Page 6 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

Prince Archie grabs hold of my hand, and I force myself to return the gesture. My skin crawls like a million bugs are moving on it. How am I going to safely get my hand out of his?

“Let’s slowly walk to the picnic.” Prince Archie starts to walk. I’m stiff as a board as we walk, not knowing how to stay next to him while we hold hands.

He doesn’t let go the whole time as we make our way toward the forest in complete silence. I don’t know what to talk to him about or what he really wants with me. Will I ever find out?

“One day this is going to be all mine,” he announces. “It’s going to be ours.”

I flinch and look away. Why is he talking about it being ours when we aren’t together? I never want to be with him. Can’t he tell I want nothing to do with him from how I’m acting?

“When my father dies, it’s going to change so much.” Prince Archie speaks again.

My eyebrows bunch together as I look at him. Change?

“H-how?” I make myself ask.

My eyes roam around our small town outside the palace. Even though we live so close to the royal family, our town isn’t wealthy. We all get by and have enough food, clothes, and whatever we need but we can’t buy things we want.

Or as long as the humans have ruled, we haven’t. My mother talks about her parents and their parents getting by with enough to survive and nothing more. Are we ever going to get out of this cycle? Was it different when the Fae king was ruling?

My eyes connect with several townspeople as we walk by them. All of their eyes go wide before looking in the other direction. It is like the prince wants to parade me around, which I don’t want.

Not many people approve of the king and prince in this town, but if asked, they will definitely lie. People are unhappy with our living conditions, even though we can’t do anything about it. Not when the king has more guards than people in the town, all of them loyal to him.

“My father has gotten relaxed with some of the rules and laws of our country. He has let the Fae relax and have more freedom, but we don’t need that.” Prince Archie’s voice is loud.

Several Fae and humans look in our direction, but I keep my eyes down. I don’t want to be associated with it, but I can’t just walk away.

“I want the Fae to know that they are beneath us. I want them to know they are going to suffer when I take my place as King of Bellhollow. Maybe I’ll even kill them all off,” he says. “We don’t need them, but my father keeps them around to do the menial jobs so he doesn’t have to pay anyone.”

I gasp and look at him, not believing he would say something like that. My eyes move to the Fae behind him, who sneer at Prince Archie as we walk by. I cower away from him, hating that the Fae receive so much anger and resentment toward them.

I know I shouldn’t feel bad for the Fae, but I can’t help it. Something in my gut tells me they aren’t really that bad.

“Don’t worry Adeline, they can’t do anything to us. Not unless they want consequences.” Prince Archie squeezes my hand.

I pull my hand away, pushing my hair back and relaxing when Prince Archie doesn’t go to take it again. Looking past the prince, my eyes scan the Fae in front of me, stopping when I think I see the now-familiar cobalt blue eyes.

My shoulders sag when I realize it isn’t the same eyes, they are brighter than his and don’t have as much depth to them.

I can’t help but feel disappointed when I don’t find him again. “If any of them try to hurt you or do anything really, you let me know and I’ll have them dealt with.” Prince Archie cups my face. “If one of them looks at you the wrong way, you let me know and they will be punished.”

I force a smile on my face and nod, but don’t say a word. I would never tell him if they tried to talk to me. My eyes once again search the Fae to try and find the eyes. I want to get lost in them, feel the pull I had before. I want to feel like nothing else matters in the world and that I am safe from everything.

“What are you looking for?” Prince Archie asks.

My shoulders drop as I look back at the prince. I crave to see them again, to get lost in them once again. It’s like nothing else matters right now and to satisfy the itch inside of me, I need to look into them.

“I am just enjoying the view around us,” I smoothly say, not wanting to make him angry. “I’ve always loved being outside with nature, feeling the breeze against my skin, hearing the birds chirp to each other, and seeing the pretty colors. It is one of my favorite parts of my day when I can get away from chores and just be outside,” I over-explain, not wanting him to catch on that I was lying to him.

“Foolish,” he replies. “Such a foolish thing to say.”

My mouth hangs open as I stare at him, not knowing what to say. I wasn’t expecting him to say it was foolish to want to be outside and enjoy everything around me. Why would he think that?

“I’m s-sorry?” I whisper, quickly looking away so he doesn’t see the emotions on my face.

He doesn’t wait a second before spewing out more insults. “It’s foolish for you to be out in nature. You should be taking lessons on how to be a proper woman, someone who can live the life of a princess and future queen. You should learn how to hold yourself like you are important and not a commoner.” He scoffs. “Such a waste of potential.”

Biting my tongue, I take several deep breaths in, trying to calm myself from the anger rising inside of me. If he were any other person, I would have told him exactly how I feel about his words, but I can’t.