Page 26 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

I’m itching to tell someone about Kieran and how we met, how attracted I feel to him, and everything that has happened. How I want to spend more time with him and do things with him I’ve never wanted to do with any man before. How he makes me tingle in places and feel all these emotions I never thought I would experience.

But the last person I’m going to tell is Avira. She asks this question every single time she comes to visit, like she doesn’t get a report about what’s going on in town when she’s with the king every single day. Maybe she’s curious about the little details the guards overlook. Maybe this is her way of showing she has missed living here.

“Tell Avira about the prince.” My mother smiles.

I groan and close my eyes, taking a deep breath. This is the last thing I wanted to talk about. I look at my sister and see her eyes narrowed on me.

“What about Prince Archie?” she asks.

I grind my teeth together, hating that she’s taking an interest in our lives right now. Normally, we tell her there is nothing new or something small, and she leaves soon after.

“It’s nothing,” I reply, not looking at her.

“Adeline, it’s not nothing,” my mother scolds me once again. “Why are you being so difficult?”

“Avira doesn’t want to hear about this. She wants to see if anything is happening in the town that doesn’t relate to us. She wants the juicy details that the guards probably didn’t tell the king and his son,” I exaggerate and look at my sister, hoping she’ll back me up.

But her eyes are trained on me, searching my face. I take a step back and scrunch my nose. What is she doing? She may be a bitch, but she has never looked at me like that before.

“I want to know,” Avira finally says. “I want to know about your life. I may live in the palace and can’t visit very often, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”

I scoff and get back to rinsing the clothes. There is so much I could say, but I hold my tongue, not wanting to get another mouthful from mother. There is only so much I’m willing to take while she’s pregnant. Any more and she’ll most likely start stressing about it after my sister leaves and interrogate me.

“Tell her, Adeline,” my mother urges me.

“The prince may have taken an interest in me, but I don’t think it’s going to last. I haven’t seen him since he broke his arm,” I point out.

“Did he say anything to you when you were last with him?” Avira asks, a look of interest flashing across her face.

“I haven’t done anything with him if that’s what you’re asking. Gross.” I balk as I think about it. “He wants me to come to the palace once a week to take lessons in being a lady. I don’t know why he wants me to do that.”

It’s a lie, but I’m not going to tell my sister he wants me to marry him. I have to figure out a way to get away from all of this.

Maybe I should do what Skylar suggested and talk about nature and the forest. Maybe when he realizes I’m not going to stop talking about walking in the forest he’ll get annoyed and find someone else to marry. He could marry Skylar.

“For you to be the future queen and princess,” my mother chimes in. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

I hold my tongue, not wanting to lash out and have everyone staring at us. It’s not great. It’s anything but. I don’t know how Mom thinks it’s something so wonderful when she knows I don’t want anything to do with the prince.

“I’m far from princess and queen material,” I softly say.

“You can’t go against him,” Avira says.

“Why? If he gives me a choice, I’m not going to marry him.” I scoff at the end. “Not everyone gets what they want, even the prince. He didn’t want that injury. He didn’t want to be carried by the guards through the town and back to the palace, but he did.”

Avira laughs, gaining the attention of the people around us. I look down at the clothes I’m rinsing, pulling them out, and handing them to my mother.

“Oh, he’ll give you a choice all right, and I hope for your sake and everyone around you, that you take it.” Avira stops laughing. “If you don’t, he’ll make your life and your parents’ life hard until all of you die.”

I look at her funny. “Our parents?”

Once in a while, Avira messes up and calls them ‘my parents’ instead of ‘our parents’ as well. It’s something I’ve noticed over the years and doesn’t make any sense. Does she no longer want to be part of our family? Does she want to get rid of us so she doesn’t have to visit?

“That’s what I said. Our parents.”

I want to correct her and tell her it’s not what she said, but Avira glares at me before I can open my mouth.

“It’s just something to think about before you hang out with him again. Think about everyone and not just yourself,” she sneers at the end.