Page 130 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

“Yes, Adeline.” He steadies me.

Tears pool in my eyes from all of the pain. I look down at my body and back at him.

“I don’t—” I take a deep breath.

“It's okay, you can tell me anything and I won’t get mad,” he reassures me. “Please, do not cry. Whatever you have to say I know you are very concerned about, but you don’t have to be that way with me. I will take care of you and make sure that you have everything you need.”

A little happiness blooms inside of me when he thinks the tears are out of fear.

Perfect.

“I don’t know if the wedding can happen on time,” I whisper and grip onto his arms. “I don’t know if my body will be fully recovered and looking okay by then.”

Prince Archie gently cups my face with his hands, missing all the bruises. “Do not even think about the wedding right now. I will talk to my father about postponing it until you are fully recovered. You just focus on healing right now.”

“Thank you.” I force a smile on my face.

“Anything for my future bride. Now, let us get you out of here.”

Hissing, I pull my foot back as pain spreads across like a million needles being inserted into my foot at once.

“Are you alright?” Prince Archie asks.

“She is perfectly fine. You don’t need to hold onto her arm like she is going to fall over,” Avira sneers, rolling her eyes at me.

“Avira, enough,” Prince Archie snaps. “Guards, please take her to the throne room but do not allow her to talk to my father.”

“Prince Archie, you cannot be serious,” Avira scoffs.

“Dead serious,” he replies before turning to me.

Two guards latch onto Avira’s arms and drag her away as she yells at Prince Archie the whole time.

“Are you ready to try again?” he asks.

Nodding, we carefully walk down the hallway, passing Nas’s cell. I turn my head slightly and make eye contact with him.

“Thank you,” I barely whisper. “I won’t forget that you’re in here.”

He nods and smiles. It takes forever for Prince Archie to help me up the stairs and to the entrance of the palace before we stop walking and face each other.

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” Prince Archie says. “I will be talking to my father about your sister and what she has done.”

“Thank you,” I hesitantly reply.

I don’t know why Prince Archie is being so nice to me right now when he has never been the whole time that I have known him. Is he planning something? Am I going to owe him later?

Don’t think about that right now.

Right now I need to focus on getting back to the house before it gets dark.

“I will check up on you in a couple of days,” Prince Archie informs me. “Rest, and if you need anything, let me know.”

Not going to happen.

CHAPTER 8

Ican’t help but look over my shoulder every couple minutes, waiting for Avira to come out at any second and drag me back into the cell. She was not happy that Prince Archie took me out, and I just know she’s going to try again.