Page 173 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

“Then let me be your energy. All you have to do is swallow,” she replies as she sits right next to me. “I’ll feed you.”

She places the bowl on the table before helping me sit up.

Can you tell me more? Kieran asks. Maybe there is something we can do to make sure that she can never reach you again, but I need to know everything that happened.

Can you just read my mind? I ask. Look back into my memories and see what happened? I don’t want to relive it.

But I’m constantly reliving it right now. Flashes of the dream keep appearing in my vision.

I can only do that if I see you in person. I don’t want you walking right now. I can feel how weak you are. Eat and get some rest. I’m here if you need anything.

Tears shimmer in my eyes and I blink them away before turning my focus to Mother.

“I know, Adeline, but everything is going to be okay. You are going to rest and get better, I promise,” she whispers.

Then what was Avira talking about when she said the people around me would notice too late? She couldn’t have possibly meant that I would die from blood loss, could she?

“I’m sorry.” I choke on my words.

“Hush. You have nothing to be sorry for. I just want you to eat something and get some rest. Your sole focus should be on healing right now,” Mother replies.

She slowly feeds me the porridge and I force myself to swallow every spoonful she gives me.

“How about you go rest in my room,” Mother says as she gets up and places the bowl in the sink. “Just rest in there while I do things around the house.”

While she cleans up the bloody mess in my room.

“I don’t know if I can fall asleep in this house again,” I say honestly. “This is exactly what I was worried about.”

Mother cups my face with her warm hands. It’s not the same as when Kieran does it, and I deeply miss it.

“You are going to make it through this no matter what. And if we need to move houses then we can.”

I shake my head. “There is no way we would be able to afford moving houses.”

Not when this house has been in my mother’s family for generations. She grew up here, lost her husband, and had two kids. I can’t drag her away from this, no matter how much it pains me to be here.

“If it is going to help you move on and be able to sleep, then we will. I have no doubt that there is someone else who wants to trade houses,” Mother explains.

“She can still reach me if we go to another house. It won’t matter. We won’t be able to move houses every single time she comes in my dreams or sees me in person. It will be impossible and it will slow down our business.”

Mother sighs.

“I want to go to the forest,” I whisper.

She looks at me shocked. “I don’t know if you have the strength to get to the forest. How about you wait until later. Maybe tomorrow or the day after that when your body has fully recovered from the blood loss.”

“I need to see him and explain what happened. He can feel everything,” I tell her. “He is worried and I need to ease him before he tries to do something dumb.”

“I don’t know,” she mumbles and looks down at my thigh, something flashing in her eyes. “Adeline, what happened last night? Nothing is making any sense.”

The horror shows in her eyes as she continues to stare at my thigh. The same horror I am feeling every single time I’m thinking about the dream and the pain that still lingers in my leg.

“I’m trying to figure that out as well, but I need to see him,” I repeat. “He knows way more about this than I do.”

Mother runs her hands across her face, taking in a deep breath. “You are far too weak to go to the forest and I won’t be able to help you. Not unless you want it to look suspicious and be put on everyone’s radar.”

“Then I’ll walk there with Henry like I did before,” I declare. “I know I’m going to get attention for how I look but he may be able to help me.”