Page 53 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown (Kingdom of Bellhollow #1)

I stare at her wide-eyed as she comes closer to me. “Wh-what?”

“What are you doing out in the forest at five in the morning?” she asks again. “You aren’t out this early in the morning normally.”

I let out a shaky breath and rub the back of my neck. “I had a bad nightmare and needed the cold air to cool me off. I needed the quiet to relax and get everything out of my mind.”

It’s not a lie. That’s what I did the first time, but this is a little different. Kieran pulled on the bond, and I knew that was his way of saying he wanted to see me.

Skylar eyes me suspiciously and takes several more steps closer to me. “What was your nightmare about?”

“My mother killing herself.” I look away from her as tears pool in my eyes.

I can still so vividly see her killing herself in my mind. My mother is sleeping soundly in her room right now, just as she does every other night. She told me I didn’t have anything to worry about, and I believe her. But what if the witch gets to her and does something so she does kill herself?

But the witch doesn’t know who I am and I don’t know who they are. Why would she go after me when she doesn’t know anything? She isn’t, I reassure myself.

“Again?” Skylar asks. “I think you need to talk to Joan.”

I shake my head. “I am not going to talk to Joan. I don’t need that kind of help. I just need to be less stressed, which I am working on. Everything is a lot at the moment, but I’m okay.”

“I don’t know. This is the second time I’ve found you walking in the forest in the early morning. I’m worried about you.” Skylar gently places her hand on my shoulder. “I just want to make sure you’re okay and aren’t going to do anything you shouldn’t.”

“I’m not, I promise. I just needed to clear my head, and I’ve done that. You know there has been a lot going on recently. I’m just trying to cope with it all,” I tell her, being completely honest. “Everyone processes everything differently, and this is my way of doing that.”

I clasp my hands together in front of me as I take a step back, her hand falling from my shoulder. This is the second time she’s almost caught me meeting up with Kieran. How does she know I’m doing this?

“Why are you up so early?” I ask, cocking my head to the right side. “I thought your shift didn’t start for another couple of hours.”

She shrugs. “I’ve decided to take the earlier morning shift to have the afternoon off. It started this week. That’s why I’ve been able to meet with you in the afternoon.”

“I thought you had those days off,” I honestly reply.

“I’ve surprised everyone.” She chuckles. “But it’s so much nicer to get work done and have some of the afternoon left to do things instead of splitting it in the morning and afternoon.”

I nod in agreement. “That’s how I take my afternoon walks.”

“I’m surprised you can still have your walks with how much you need to get done since your father passed away.” Her nose scrunches up.

“I’ve been making it a priority. I wake up earlier so that I can take the walk.

It helps regulate everything in my life when I am able to walk around and be in nature,” I explain.

“You do things that help you get through the day or the week. Don’t look at me weird like walking in the forest is something that is wrong.

I’ve done it my whole life and you know that.

You’ve gone on several walks with me when we were younger. ”

Something is definitely up with Skylar, and I don’t like it.

“You’ve changed,” I point out.

“Adeline, everyone changes.” She looks offended.

I shake my head and then shrug my shoulders. I’m so confused. “I know everyone changes, but with you it’s just different.”

“How?” Her voice rises a little. “How is it different for me? Why are you pointing out only me? You’ve changed as well!”

I take a step back, shocked by her words. Have I changed? I thought I was the same as I always have been.

“I don’t know who you are anymore. You are caving in on yourself and pushing everyone away.” Skylar throws her hands in the air. “I’m worried about you! Everyone is. That’s part of the reason I’ve been following you. I’m just trying to make sure you are okay.”

I shake my head, tears pooling in my eyes as I talk.

“I haven’t changed that much, and the little I have, there is a reason behind it!

My father died! Everything is going up in flames around me, and I’m trying to put them out.

But when I put one out, five more appear around me. I don’t know what to do.”

Heaving in a breath, I place my hand over my chest to try and calm myself down.

“It’s like I don’t know you anymore,” she whispers.

“Skylar.” I take a step forward. “I haven’t changed much. Maybe I have stepped back from a lot of things, but I am still the same old me,” I partially lie.

