Page 52 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

“The prince taking interest in me has just caught me off guard. I don’t know what to do because I don’t want his attention,” I tell her truthfully. “I want to be outside, and he doesn’t like that. I’m worried that anything serious blossoms between us, my freedom is going to vanish.”

Nothing is going to blossom between me and the prince. I will never fall in love with him. Not with how badly he treats the Fae and townspeople.

I can’t be with someone like that.

Not now and not ever.

“You are going to make it through this. The prince has taken an interest in you, but it may not last. But you also need to be prepared for it to be a long-term thing. With how he was looking at you, it could very much last until he dies.” My mother gives me a small smile. “I know that’s not what you want to hear, but someone needed to say it. Skylar isn’t going to be the person.”

Tears prick my eyes as I nod. Everything in me hopes he loses interest and moves on to someone else. Hopefully, it’s Skylar so she can live her dream of living in the palace with more money than she knows what to do with.

“Maybe if I hang around Skylar the next time he’s in town he’ll see her and take interest in her. Maybe then he’ll leave me alone.” I chuckle at the end.

I can hope of a situation like that but deep down, I know that even if Skylar was next to me, Prince Archie wouldn’t take an interest in her. He has his eyes set on me, and he’s not going anywhere.

Mother doesn’t say anything as she starts to sew some fabric.

“I’m going to rest for a couple of minutes before I run to the creek to collect some water for laundry. We haven’t washed any of the new fabric.” My shoulders sag as I sit. It’s exhausting always being on your feet and never having time to relax.

We are almost out of water and with it being so cold outside and snowing, it’s going to take several hours for the ice to melt. Several hours of wasted time if we run out.

“Why don’t you get the water from the well? It’s much closer than the creek, and you don’t have to melt the ice,” mother softy says.

“I told you last time that I can’t do that. The last time I went to the well, a guard stopped me and asked what I was doing. When I said it was for laundry, he informed me not to use the drinking water and to go down to the creek,” I tell her. “He said if I show up again, there would be severe consequences.”

I don’t know if he was telling the truth, but I’m not going to find out. I don’t need that kind of trouble following me or anyone that I love.

“I’m not surprised. They have gotten more strict about things recently. Sometimes, I wonder if something is happening that we don’t know about. Something that is going to affect all of us,” my mother ponders.

And I’m inclined to agree with her. Things have been changing over the past couple of years. Most of the changes they’ve made don’t make any sense but some of them have been good. Are we running out of water, and that’s why they are cracking down? Or do they want to put more rules in place so they can have a tighter leash on us?

“When you do go, don’t spend a lot of time there. You’re still recovering, and I don’t want you outside for too long,” she reminds me.

“Don’t worry, I will be going there, grabbing the ice, and coming back right away,” I reassure her. “I don’t want to be gone long either. But it might take me a little while to get down there and back since there is snow on the ground.”

And because I’m already exhausted sitting at the table and I know walking down there and getting ice is going to make me even more exhausted. Am I going to make it? I will but I may make myself a little bit more sick by expending all of this energy and being out in the cold.

But I’m not going to tell my mother that. She no doubt already knows that and there’s no use in reminding her, making her even more worried. It’s either her getting it or me and it’s definitely not going to be her. Not when she’s this pregnant.

Pushing myself off the chair, I take a deep breath, put the jacket on, and grab a bucket.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell her before walking out of the house.

I keep my head down as I make my way to the river, my breathing coming in pants the further I go. I shouldn’t be exerting this much energy when I’m so weak, but my father isn’t here so it falls onto my shoulders now… Even when I’m sick.

I take several short breaks before I make it to my destination, my breathing now coming out chaotically. Looking at the river, I sigh when I realize it’s frozen over. How am I going to break the ice and carry the bucket back up to my house when I’m already so out of breath? I can’t hit it with the bucket in fear I’ll break the bucket.

Tears form in my eyes.

“You shouldn’t be out here. You shouldn’t be working. You should be home, taking care of yourself because you are sick,” Kieran chastises.

I whirl around, glaring at him. “I don’t have a choice. Things need to get done, and I’m the person who’s going to do them.”

Does he really think that I want to be doing this right now? I would much rather be lying in bed, staying warm and resting. But this has to get done, and there is no alternative.

My father isn’t here which means it falls onto my shoulders. It always does since he is gone most of the year. Even when my mother wasn’t pregnant, I would still do a lot of the things around the house or the heavy jobs.

I can’t complain too much since they are letting me stay here free and not pay rent at one of the houses for single girls. They are saving me money and I should be grateful and I am. But in an instance like this, I just want to sit down and recover. I don’t want to go out and do things and possibly make myself worse.