Page 217 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

“Do you have any last words?” Kieran asks.

“No,” the king says. “I have no regrets.”

I look up at Kieran to see him nodding his head, the sound of a lever moving before I hear unpleasant noises.

I bury my face in Kieran’s chest, taking a shaky breath in.

You’re okay, he whispers through the bond as he places a hand over my ear, blocking out the sound. Everything is over.

Are they dead? I ask.

Yes.

I pull my head away from Kieran’s chest and briefly peek over at their bodies hanging, wanting to confirm they are really dead.

Now all that is left is Avira.

CHAPTER 37

“Idon’t think we should be doing this,” Henry says as we sneak out of the palace.

“You don’t think a lot of things are a good idea,” I mumble.

“But this is extremely dangerous and you don’t know what you are going to get yourself into,” Henry points out. “Do you even know how to fight? What if she comes out of nowhere and hurts you?”

“That’s why I have you,” I reply. “You’re going to keep me safe through this.”

Henry groaned. “Adeline, that’s not how this works. I’m supposed to be guarding you.”

I stop and turn to look at him. “And you are doing just that. You are guarding me and keeping me safe. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“If the High Lord knew you were going to be doing this, he would have locked you in your room,” Henry says. “You know this is wrong and dangerous but you don’t care. What if you die?”

I wave my hand and start walking again. “I’m not going to die. There are plenty of Fae around us that will know if something is wrong and I have you right next to me.”

“Against a witch,” Henry sighs. “You know that I’m no match up against Avira, right? She’s already hurt me once before.”

“If you don’t want to come with me, then you don’t have to. I’m going to do this though.”

Henry follows me as I continue to walk into the town and straight toward the forest. People wave and ask me how I’m doing. I reply and move on, on a mission to find Avira and kill her before she can do anything else.

Kieran says no one has spotted her yet and I’m determined to do just that.

“What about your mate feeling your emotions?” Henry asks as we walk past a group of Fae.

“Shhh!” I look around. “Can you be any louder? We are trying to do this without him knowing. I don’t need him getting all angry at me.”

“And you don’t think he’s going to get angry when he finds out that you did this later on?” Henry asks.

I shrug. “If we find her and I kill her then he’ll be angry for a little bit, but I don’t think he’ll be mad at me for long. Not when I’ve killed her.”

“That’s if you kill her! There is no guarantee that she won’t kill you. You aren’t her favorite.”

Grinding my teeth together, I turn away from him. “Thanks for reminding me again. We’re going to do this and that’s the end of the discussion. If you don’t want to be here then you can leave and I’ll do it on my own.”

Henry stays quiet as we walk further into the forest. Avira could be anywhere. She could be all the way in Hellhollow and this search would be pointless.

But I have a gut feeling that she isn’t far away from us.