Page 29 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

We know there are other realms like ours. The king has banished several people to Tarravega when they do something unthinkable. Most of the time, they get banished because they murdered someone. But every once in a while, it’s something petty, like stealing a piece of bread or slapping a friend in anger and they get banished.

Prince Archie opens his mouth, and my back straightens as I feel his eyes on me. Carefully, I look around, not wanting to bring attention to myself, but I don’t find Kieran anywhere.

“We could, but that would require a treaty with the other realm we send them to. To send anyone to Tarravega, you have to have a reason, and sending them just because they are slaves wouldn’t work,” the prince explains. “So, we are stuck with them for now, but when I become king, I plan to get rid of them.”

I listen, but I can’t help but continue to scan the area, trying to find Kieran. What is he doing here? Does he know there are guards around us? That the prince is sitting right next to me and could have him killed for being too close to us?

“Adeline, are you okay?” Prince Archie asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

Smiling, I look over at him. “Yes, I am. I am happy to be outside in the forest.”

Even as I’m sitting here with the prince, I can’t help but feel a little happy at being outside because I know my time will be severely limited soon. The snow we get here is normally several feet deep, and the only time I go out is to fetch ice from the stream I frequently visit.

Archie growls and glares at me. “You should not get used to being out in the forest so much. Once you are mine, you won’t be allowed to go that often.”

I open and close my mouth, trying to think of what to say that won’t get me in trouble. But I can’t help but let the anger boil inside of me. Allow?

“I will be allowed to go out if you want me to marry you,” I calmly say, trying not to anger him but not wanting to back down either. “Being outside gives me peace. Being outside lets me be calm when life is stressful. Do you want me to be stressed and on edge all the time?”

I hold my breath as his face hardens. I shouldn’t have said that, but I couldn’t help myself. He just makes me so angry, and I want to gouge his eyes out. I want to make him suffer a long and painful death for everything he has said.

Sure, I don’t know the origin of how Fae became enslaved. I don’t know what it was like, but nobody deserves that much hate. I don’t know what they’ve done to Prince Archie, but I’m pretty sure they haven’t done anything that terrible to warrant them being executed.

Prince Archie stands, and two guards flank him. I crane my neck to look at him, and anger is written all over his face. I suck in a breath and wait.

“I need to go attend to matters.” His voice is cold as he looks down on me.

I want to chuckle at the semblance of him towering over me, but I keep my mouth shut. I have not won any favors from anybody recently. I don’t need to anger him any more than I already have.

But maybe I should. Skylar told me to talk about the forest so the prince realizes I’m not going to back down so that he loses interest in me. I bet the prince will want a woman who will bend over backward for him, but that isn’t going to be me. He will not take away my right to go walk in the forest.

“And don’t think I haven’t forgotten about the class we talked about. I still need you to give me a day of the week and when you can attend. Then I’ll set it up with the tutor.” He gives me a small glare.

I nod. “Sorry, Prince Archie. I didn’t mean to forget about it, we have just been so busy preparing for the big market coming up that it slipped my mind. I still need to talk with my parents to make sure when will be best for me to be gone for a couple of hours, but I promise to make sure to get the message to you as soon as possible,” I rush out.

I hadn’t forgotten to ask my mother about it. Deep down, I was hoping he would forget about it. I was hoping he would also forget about me after all these weeks, but neither of those hopes came true. Sadly.

“Make sure that you don’t forget this time,” he says, turning around. “You may enjoy the rest of the food if you want to. A guard will be back in an hour to collect the basket and remaining food.”

And with that, Prince Archie and the guards walk away, leaving me by myself in the peaceful forest. I take several deep breaths, letting my whole body relax for the first time since he approached me earlier. I didn’t realize how tense I had gotten with every passing minute I was near him. Could he tell?

I look over at the food and clench my jaw. I hate how he spoke like I wasn’t allowed to eat or touch this food without him here, but I guess it technically doesn’t belong to me. But the way Prince Archie said I may enjoy the rest of the food just rubbed me up the wrong way. It was like he was giving me permission to enjoy eating.

“You can come out now,” I tell Kieran. “The prince and his guards are gone and won’t be back for an hour.”

Kieran strolls out from the trees in front of me, and I can’t help but smile when I see him. There’s just something about him that I long for, that I feel at peace with. I might be going crazy, but I don’t really care. It’s not often I feel this calm and at peace with somebody else. Even with Skylar, I’m a ball of nerves. It’s hard to be anything else but nervous with her. She gossips and talks really loudly, and she doesn’t care if she offends anyone, especially the Fae.

“No one should talk or treat you like that,” he announces, taking several more steps toward me.

“He’s the king’s son, so technically he can talk to whoever he wants like that. I’m just a commoner; there’s nothing I can do. I’ve already started digging myself a hole with talking about the forest and wanting to be out here all the time.” I look away, not able to handle the intense stare he has on me.

“If I had my powers, I would kill him for you in a heartbeat. Nobody gets to talk to my mate like that and get away with it,” Kieran growls toward the end.

I can’t help but chuckle. “Prince Archie said you have a curse over you. If you killed him and everybody else who has done me wrong, you would never be able to break it. Isn’t that what you want, to break the curse and take over so then we are the slaves and you can treat us like we’ve treated you?”

He crouches in front of me, and I can feel the heat coming off his skin. “We do want to break the curse, but we aren’t cruel like he says we are.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” I whisper, looking into his deep blue eyes.