Page 212 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

I nod and she hands me a bag of lemon candies.

“Thank you,” I whisper and put one in my mouth.

“How about you sit behind my stall for a little while and when you are ready to go back to the palace you can,” she offers.

“Thank you,” I mumble and sit down on the ground behind her stall.

“Oh, don’t sit there!” Piper yells. “You are going to get all dirty.”

I wave her off. “I’m okay. I’m just going to relax a little.”

Piper looks at me with uncertainty but after a while she walks off.

“You rest, and if you need anything, let me know,” Nila turns around and says.

“Thank you.”

I sit there for a while, watching people stop at Nila’s booth and buy things. Every once in a while someone spots me and says hello but nothing past that.

My eyes start to droop and before I know it, I’m falling asleep.

“Thank you for telling me where she was,” someone says. “I was starting to get worried when she didn’t come home.”

“She was exhausted from everything and I saw it. Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I got so busy and by the time it calmed down it had been several hours,” Nila replies.

“I’m going to take her home. Thank you again for taking care of her,” Kieran says.

“Talk to her and really listen to what she has to say. She cares about you.” Nila chuckles. “Cares about you so much.”

“I will.”

I feel arms grab under my legs and around my upper back, pulling me into their body. I whine but keep my eyes closed.

“You’re okay,” he says. “Everything is okay. I’m just here to take you home.”

“Kieran?” I mumble.

“It’s me, Sweets.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“I should be apologizing to you.”

I snuggle into his chest and allow my body to fully relax in his embrace.

I hum. “No. I should.”

“Sweets.” He sighs. “I should have listened to what you were actually saying and not just telling you no. I was in the wrong.”

I blink several times as I look up at him.

“We can talk about this later. Just go to sleep,” Kieran says.

“Nila told me not to go to bed without resolving this,” I mumble.

Kieran smiles. “Good advice. She said the same thing to my parents.”

“So when we get to the room, we can talk about it?” I ask.