Page 134 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

There are so many Fae who know who I am, but I have never met any of them before. It’s kind of creepy, but I know they are Kieran’s people, or as he would say, our people.

“Maybe we should go tell a guard about him.” Skylar grabs one of my hands and pulls me forward.

I yank my hand back and shake my head. “No, we don’t have to do that. It was harmless and they are gone by now. It would be a witch hunt and we don’t need that.” I wave my hand in the air.

“Are you sure?” She eyes me.

“Positive. They are going to ask me a lot of questions, and then the prince might come and talk to me. I don’t need that right now.” I sigh. “I’ve got a lot of things to do and having the prince and guards asking a lot of questions will only slow that down.”

“If you’re sure. We can always go later if you decide to report it. I remember what he looks like,” Skylar offers.

I force a smile. “I promise I’ll let you know.”

I look over at the forest and take a deep breath. I need to talk to Kieran about what happened so he can get my side of the story. I just don’t know when I’ll be able to speak to him when I have so many pairs of eyes on me.

“Great! I really think you should report it, but I’m a lot harder on that stuff than you are, so don’t mind me.” She chuckles.

“I know.” I laugh with her, forcing a smile on my face.

That is another thing we don’t have in common. She detests Fae with her whole body, but I never really have. There was a time when I was cautious of them and knew they were bad, but I was wrong.

As I’m looking back toward Skylar, Kieran catches my eyes. He’s standing at the edge of the forest, looking directly at me with fury on his face. I can feel it through the bond, but I know it’s not directed at me.

He heard me.

“I have to go. Agnes is going to shout at me if I don’t get back to work on time, but we need to meet up this afternoon to talk about things.” Skylar grips my forearm, giving it a little squeeze. “Maybe we both can come up with a solid plan on how to get you out of this marriage. Maybe we both can talk to the prince about it and convince him he would be better with me.”

Nodding, I stand. “I would love that, but I don’t know how he’s going to take the news of both of us trying to change his mind. He got mad enough at me to do this, I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

She waves her hand in the air, dismissing that thought. “He won’t do it to either one of us if I’m there. He shouldn’t have done anything like that when it was just the two of you. It was wrong and I think I might talk to him about that.”

My eyes go wide as I take a step back from Skylar. “Don’t you dare do that!”

She cocks her hip to the side. “And why not? You have to wear a scarf to hide the hand bruises he left behind. I bet he told you not to tell anyone and to cover it up.”

“And that is one of the reasons why you shouldn’t go talk to him. He can’t know I talked to you about this,” I desperately reply. “I don’t want anything to happen to my mother.”

Her eyebrows pull together. “And why would he do something to your mother?”

“Because he⁠—”

She doesn’t know about him killing my father. She thinks it was a hunting accident gone wrong, but I know differently.

“Skylar!” Agnes yells. “Your break is over.”

“We’ll talk about this later.” Skylar gives my forearm one last squeeze before she makes her way back to the store.

My shoulders drop as I let out a breath, my head tilting up to the cloudy sky. I can’t tell Skylar about Prince Archie killing my father. I have no proof, and she won’t believe me since she is so close to him. I’m surprised she even believed me now with him harming me.

The tugging sensation fills my stomach, and a smile blossoms across my face before it quickly disappears when I realize why he wants to meet up.

Kieran wants to meet up and hear about what happened.

I quickly look around before making my way across the cobblestone road and toward the forest. It doesn’t take me long to get to our little meeting place and find Kieran standing in the middle of the clearing.

“Tell me what our people have been telling me is wrong,” he says.

I stay quiet and take several steps closer to him.