Page 40 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown (Kingdom of Bellhollow #1)

Sighing, I let my shoulders relax. He is right. I probably would have freaked out if he told me all this information at one point. I know I would have been overwhelmed and definitely wouldn’t have believed him in the slightest if he told me everything. He knew what he was doing.

“You want to see it? Here it is. It showed up when we first met in the forest.” Kieran lowers the side of his pants.

And right there on his hip is my name.

My name.

Adeline Duvall.

Spelled correctly and all. I never told him my last name or how to spell it.

“No.” I shake my head and take a step back. “You must have gotten that after you met me. That is the only way.”

“I didn’t know your full name,” he points out.

“You could have easily found that out!” I raise my voice, trying to make sense of it.

Kieran continues to hold his pants down so I can look at the tattoo once again. But as I lean forward to get a closer look, the more I realize that it doesn’t appear to be a tattoo.

“Wait,” I whisper.

“I couldn’t have found out your name easily. I only knew your first name since you told me it, but your last name, you have never told me. I can’t go and ask a human what your full name is,” Kieran explains.

He’s right. If he were human, I could easily explain how he found out my last name, but it’s not that simple.

“Let the others show you their hips.” Kieran lets go of his pants.

I stand up straight as Elias, Zayden, and Everett emerge from the trees.

“I heard you needed to see my hips.” Everett wiggles his eyebrows at me.

Elias hits Everett on the back of the head. “Knock it off. It’s serious right now. You don’t want Kieran handing you your ass, do you? And that’s no way to talk to your future High Lady either.”

“Sorry, Adeline.” Everett bows right in front of me. “I’ll save that for later when Elias isn’t around, and Kieran is in a good mood.” He cheekily smiles at me.

I can’t help but chuckle and shake my head.

“You are only to show just a little part of your hip,” Kieran states, glaring at his friends. “Any more than that and you won’t like the consequences.”

“Right. Should we show her now?” Zayden asks.

Kieran nods, and the three men turn to the side and show me. I search their bare skin for tattoos, but I don’t see any.

“We don’t have a mate yet, haven’t found her yet,” Elias gently says. “We are higher-ups like Kieran, not as important as him, so we won’t get our tattoos until we meet her for the first time.”

I look at Kieran for confirmation, and he nods.

“Are human mates common?” I ask. “What happened to your females?”

“Human mates have become more common recently, but they are still rare. It doesn’t happen often,” Kieran explains. “My mother was human.”

I look at him, confused. There are so many questions running through my head, and I don’t know where to start.

“How does that work?” I ask. “Are you half human and half Fae?”

Kieran shakes his head. “No, I’m fully Fae. I get some of my looks from my mother, but when it comes to whether I’m half Fae and half human, I’m fully Fae. If we have children, they will be fully Fae as well.”

My mouth hangs open. “Children?”

He smiles. “Yes, children. We don’t have to think about that for a long while, but it is something to think about. Something that will eventually happen.”

“I don’t know,” I whisper and take a step back. Everything is becoming really overwhelming, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t talk to anyone about any of this.

“Have any of the female mates talked to you yet?” Elias asks.

I shake my head. “No, they haven’t. Things have been weird around town recently.”

Like Prince Archie whipping Kieran.

After a whipping, everyone is on their best behavior and doesn’t want to do anything wrong. I don’t blame them. I didn’t go out much after it happened. Just the occasional time to go to the forest, but it was right back to the house after that.

“I’ll talk with their mates again,” Kieran says. “I think it would be good for you to talk to them so you can ask all the questions you want. Talk things through.”

“Yes,” I whisper. “I would like that.”

Kieran smiles at me, and it steals the breath out of my lungs. “You are so beautiful.”

“Oh.” My cheeks heat up.

“If times were different, I would court you and show you just how much you mean to me without risking you or me dying,” Kieran confesses. “I would show you just how amazing life can be with me and how cherished you would feel.”

My eyes dart over to where his friends are, and I relax a little.

“I want to show you the finer things in life,” Kieran says.

“I don’t want fancy things,” I tell him, feeling turned off by everything now.

“The finer things in life don’t have to be fancy.

I know many people think it is, but it doesn’t have to be.

It can be high quality things, durability, and things that are enjoyable and appreciated.

Walking in the forest and showing you all the different places you can see.

Or places where you can only see rare animals that have been hiding for centuries since the humans took over,” Kieran goes on.

“Maybe one day, when the Fae aren’t slaves, I’ll be able to court you properly, even if we are already together and married.

I don’t care. When I have the chance, I will show you what it would have been like. ”

My heart flutters, and I want that. I want to see everything he is talking about. I want to experience it all.

“Kieran,” I gently say.

“I know you are still hesitant about it all, but I’m not going to give up on you. I’m not never to give up. I’ve waited centuries for you, and I could wait another century or two. If it means I get to be with you, then I’m perfectly happy.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

I feel so bad that I don’t fully believe him, but everything is so uncertain right now. Everything is up in the air, and I don’t know which side to believe. I shouldn’t betray my people. At the same time, what if humans were the cause of everything and the Fae never did anything?

Kieran cups my face with his hands. “You don’t have to be sorry. I understand, and I wish it were different, but I’m not mad at you. I’m a patient man.”

I close my eyes and lean into his right hand, taking a deep breath and relishing his touch. If I had to go off the way I feel around him, I would believe that he is my mate. I’ve never felt this comfortable around anyone, but I can’t just blindly believe everything he says.

“Soon you will understand and believe everything I say,” he whispers. “Soon your eyes will be open and you won’t struggle to believe or understand things. Soon.”