Page 50 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

He raises his open hand, and I clamp my mouth shut. I suck in a deep breath, trying to calm myself down but failing miserably. I can still feel Kieran’s eyes on me. I just hope no one notices that he is looking over at us and reports it to anyone because his eyes aren’t going anywhere.

All of a sudden, calmness washes over me, and I feel the familiar pull in my stomach that I’ve felt so many times. My steps falter. What is that? How does it always happen when I need it to?

I brush it off as I open the door to my parents’ house.

“Back so soon, Adeline?” my mother calls out.

“Mother, we have a visitor.” I raise my voice, hating that this is so unexpected. I take a step into the house, knowing Prince Archie is following closely behind me. I don’t feel Kieran’s eyes on me anymore, and I crave to feel it again.

It’s the closest I’m going to get to him for a while, and I don’t like that. I want to be close to him at all times, which confuses me. I shouldn’t want to be so close to a Fae. I know Kieran said we are mates, but I have no idea what a mate is. I don’t know what he is to me exactly. All I know is I have an attraction toward him and I want to be close.

But I wasn’t prepared for seeing the prince out on the streets. I don’t think anyone was. The winter in Bellhollow is different. The king and the prince stay inside most of the time, emerging only when absolutely necessary.

What has changed?

The only thing I can think of is me, but that can’t be possible. He can’t be that attracted to me to be walking around the streets trying to find me. But he just proved that I could very easily be the reason.

It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Why did I have to catch the attention of the prince? Why couldn’t it have been Skylar? Why couldn’t it have been someone who actually wanted it?

I take a deep breath as my mother steps closer to the door, and a nervous look flits across her face.

“Mother, meet Prince Archie,” I gesture to him.

My mother bows to the best of her ability with her pregnant belly before standing.

“I don’t wish to take a lot of your time, but your daughter has failed me several times, and I must come to you now,” Prince Archie says.

I didn’t exactly fail him. The first time I did it on purpose, but the second time? The second time, we got so busy, and then I almost died. What does he expect me to do? Go and meet one of the guards to tell him what days I am available when I’m about to fall over and die? Being out in the cold would have made it even worse.

But he just sees it as failing.

“How did Adeline fail you?” my mother asks, taking a quick glance at me.

I wish I could tell her, but she wasn’t talking to me, and I have a sneaky suspicion that if I answer, Prince Archie isn’t going to be happy. He never is when it comes to me.

“She has failed to give me a date when she is available to come to the palace for lessons. Once a week, I want her to come to the palace to take etiquette lessons. That is what I am requiring of her,” Prince Archie declares. “Adeline said she would ask you, but she has failed to do that twice, so now I am coming to you.”

I take a deep breath. I have mentioned it to my mother, but I never told her I needed an answer right away. It’s hard to know when she is pregnant and could give birth at any point. I can’t see into the future to know what day she is going to give birth on.

That’s impossible.

Unless I could talk to the witch and she could tell. But no one has seen the witch. No one knows what she looks like so I can’t do that. I also don’t know if I want the witch to know who I am.

“I am so sorry, Prince Archie. She meant no disrespect.” My mother bows slightly. “We have been so busy preparing for the market, and then she left for Hellhollow to get supplies before the first snow came. She almost died and has been recovering since.”

“It’s no problem.” Prince Archie smiles. “We are here now, and I would like an answer before I leave.”

I keep my face neutral, trying not to show how irritated I am at Prince Archie. I want to yell at him, tell him to leave and never come back. That I’m not interested in him and never will be, but I don’t want to end up in the dungeon… or worse Tarravega. I don’t want anything to happen to my parents if I decide to tell him I’m not interested in him.

“Can I talk to my daughter for a second?” Mother asks.

Prince Archie waves a dismissive hand in the air. “Go talk. I will wait here for my answer.”

Quickly, I walk over to my mother and lean in so we can talk in hushed voices.

“We will discuss this later,” my mother hisses at me.

My eyebrows pull together as I look at her, not understanding why she is angry at me. What have I done to deserve it? I didn’t want the prince to come to our house. I didn’t want any of this to happen, but it did.