Page 68 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

“Father!” I yell as I rush out of the house.

Walking up to us with several dead rabbits and one deer across his back is my father. I wasn’t expecting him to be back so soon. I thought he would be gone for another week or two. Maybe he remembered that Mother could have the baby at any point and wanted to be close.

“Adeline.” A smile spreads across his face. “How are you? How’s your mother?”

“Good! Everyone is good. How was your hunting?” I look again at the dead animals.

Last time he brought several deer with him. Did he not have enough strength to carry them all this time? We really need to come up with a way for him to carry them easier or try to create something so he can carry more.

Prince Archie’s warning rings in my head. It has been a week since he threatened me and my father. I can’t get involved with hunting, but he didn’t say I couldn’t help my father out in any other way. And what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

“It was good. Halfway through, I sold several of the deer, both the meat and hides to people, so I have money. These are for us, and we can sell the hide of the deer at the next market,” Father replies from next to me as we walk back to the house.

“Oh, good! We had a good market this past one!” I tell him. “Sold everything we made and put a lot of the money away for when mother has the baby.”

With my mother being older, she is at higher risk, and we need a midwife to be here in case anything happens.

“I’m glad. We will have to let the midwife know to be expecting us any day.” Father stops in front of the house.

“I do have a question before we go in,” I rush to say.

“Yes?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Would you be willing to teach me how to use a bow and arrow?” I ask.

Father searches my face for several seconds, and I start to worry that it isn’t a good idea. Does he not want to teach me? Is he going to tell me it’s no place for a woman?

Several women in town know how to shoot a bow and arrow to hunt. They have to hunt if they are a single parent or a young kid.

“Why do you want to learn?” he finally asks.

“I want to help out. Maybe I can go out early in the morning and catch rabbits so you don’t have to go out as much when the baby arrives. Or I can go before I need to go to bed,” I explain. “I don’t know if I’ll be any good, but I think I could alleviate some of the pressure on you. I also want to learn, so if I go out on my own, I know how to take care of myself.”

Father smiles. “Later, I can teach you.”

I know the prince said there would be consequences, but the likelihood of him finding out is small. I can just say I’m learning how to defend myself. My father didn’t actually say I could go out and hunt rabbits, but said he would teach me.

“I’ll go get the bucket while you talk to Mother.” I walk over to the side where I normally leave it.

“Thank you, Adeline.” He walks into the house.

Taking a deep breath, I head into the forest, enjoying the snow, cold but clean air, and being outside. If Father hadn’t come today, I wouldn’t have been able to leave to go walking. I’m super thankful that he did. It felt like the walls were caving in on me, squeezing the life out of me with every passing minute.

“What do you want?” I ask before I even see him.

Kieran emerges from behind a tree, with a smile on his face. “You are getting better at that.”

“It was a guess.” I shrug. “You always seem to be out here whenever I am. I didn’t feel you in the forest. I don’t have magic.”

But it would be cool to be able to sense if someone was there. Then I could use it on the prince. That would make life so much easier. It probably would’ve saved me a lot in the beginning.

“Good guess.” He steps closer to me.

“What do you want this time?” I ask. “What’s with the ring?”

“I want you to listen,” he replies.

My eyebrows pull together. He wants me to listen to him? What is he going to tell me that I won’t listen to?