Page 46 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown (Kingdom of Bellhollow #1)

I blink several times, trying to see if the image in front of me will change, but it doesn’t. Kieran is standing over Marvin’s dead body.

“Kieran.” I whisper his name as he continues to look at Marvin. “What did you do?”

He turns to look at me, his face void of any emotion. “What needed to be done.”

“Killing him?”

Kieran nods and walks toward me, but I take a step back.

“You killed Marvin,” I whisper, still not believing it.

“You knew him?” Kieran asks.“Marvin as in the one who saved you?”

I nod, but then shake my head. “I didn’t know him well. He saved me once. He was the town drunk, but you didn’t have to kill him.”

Kieran closes the distance between us and holds my shoulders. “Yes, I did. He was going to tell people what happened, putting both of us in danger. There was no reasoning with him. If he is a drunk, he will run his mouth to anyone who will listen, and it won’t be good for either one of us.”

I open and close my mouth, trying to come up with something to say, but Kieran isn’t wrong. Marvin would have told everyone who would listen to him, and it would have created a mess for us. But I wish he didn’t have to die.

“I’m sorry for killing him in front of you. I’m not sorry for killing him,” Kieran says. “I will kill anyone who puts your life in danger.”

And I find that really sweet and hot when I probably shouldn’t.

Kieran hums and smirks at me. “If only I could act on those feelings,” he purrs. “Soon.”

I clench my thighs together and my cheeks heat at getting caught. This is when blocking him from feeling my emotions would be amazing. Then he would never know when his words turned me on. But part of me likes him knowing when I’m turned on.

“What are you going to do with Marvin?” I ask, looking over at his body once again.

Sadness fills me, and I quickly look away. There has been too much death around me recently.

“Elias and Zayden are going to take care of it. They will dig him a proper grave and mark it,” Kieran replies. “We are going to treat him with care and respect.”

“O-okay,” I whisper. “Can.” I clear my throat. “Can I be there? I feel like I should be there for him. I know I didn’t know him well, but I need to do this.”

Kieran cups my face. “Of course you can, and don’t feel bad for wanting to.”

My shoulders relax as Kieran says those words. Everyone deserves at least one person to come to their funeral, and this time it’s going to be me. If I had never come out here to calm my mind, Marvin would have never had to die, but how was I supposed to know that?

“Do not feel guilty over this,” Kieran says, looking directly into my eyes. “It was not your doing.”

“But,” I start to say, but one look from Kieran and I close my mouth.

“No buts. It was not your fault. I will not have you blaming yourself for it,” he gently says.

“Is it going to happen now?” I ask.

Kieran nods, letting his hands drop from my face. I miss the contact, but I don’t say anything. “Yes, Elias and Zayden have already picked up the body?—”

“Marvin,” I remind him of his name.

Everyone deserves to be called by their name and not just a body. Marvin, even though he was the town drunk, deserves to be called by his name because he was a human being. He should be treated with respect. I know Kieran didn’t mean anything by it, but I couldn’t let him get by with it.

Marvin matters.

Marvin had a family at one point.

Marvin had people who cared for him, loved him.

“They have already picked Marvin up. We are going to go to the grave. People will see his name, so they’ll know it is him,” Kieran explains, correcting himself. “Do you want to walk or do you want me to carry you?”

I stare at Kieran and take a deep breath. “Is it far?”

He shakes his head. “Just over the ridge in the cemetery. We want him to be with his people, humans, and so people would know that someone took care of him.”

Kieran holds his hand out, and I grab it. He leads me toward Marvin’s grave, and I can’t help but let the tears fall from my face as Elias and Zayden put him in his grave.

“He didn’t deserve to die,” I whisper.

“He didn’t, but it had to happen.” Kieran pulls me into his side. “I wish it could be different as well, but it had to go this way. There was no other option.”

I know what he’s saying is true. Marvin would have told someone.

They would have come to me or gone on a rampage to find out who was responsible for what Marvin was saying within the Fae.

How many people would they have killed then?

Hundreds? Thousands? Were there even thousands of Fae left to kill?

“Do you want to say anything?” Kieran asks. “Before Elias and Zayden cover his grave.”

I take a step away from Kieran and look at Marvin. What should I say?

“I didn’t.” I clear my throat, feeling a little awkward. “What am I doing?” I whisper to myself.

I can feel Kieran behind me before his hand lands on my shoulder.

“You’re okay,” he gently says. “If you don’t want to say anything, you don’t have to.”

“But he deserves it,” I say through clenched teeth. “He deserves this and so much more. But I don’t know him.”

I saw Marvin so many times on the street, and I could have said something to him then, gotten to know him, but I never did. Everyone told me he was just a drunk who didn’t deserve to be known. Marvin matters, everyone matters.

I turn to Kieran and bury my face in his chest, wrapping my arms around him. “I think I’ll say something later when I have the words instead of making something up now.”

