Page 186 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

Unease fills me as we walk into the palace. What could be simple but at the same time not simple or easy? Why won’t Kieran just tell me how to break the curse?

“We are here,” Henry finally says after walking down so many different hallways.

“You said Prince Archie wants to meet me?” I ask.

He nods. “Yes, he said to bring you to the wing that you two will be sharing once you guys get married.”

Why would he want to meet here?

“Where is he?” I ask.

“Prince Archie couldn’t make it so I get to talk to you instead,” Avira says, appearing right in front of us.

I take several steps back and shake my head. “We aren’t supposed to be talking.”

“Who do you think told Henry that you needed to be here?” she asks, crossing her arms.

“No,” I whisper.

“Me.”

“Hen—” I stop talking as I look around the hallway, not finding Henry anywhere. “What did you do to him?” I demand.

Was he part of this the whole time? Did he know it was Avira and pretended like it was the prince?

No.

He has shown over and over again that he was loyal to the Fae. What changed?

Kieran? I call through the bond.

Adeline, what’s wrong? he replies.

“It was so easy to deceive him.” Avira chuckles. “Thankfully I remembered one of my spells to make me change forms.”

Sweets! Kieran screams through the bond but my attention is on Avira.

“For a second I thought Prince Archie was going to catch me as I am out of practice pretending to be a male. But alas, he did not,” Avira says.

I take several steps back, my eyes darting across the hallway for an escape route.

“There’s no way for you to escape.” Avira takes a step closer to me. “No one will be able to hear you scream or come and get you.”

Terror runs through me and before I can think of anything, my legs start moving on their own accord, running to the left. Avira’s chuckles echo through the hallway, making me pump my legs faster.

Sweets, what’s wrong? Kieran asks. Where are you?

I’m in the palace. It was a setup. Avira is after me! I yell as I continue to run.

Find a place to hide and I’m coming to you!

No! You can’t. You can’t come after me and get caught. I’m going to get out of this without you getting caught! I reply.

Adeline.

Kieran, please. I don’t need both of us getting caught and then everything going up in flames and the curse not being broken.

“Do you really think you can get away from me?” Avira asks.