Page 195 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

“I’ll have someone cook some food for you to eat,” Alaric says, interrupting our stares at each other. “If you need anything, just call me.”

My eyes go wide and Kieran looks at me with alarm.

“What’s wrong?” he asks as Alaric walks out of the room. “Tell me what’s wrong so I can make it better.”

“The curse is broken,” I whisper.

He smiles. “It is.”

“Can they hear my thoughts?”

Kieran chuckles and shakes his head. “No, they can’t. You won’t have that ability until you start to turn Fae.”

“I don’t want them to hear my thoughts,” I quickly ramble.

He cups my face again, forcing me to look into his eyes and calm down. “When the time comes, I am going to teach you how to block them out so you won’t accidentally say something to everyone when you aren’t supposed to. And if it happens once or twice, they aren’t going to harm you over it. They know you are new to everything revolving around us and are going to be very gracious.”

“And a lot of the kids haven’t ever been able to use this ability, so you may hear some of their thoughts until they master how not to broadcast them. Don’t worry, right now everyone is going to be super patient with everyone since it’s been hundreds of years since we’ve used our magic,” Kieran explains. “You aren’t going to be the only one going through a hard time.”

“Okay,” I mumble. “Now can you tell me about what happened after I passed out and before?”

Kieran sighs but nods. “When you said you went to the palace to talk to the prince I had a feeling something was off. Then I felt your terror and that’s when I got several of the Fae to come with me and go to you. Several of them knocked out guards so that we could get there fast enough, but I still didn’t get there in time.”

“You knocked out the guards?” I ask.

“Yes, we didn’t want to kill them but we also didn’t want them to cause any trouble. They are all getting treated and have all woken up,” Kieran says. “You know what happened when I got to you. I held you while you were unconscious and healed you. It wasn’t until the prince and king came into the throne room that I let you go and knocked them out.”

“Where are they?”

“They are locked up in a cell. Don’t worry, they are getting food and water once a day but they will remain locked up until I figure out what I am going to do with them.”

I open my mouth but quickly close it, afraid of how Kieran is going to answer that question.

“Tell me,” he insists.

“Wh-what are you going to do with them?” I ask.

“The king I don’t know, but Prince Archie… I’m going to make him suffer for what he has done to the Fae but also for what he has made you go through,” Kieran replies. “He is not going to get away with making you watch me get a whipping twice, watching your best friend die, and also making you witness all the horrible acts he has done to the Fae. Not to mention the way he looked at you and talked to you.”

I huff out air in frustration as my arm won’t move. “Grab my hand and pretend I’m squeezing it.”

Kieran chuckles and does as I say.

“I want to be there if you do anything to him. I want to see the expression on his face when he realizes who you are to me. I want to tell him all the promises I made were actually lies and I was never going to marry him,” I tell Kieran and throw myself into a coughing fit.

“Sweets, you need to stop talking as much,” Kieran gently scolds me. “You are supposed to be resting, not making it worse.”

“Please,” I manage to get out before he holds up a cup to my lips and I drink.

“Don’t worry, I already promised you would be there,” he says.

“Adeline?” Mother walks into the room holding the baby. “I heard you were finally awake and rushed over here!”

“Mom,” I whisper.

Kieran stands up and grabs the baby from my mother’s arms as she makes her way over toward me, wrapping her arms tightly around my body.

“I was so worried you were never going to wake up,” she mumbles into my ear. “Kieran kept reassuring me that you were going to but I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. Not after he told me you died and then magically came back to life.”