Kieran’s hand cups the back of my head, keeping me in place as he kisses the top of my head. “Sounds good, Sweets. You let me know when, and I’ll come with you so you aren’t alone.”

I can hear Elias and Zayden filling the grave, and my heart breaks a little more. I wish everything could be different.

“I know, Sweets,” Kieran whispers, holding me closer. “Me too.”

I pull away from him, looking up into his eyes. “Is this ever going to change?”

Kieran rubs his hand across my face before cupping the right side. “Soon. I hope it will all change soon, and we can all live in peace.”

I lean my forehead on his chest, taking a deep breath in and slowly letting it out. “I hope so, too.”

I don’t know how much longer I can take all of this. How many more people are going to die because we are two separate nations?

“You’re going to make an excellent High Lady,” Elias says.

Pulling away from Kieran, I turn around and face them. Dirt covers Marvin, and at the head, there is a small wooden plank with his name on it.

“We’ll get a better one when we have more time, a stone that won’t go bad over time,” Zayden informs me. “This is just temporary, so we have a place to remember.”

“Maybe I should come with alcohol and pour some on his grave,” I whisper. “Instead of flowers.”

Elias cracks a smile. “I think he would love that.”

“I have to agree with you, Elias. Adeline is going to make an amazing High Lady,” Zayden agrees. “Her passion, her care for those she doesn’t know. Everyone is going to love her. All qualities a High Lady needs.”

“Don’t forget her feistiness. She won’t let people get away with lying to either one of you,” Elias adds. “That will come in handy one day, I know it.”

I look at Kieran, waiting for him to say something. I don’t know what to say to Elias and Zayden. I didn’t even know what a High Lady was until a couple of minutes ago when I told Kieran about my nightmare.

“I agree. I never doubted you for a second,” Kieran whispers, kissing my forehead. “Everyone is going to adore you, love you for who you are.”

“When am I going to meet everyone?” I can’t help but ask as the nerves run through me.

“Not for a little while. We can’t risk gathering and someone finding out and reporting it,” Kieran explains.

“We’re not all here right now,” Elias chimes in. “Some are behind the wall.”

Behind the wall?

“He means in the other towns. It’s almost like a wall since we can’t travel easily. They have our names listed here, and the only way a Fae can go to another town is if they get transferred,” Zayden chimes in quickly.

“You were able to roam freely?” I ask. “Wait, don’t answer that.”

Of course they were. They weren’t slaves then.

“Yes, we were able to. Though, back then we didn’t go to many different towns since we lived in the capital.

Everyone came to us for various holidays or to talk to my father about problems going on in their town,” Kieran explains.

“We journeyed to the other towns once a year to see how they were doing in person, but we normally stayed here in Bellhollow.”

I nod. “Hellhollow is thriving. I don’t see many Fae there, though, but I’m normally only there for a couple of hours to get what I need.”

“That’s dangerous.” Elias raises an eyebrow at me.

I shrug. “It is what it is.”

I wish I could go the week before so I didn’t have to worry about the snow, but mother has always needed me at home to get ready for the market.

“It’s especially dangerous when snow is falling.” Zayden gives me a disapproving look.

I sigh before pointing a finger at him. “If you were in my situation, you would do the same thing. Yes, it was dangerous, and yes, I knew that I should have stayed there the night, but I didn’t want my pregnant mother worrying about me when I didn’t show up in the morning.

I didn’t think it was that bad until I was halfway home. I don’t need a lecture.”

It was the last thing I needed.

I lived through it and knew the consequences. Sometimes, I still get chills when I’m inside thinking about that night. How easily I could have died.

“And there is the feistiness.” Elias whistles.

“They are just worried about you and mean well.” Kieran wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me into him.

I lean my head against his chest, letting my body relax. I didn’t realize how tense it had gotten with the way the conversation was turning.

“You are their High Lady, and knew that when I saved you. They are just worried and want what’s best for you. They would do anything for you.”

“Take an arrow to the heart,” Zayden says.

I suck in a breath and shake my head. “No.”

Elias hits Zayden’s chest. “You idiot. That’s how her father died.”

Zayden’s eyes go wide as he looks at me. “I’m so sorry. I knew he died, but I didn’t know that’s how. I would have never?—”

I raise my hand. “It’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

Exhaustion weighs on my body as I lean into Kieran even more.

“Come on, Sweets. Time to go home so you can sleep,” Kieran gently encourages. “Say goodnight.”

“Night,” I mumble as Kieran guides me away.

They shout it back as we walk toward the entrance of the forest.

“You go straight home and get into bed,” Kieran tells me. “I’ll see you later.”

I tilt my head back, looking up at him. Everything in me wants to get on my tiptoes and kiss him, but we are so close to town, and anyone could be out and looking.

Kieran smiles, leans down, and kisses my forehead. I sigh with both contentment and disappointment.

“Soon, Sweets, soon,” he mumbles.