Page 88 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown

“I do. I have a mate of my own.” She cocks an eyebrow. “The sparks you feel are real. The connection you can’t explain is all part of having a mate. Having thoughts of him all the time is part of him being your mate. Or him always being on your mind. It might seem like you have a lot of people on your mind and it’s just another person, but with him it’s every single thought. Even if he doesn’t relate to it at all.”

I had never told anyone about him constantly being in my thoughts. Somehow, even when I shouldn’t think about him, he’s on my mind all the time.

“Why don’t you ask him about the birthmark on his hip?” Zahra says as she starts to walk off. “And what it means. Everyone gets one when they are born.”

“Can I see yours?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “Ask him about it, and then later I’ll show you.”

Zahra chuckles as she walked away. I stand in the middle of the forest, waiting for Kieran. She said she was going to tell him I was here. Was he close by or is she just now leaving to tell him?

“Sweets.” Kieran’s voice fills the forest.

I quickly turn in his direction, a smile blossoming across my face. Kieran grins back and approaches me. Wait. When did I get so excited to see him? When did I get all giddy inside and accept this?

Since the beginning, but I’ve been trying to fight it.

“Zahra told me you were in the forest,” he gently says as he gets closer. “What’s wrong? Your mood has gone all sour.”

“Nothing.” I wave my hand in the air.

“Addie,” he scolds me.

I take a step back, but all I want to do is wrap my arms around him. But how is his back? Would I hurt him?

“Your back, how is it doing?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Better than the last time you asked me. They are all scabbed now, but if I lift heavy objects they open up a little,” he honestly replies.

I look down at my feet. “I’m so sorry about that,” I whisper, the guilt returning.

Kieran has told me time and time again that I shouldn’t feel guilty. That he would do it again and again if it meant looking at me, but I can’t help but feel bad for what happened.

“You have nothing to feel guilty for,” he gently says, cupping my face with his hands so I have to look at him. “If it happens again, I want you to promise me something.”

“What?” I ask.

“If that ever happens again, I don’t want you anywhere near it. I don’t want you to try and step in and save me. It will only put you in danger, make you a target, and I won’t have that,” he sternly says. “We can take a whipping and will survive, but putting a target on your back, that can’t happen. I will not lose you.”

“You really think it will happen again?” I search his face.

He sighs. “I wish I could tell you it won’t, but it probably will. I don’t want to lie to you and say it won’t when I don’t know what the future holds. They happen almost every single day, here or in other towns. But that doesn’t matter. We will heal in a week or two but for you, it will put a target on your back and you could die from it.”

Silence fills the air around us as we look into each other’s eyes.

“I sound like a broken record, but you really think we are mates?” I whisper.

“Yes,” he replies. “You can ask me it however many times you want, and I will always reply with yes.”

I pull away from his hands and take a step back. “Zahra said something about a birthmark on your hip that signifies your mate?” I sound crazy when I ask that. “Can I see it?”

Kieran cracks a smile. “Of course she did.”

“She said it showed up when you were born.” I continue to talk. “That you know who your mate is from birth.”

“That’s not exactly true for me. Some people have the tattoo, or birthmark if you want to call it that, when they are born, and some don’t have it until they meet their mate for the first time,” Kieran explains. “Normally, the higher-up Fae don’t have it when they are born. I didn’t. Not until you showed up in the woods and we spoke for the first time.”

“But we connected before then,” I point out. “Several times.”