Page 164 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

But it’s everything. I’ve been constantly thinking about this any time my mind starts to go blank. It’s something that I am constantly worried about and never feel at ease about.

Mother cocks her hip to the side and places her hand there, arching an eyebrow as she looks at me. “We are not starting this again. You know that I am here for you if you need to talk about things. Now, what’s got you so worked up and worried?”

“They have something that can help them, but they need to translate it and I’m just curious if they have found anything,” I whisper. “I’m worried and anxious. I want them to figure it out so that things can change around here and I don’t have to be so worried. I want them to figure it out so that he and I can be together and both of us can be at peace and not constantly worried that something is going to happen to one another.”

She walks over to me and gently places a hand on my shoulder. “Everything is going to be okay. Why don’t you go lie down and get some sleep? Try the herbs he gave you to see if it works.”

Sighing, I nod. “Okay.”

“Have you figured out how to break the curse yet?” I ask as I lay my head on Kieran’s chest.

It’s been a month since the cut on my thigh really started to heal. All thanks to the healer that Kieran brought with him when Mother wanted me to get it checked out.

But even with another month going by, my mind still hasn’t recovered ,while my body slowly has. Every little noise makes me flinch, waiting for someone to come at me and cause me pain.

When will I get over this?

Sleep hasn’t come any easier either. I’ve taken the herbs Kieran has given me and did what he told me step by step, but nothing seems to work. The only way I’ve been able to fall asleep is when I’m with Kieran.

There is just something about being near him that allows my body to fully calm down and be able to fall asleep. Probably because he’s Fae and my mate. He’ll do anything to keep me safe.

Kieran runs his hands up and down my arm, almost putting me to sleep. “We are still trying to translate it. We have not used this language in a long time and everyone outside of the wall is rusty on it. We know bits and pieces of it, but there are a lot of words that we do not know.”

Dread forms in my stomach and I close my eyes, trying to block out every little direction my mind wants to go with that information. It’s been almost three months since I was released from the dungeon, and it doesn’t feel like we are getting any closer to figuring out how to break it.

My fingers curl around his shirt. “We need to figure it out soon. I don’t know when she is going to come for me again. She knows that I took the book, even though I’ve denied it, and has been showing up at random to ask me.”

There’s only so much I can withstand before I completely break.

“She has been appearing even though the prince told her not to?” Kieran asks.

“Yes.” My voice breaks. “She is the witch, but only a few people know that. Prince Archie isn’t one of them.”

“And you haven’t told him?”

I shake my head. “No, because when he told me he would keep her away, he also told me soon after that I’m going to have to get used to being around her. That once I move into the palace there is no way for me to not run into her. He essentially said to get used to the fact that she did that and everyone thinks she’s still my sister and won’t do it again.”

I quickly wipe the tears from my face.

“She isn’t going to do anything to you,” Kieran says firmly. “She will not take you again. We are going to have the cure before any of that happens.”

“Even before the wedding?” I can’t help but ask.

Even though Prince Archie pushed it back by a year, it’s still hanging over my head, and each month that passes is just another month closer to the dreadful day.

Kieran kisses the top of my head. “Even before the wedding. The only person you are going to get married to is me.”

“I trust you,” I whisper.

His arms tighten around me and I slowly let out a breath.

“Any time you want to know about the progress, you just let me know. There are a lot of spells and how to break them in the book. We don’t want to randomly do a remedy and it not be for the curse and waste our time. So, we are trying to go through all the pages and translate the titles to figure out which one is the one we need,” Kieran explains.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble into his chest.

“Why, Sweets?”