Page 38 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

“You may go see Zahra,” Kieran says as he walks into the clearing. “Thank you for bringing her here safely.”

Henry bows before heading deeper into the forest. How did he meet his mate? Did it take a long time for them to get to know and trust each other? Was Henry accepting of having a Fae mate since he is a guard for the king?

So many questions run through my head as he disappears behind trees, giving myself a pounding headache.

“Sit. I’ll rub your temples and shoulders to help relieve some of the stress,” Kieran instructs me.

Sitting down, I wince as Kieran gently rubs my temple, making it shoot sharp pain across my skull.

“Tell me if it’s too much,” he says.

“Okay.”

“What did the prince want?” he asks.

I thought I could get away with not talking about the prince and how he acted. But I know Kieran wants to be in the know and make sure that I’m okay.

“He wanted to know how I was doing. He pushed the wedding back until next spring to give me time to heal and get used to the fact that my sister did something unthinkable to me.” I chuckle at the end. “If only he knew she wasn’t my sister, but the witch.”

“Anything else? Your mood got worse and you were scared for a brief second.” His hands move to my shoulders, slowly working on releasing the tension there.

“He is still the same person as before. Wicked and not kind at all. He wants to do everything he said before, and said when we get married that he is only going to let me out of the palace to walk in the forest once every other week.” Anger courses through me.

“When we get married and the curse is broken, you can go out as many times as you want to walk around the forest,” Kieran tells me. “You won’t be confined to just being in the house. You can talk to whoever you want and can stay out as long as you want. But you will have a guard with you just in case. Not to keep tabs on you, but to make sure that you’re safe and if you get hurt or need anything, they can help you.”

“I don’t mind having a guard. As long as they aren’t reporting every single detail about what I do in a day,” I say as I turn my head and look at him.

“You do not have to worry about that. I trust you,” he says.

Closing my eyes, my shoulders drop as Kieran continues to rub my shoulders.

“You haven’t been sleeping well, have you?” Kieran finally asks.

“Can you feel that through the bond?”

He chuckles. “Not that you’re awake, but I can feel you being scared in the middle of the night and I figure it’s from a nightmare. And you have dark circles under your eyes.”

“Perfect,” I mumble. “I’ve been avoiding looking at myself in the mirror. I didn’t think I looked that bad.”

“You’re still beautiful, but people can tell that you’re going through something. It’s okay,” he says as he goes back to massaging my head. “It’s going to get better. You’re going to get through this and overcome the nightmares.”

“I think the only way I’m going to start getting better is if she is dead,” I say, my voice trembling slightly.

“And soon she will be dead.”

I turn my head and look at him. “I want to see her die.”

“Sweets,” he says. “I don’t want you to have nightmares from seeing her die.”

“I don’t—” I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself. “I don’t think I will be able to move on and not be afraid if I don’t see her die in front of my own eyes. I trust you, but my mind is at war with itself right now, and I’m worried if I don’t see it then I will never get over it and will always look over my shoulder wondering if she is alive and coming after me.”

Avira has sunk her claws deep into me and I know I will be carrying this wound the rest of my life… even if it gets a little easier with each passing day. I’m never going to forget what she did to me.

“When the time comes we will revisit the idea.” He kisses the side of my head.

I lean back and relax in his embrace. My body grows heavy as we sit in silence, sleep begging to pull me under and give my body the rest it needs.

“It’s time to go,” Henry interrupts.