Page 34 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

I nod. “I’m sure. It won’t just be tonight. We won’t get back until really late or early tomorrow morning, and you won’t want to go to work exhausted. You also can’t afford not to go into work tomorrow or today.”

She relies on her wages, and I would feel guilty if she comes with me and loses all that money. I don’t want to make life harder on her.

“Promise if it starts to snow before you leave that you’ll stay the night in the town and make your journey home tomorrow?” Skylar grabs my shoulder and makes me face her. “Promise me. I don’t want you to die.”

Even if I stay the night in the town, the next morning will probably be worse. While I’ll have the sun to keep me a little warmer, the snow will be even worse than if I leave when it starts to snow.

“Adeline,” she scolds. “Promise me you’ll stay the night if it starts to snow. Don’t take any chances while it’s nighttime. You know fewer people travel at night during this time, and I don’t want you to get hurt or not make it far and get stuck and die. Go in the daytime if it starts to snow before you leave. Your mother will understand if you stay the night.”

“Okay, fine. If it starts to snow a lot before I make the journey back, I won’t go,” I finally say, not really promising anything.

Looking over to my right, I see some beautiful artwork and I stare in admiration.

“I wish I could paint,” I change the subject. “I really want to be able to paint like that, but I have no artistic skill in my body.”

I just long to always have Kieran’s eyes with me. I know if I pay someone to do it, they won’t be able to get it right. Or if they do, it’s going to take several hours of me describing everything and asking for changes when they get it wrong. I wish I could easily show it to someone so they could see what I am seeing and paint it, but I can’t. Even if I could, given our current lifestyle, it would land me in trouble, and Kieran would be, too.

“Take some lessons. I bet Jo will teach you,” Skylar says.

“I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, like I said before. I’ve tried over the years, and I just can’t.” I sigh. “I wish for a lot of things but can’t do much of anything.”

“Like what?” Skylar asks.

“I want new clothes. I don’t need them, but I want one good-quality new dress that I can wear to special occasions,” I whisper toward the end. “You know everything I get are hand-me-downs or have been patched so many times it looks like thirty different dresses.”

Skylar stays silent, and I sigh.

“I know I’m thinking about things that will never happen unless I gain some unexpected wealth or save up for thirty years. They are just wishes and dreams. I know they will never come true, and I’m okay with that, but we can dream, can’t we?” I turn toward her and she nods.

“You could have those if you are with the prince,” Skylar whispers.

I glare at her. “You know how I feel about that. I don’t want it. Don’t bring it up again.”

She raises her hand and chuckles. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to strike a nerve.”

I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. There is no reason for me to snap at her, but I don’t want to talk about the prince or anyone related to him. I don’t want him to suddenly appear and ask me when I can start the lessons. I don’t want anyone to ask questions.

“No, it’s okay. I just don’t want to think about him,” I mumble toward the end. “It’s nothing to do with you.”

“I know you don’t want to be with him, but if you do marry him, you will get all those things and more. You would be living the best life,” Skylar points out.

“I would rather be poor for the rest of my life and love the person I spend the rest of my life with than marry someone rich and hate every second of it,” I grumble, irritated we haven’t let this subject go yet. “I don’t love the prince, and I know I never will.”

He wants to kill the Fae without good reason. I don’t want to be with someone like that and will do whatever I can to get away from it.

“We’ll talk about this later.” Skylar squeezes my shoulder. “I need to go back to the booth and help.”

Nodding, she turns and leaves me in the middle of the road. I look over at the booth where my mother is at and smile. She is sitting, waiting for things to start.

I still have some time.

I look back to my right and walk. People briefly look at me but quickly go back to what they were doing when I don’t stop at their booth. I would love to stop and buy something, but money is tight, and I don’t want to make it even tighter.

My eyes find a dark corner where two houses meet, and a small gap is visible. Movement catches my eyes, and I stop, looking to see what it could have been. Something is pulling me toward it, like the tug in my stomach before, beckoning me over there. Taking a deep breath, I make sure no one is really watching me before going over there.

Everything drifts away as I turn the corner and see those beautiful cobalt blue eyes staring at me.

“Kieran,” I whisper.