Page 100 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

I cup his face and gently caress it. “Kieran, I told you before that I wanted to kill her to make sure she was actually dead so I could live the rest of my life peacefully. I know you don’t want me to do it, but I think I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life and always be looking over my shoulders if I don’t do it myself.”

Kieran gently places me on the ground and stands up. “You are not going to do it.”

“Kieran, please listen.”

He shakes his head. “No, you are not going to do it and that’s the end of the discussion.”

Kieran walks out of the room before I can say anything more.

“Is everything alright?” Henry asks as he stands in the doorway.

I shake my head and look at the ground. How is this going to work?

“Do you want to go anywhere?” Henry asks.

“Yes,” I reply and run out of the office, chasing after Kieran.

He’s all the way at the end of the hallway, talking to several other guards.

“Kieran!” I yell his name and continue to run.

He turns to face me and stays silent.

“Wait! We are not done talking,” I say.

“We are if it has to do with the other matter,” he replies.

“No, you heard what I said, and it needs to happen!”

He fully faces me now, the guards around him looking down at the ground.

“We don’t need to talk about anything. We don’t even know if what she said is true or not. It could just be a ploy from Avira and we don’t have a clue,” he says.

“Kieran, think about it. Why would she bring me back to life when the curse would be broken?” I ask. “Why would she do a silly thing like that when it would bring you more suffering to keep me dead?”

Kieran growls and takes several steps toward me. “Because she is twisted like that. You don’t know the witch like I do.”

“Just think about it. The shadowy figure that brought me back to life didn’t give me that bad feeling Avira always gave me. She didn’t look anything like Avira.” I try to reason with him. “You have to believe me. I need to be the one who kills her with the dagger.”

“Adeline,” he says, and I flinch. “You are not going to get into harm’s way. Not after everything that just happened. You are not going to get blood on your hands when I already do and can kill her myself.”

“You aren’t listening to me,” I say, trying not to let the frustration pour out of me.

Everyone is staring at us right now and I know we shouldn’t be having this conversation out in the hallway. But Kieran walked out of the office, and if this is where we are going to have it then so be it.

“I’ve heard what you’ve said and I don’t agree with it. You don’t know who this shadowy figure is and if we can trust what she said,” Kieran says.

“She brought me back to life!” I raise my voice finally. “Isn’t that enough for you to trust her? Why else would she have brought me back to life?”

“Sweets.” He takes a deep breath. “You have to trust me.”

“And you won’t trust me?” I ask as I take a step away from him. “I’m telling you what I was told when I was dead. How she told me to stay near you and that I was the one who had to kill the witch. How the dagger was the way to kill her. She brought me back to life with this in mind.”

Kieran shakes his head and takes a step toward me, but I hold my hand up, stopping him.

“I need some time to think about everything,” I mumble, hurt rolling through me in waves.

“Sweets,” Kieran gently says.