Page 41 of Kingdom of Death and Hope

“You told me yourself that you almost passed out several times on the way here from the castle. You were in so much pain that you couldn’t look around to see if there was anything. I didn’t expect you to do any of that. I wanted you to rest and relax,” she explains. “I don’t care if things do not get done around the house. The only thing I care about is that you are home and healing. I’m so happy that I get to wake up every morning and see you safe in the house. And when you heal completely, you aren’t going to have as many responsibilities as before.”

“Mother.” I shake my head.

“No, I want you to listen to me. Before, you took so much on, even when your father was alive. You made sure that everything was okay and then when he did pass away, you took on even more. You are young and I want you to have some fun in your life. I want you to go to the forest and see your mate. And when the curse is broken I want you to be able to be with him and not spend all your time at home doing chores,” she says. “I want you to have less responsibility so you can enjoy your life while you’re young. I don’t want you to look back on life and regret not doing things because you were taking care of me and the house.”

“But that will leave everything to you. You have a newborn,” I point out.

“The Fae male still comes and helps out once, sometimes twice a week. He has become efficient in getting a lot of things done so we don’t have to worry about them.”

Elias.

“So I don’t want you to feel guilty about some things not happening because they were your job before. Right now I just want you to relax and get better. Once you are fully healed we can talk about your chores around the house.” She gives me a pointed look. “That doesn’t mean I won’t ask you every once in a while to go grab something. I’m not going to make you useless, but I want your priority right now to be healing. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

Mother stands up and walks over to the tin jar, grabbing money. “Now, can you go get the salt?”

I grab the money and head out the door, greeting Henry before making my way to Leah’s stall.

“Can I have a pound of salt?” I ask.

Leah nods and starts working on grabbing the pound of salt.

“Actually, can you make it two pounds?”

I look around the town as she works on what I need. People are trying not to make it obvious but I can tell they are looking at me and whispering. How bad have the rumors gotten now?

My eyes subconsciously move to the Fae, some giving small nods when we make eye contact.

“Is life going to get better?” I ask as I turn to Henry.

He shrugs, not saying a word.

Leah places the two pounds of salt on the counter and I hand her the money.

“Life is what you make of it,” Leah says after a while, her eyes darting toward Henry for a brief second. “You get to decide if you want to make it happy or not.”

“Thanks,” I mutter.

“Don’t give up so easily. I bet life for you is going to get a lot better soon. After all, you are marrying the prince. You’ll have everything you want and can ask him for anything. Just don’t forget about us.” She giggles at the end.

If only she knew the truth.

I go to pick up the salt but Henry grabs it before I can.

“Thank you again.” I give her a small smile and walk off.

Turning to Henry, I hold my hand out. “I can take it from here.”

He shakes his head. “You are still healing and shouldn’t be holding anything heavy. I will carry it.”

Sighing, we walk in silence the rest of the way to the house. Henry walks in with me, setting down the salt on the table before leaving.

“Thank you,” Mother calls out, and looks at me. “Thank you.”

“Everyone thinks I’m going to have a wonderful life with the prince if we get married,” I say as I trace my finger on the table mindlessly. “Do they really not see who the royal family is? Do they not see how horrible they are to people?”

“You have to remember that most of these people have not talked with the prince or any of the royal family. They have only seen them from afar,” Mother reminds me.