telling me not to tell her a thing. What if this is a test and she’s going to report to Prince Archie whenever we are done talking?

I look at her, weary, not knowing if I can fully trust her. Was Kieran right the whole time? Should I not trust her one bit?

“Who am I going to tell?” she asks. “What you tell me, it stays between us. You know that.”

She has a point. The prince hasn’t talked to me about anything that I’ve told her, so maybe she is telling the truth.