Page 139 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

“Why wouldn’t it be?” I ask instead of answering his question.

“Because you don’t want them to tell him anything. Are you trying to hide something?” Henry keeps prying.

I stop in my tracks and turn to Henry, annoyed. “I am not trying to hide anything.”

That is a lie. I don’t want the other Fae to tell Kieran how I am really doing. I want to pretend like I am better than I actually am so he doesn’t worry about me too much and doesn’t get so angry that he goes after the witch and dies.

No.

That can’t happen.

“Lies. Everyone knows what you are going to do,” Henry chuckles.

I glare at him before walking again. “They do not.”

“You are going to try and hide from Kieran that you’re in pain. You’re going to try and play it off like you aren’t hurt anymore,” Henry explains exactly what I was going to try and do.

“How did you know?” I mumble.

“Because anyone in your situation would do it for someone they love. You don’t want him to worry about you. The other Fae probably know that but they are going to tell him anyway. You are the High Lady and they care for you,” he replies.

Clenching my fists, I look ahead of me and stay silent. I thought I was going to be good at hiding it from everyone.

“There’s no hope that he doesn’t know about it, right?” I ask as we enter the forest.

“They probably already told him. And if he asks, don’t lie to him.” Henry gives me a pointed look.

I stay silent.

“I’m serious, Adeline. Don’t lie to him if he asks about it. Tell him the truth. He wants to know about everything just like you want to know about everything. Think of you being in his place and him lying to you about how he was truly feeling,” Henry continues.

“Okay. Okay. I get it,” I sigh.

Henry and I stop in the middle of the clearing, my breathing heavy. How was I able to do this before and not be out of breath? How did me getting beat for a couple of weeks change so much?

“Have a seat, Sweets.” Kieran appears right in front of me.

CHAPTER 11

Iguess my mother was right that Kieran would tell me to sit down before I could even say hi.

“I’ll be talking to my mate,” Henry says and walks off.

“Did they tell you anything?” I ask and sigh as I sit down.

“The other Fae?” Kieran cocks his head to the side.

“I’m assuming since you know who I’m talking about that they have already told you what they saw,” I whisper, and lean so I’m lying on the ground.

So much for trying to keep it from him.

“What did they see?” He lays right next to me.

“How slow I was to get to the forest,” I reply, deciding to tell him since they already told him. “That I had to stop and was out of breath.”

“They actually didn’t tell me that,” he replies.

My eyes pop open and I look over at him. “Wh-what? You didn’t know?”