The only thing that has changed is that I’m mated to a Fae, the High Lord of the Fae. My view on Fae and how they are treated has slightly changed. I am going to try and help them break the curse, but she doesn’t need to know that.

She shakes her head. “I don’t think you are. Something about you has changed. I’m worried about you.”

“And I’m worried about you hanging out with the prince so much,” I snap back.

Her eyes go wide as she stares at me, her mouth slightly open.

“When I suggested you get to know the prince to see if you could take his attention away from me, I thought you were going to get to know him a little. I didn’t think you were going to spy on me or plot something behind my back!

” I accuse her, having little proof of them plotting anything.

But by the look on her face, I just found out they are. “What are you planning?”

“It’s nothing bad!” she quickly replies.

“I promise it really wasn’t anything bad, but he has been asking me questions about how you would like your wedding to be.

I’ve been answering, but he isn’t going to propose soon, I promise.

I told him to wait a while since there is a lot going on. I care about you.”

I shake my head, not believing her. “If you wanted what was best for me, you would tell him I don’t want to marry him. You would tell him you wanted to marry him and would be a better match.”

“You know I can’t do that!” She raises her voice.

“I’ve tried to be subtle about it, but he only wants you.

I’ve tried pointing out other girls, but he has his eyes on you, and I don’t know why!

He has this obsession with you, like you hold the world in your hands.

Like you hold the key to everything,” she explains with such certainty.

“I don’t,” I whisper.

“And I know you don’t, but he really thinks you do. I don’t know why. I’ve tried asking, but he keeps saying something about the witch and an old tale,” she mumbles toward the end.

“Witch?” I freeze in my spot. “Do you know who the witch is?” I lean forward, waiting for her to answer.

She looks at me weirdly. “No, I don’t. Prince Archie hasn’t told me who it is. I don’t think they want anyone to know in case anyone is listening and someone wants to break the curse.”

Shit.

Of course they would keep it on lockdown. I hoped Skylar might have found something out so I could see if they say anything about the curse so I could tell Kieran. I need them to be free, so Prince Archie doesn’t become king and make everything worse.

I want no part in that.

“But it doesn’t matter. We don’t need to know who the witch is.” Skylar waves her hand in the air, dismissing the idea. “Are you going to continue to push me away?”

“I wasn’t pushing you away,” I point out. “I’ve just been busy, but I thought you were pushing me away and hanging out with the prince more.”

“I can’t deny that I’ve been hanging out with him more, but nothing has happened between us, you have to believe that,” she almost pleads.

My nose scrunches up as my eyebrows pull together. “I don’t care if you sleep with him. You know I don’t want to be with him.So, sleep with him if you want. Kiss him if you feel like it.”

“You aren’t supposed to say that about someone you are going to marry,” Skylar hesitantly replies.

“I’m not going to marry him,” I declare. “You know that. I am going to somehow get out of it, and if that means I spend the rest of my life by myself, then I will gladly do it.”

“You don’t mean that.” She shakes her head.

“I do. Don’t try and pretend like you don’t. I’ve told you since day one that I don’t want anything to do with him. We don’t have any similarities, and I don’t want to be with someone like that,” I tell her once again.

When is Skylar going to understand that I don’t want anything to do with the prince? That I would rather be alone for the rest of my life than be with him.

I don’t know why she doesn’t believe me. I know myself the best, better than her.

“Okay, fine. I see that you still haven’t changed your mind on that.” She chuckles. “That obviously hasn’t changed.”

“And it’s not going to change so don’t expect it to.” I give her a pointed look. “Are we good now?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” She takes a step toward me.

I wrap my arms around her, giving her a short hug before taking a step back.

“Maybe next time, we should just talk to each other instead of sneaking around, trying to figure out what’s going on.

We’ve been best friends our whole lives, and we have so much more to go.

I don’t want to have a falling out because we both thought we changed when in reality we really haven’t,” I offer, but I know Skylar has changed.

She would never spy on me or go behind my back on several things, before.

Kieran was right. I’m going to have to keep a close eye on her, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be her friend.

She nods. “I agree. Let’s not allow the prince to get in between us. We are better than that.”

“We are.” I chuckle.