Page 6 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown (Kingdom of Bellhollow #1)

We walk into the town square in complete silence.

I surreptitiously look around, trying to find the cobalt blue eyes from the other day, craving to see them.

I want to see who they belong to. Every other time I’ve looked into the eyes, I get so distracted and by the time I think of looking to see who they belong to, they are already gone.

Are they doing that on purpose? Do they know I get lost in their eyes? Do they get lost in mine?

“Can you believe he wants me to take classes to be a proper lady?” I chuckle, bringing it up once again. “Wants me to stop walking in the forest. Wants me to be someone I’m not. Who does he think he is?”

“He’s—”

“I know who he is, Skylar. I just.” I sigh.

“I don’t want to give up who I am to become who he wants me to be.

I want to continue to walk around the forest, taking in nature and everything it has to offer me.

I want to be around people and not be stared at all the time.

Do you know how many times people were looking at us both yesterday?

I don’t know how he gets used to that. I don’t think I ever would.

No privacy at all. I don’t want to be with him, plain and simple. ”

I’m getting worked up while talking about it. It’s like he wants to keep me in a cage to do what he wants.

To be a prisoner.

Someone he can toy with, letting me have just a little taste of freedom to keep me compliant.

No.

I’m not going to do that.

“It can’t be that bad. I mean, how many days do you go into the forest? I’m sure he would let you leave the palace once a week,” Skylar says.

“I walk every day. Every day. Going down to once a week would kill me. I don’t want to have my wings clipped.” I sound exasperated, looking at her I say. “Do you know how horrible it would be? I would be a shell of the person I am, held captive.”

Several Fae look over at me, and I immediately feel guilty. They have it worse than I do.

“Sorry.” I look down at my feet.

I’ve never seen them in person, but several myths say they have wings but can’t use them because of the curse. Where did they go? It must feel awful to have them kept away for centuries, not able to stretch them. No one actually knows whether they have wings or not.

Some of the Fae haven’t ever used their wings as they were born into this. At least they don’t know what they are missing.

A sense of wrongness fills my stomach, making me wrap an arm around myself. I’ve never had to think about what I should and shouldn’t say because I’ve never been in this position. I’m starting to feel like them.

But I know this isn’t even a fraction of what they are feeling.

Some of them were alive before the curse. I don’t know what is worse, knowing what it feels like to be able to fly and not being able to do it, or never knowing how it feels and longing to.

“Stop looking at us, or I’m going to get a guard to come over and make you,” Skylar sneers at them before turning to me. “You shouldn’t apologize for anything. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

And yet I feel like I have.

“Skylar, they have wings. We can’t see them, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I just want to be considerate about it. I don’t know what it feels like.”

But I may if the prince locks me up in the palace.

“You can’t seriously be feeling bad for them.

You shouldn’t! They have done nothing to earn you feeling bad for them.

They are beneath us!” she exclaims. “What is going on with you? You know what they did to us humans all those hundreds of years ago. What they have now isn’t nearly as bad as what they did. ”

I flinch, not liking both her words and her tone. This is one thing we can’t agree on. Normally, I just agree with her, not wanting to get on her bad side or get into an argument. It’s easier, but it doesn’t mean I like it.

“Sorry, I know,” I whisper, hating every word that comes out of my mouth. “I know they are beneath us. I know I shouldn’t apologize and feel guilty.”

Why can’t we live together, with no slaves at all?

I don’t want the Fae to be beneath us, but it’s everything I’ve been taught. They tried to keep us captive centuries ago. They wanted us to be slaves; beaten, whipped, and treated like dirt.

Just like they are now.

I should be angry that they wanted that. I should be happy they are in my place.

But deep down, I’m not.

Is the king telling the truth? Are the myths real, or were they made up when a generation forgot history?

“You don’t need to apologize to them. You are perfectly fine saying what you want to say about them. No one is going to do anything,” Skylar says as we slowly make our way back to my house.

I keep quiet, not wanting to agree with her but not wanting to disagree and incur her wrath.

But keeping silent is basically me saying I disagree with her.

I feel so out of place. Maybe it’s all the stress from preparing for my sibling’s arrival.

Things are going to really change when they come, and I’m trying to cope with everything.

“I think you should take your place with Prince Archie,” Skylar says. “You will be an amazing queen one day. I know you will.”

A growl has my head turning toward the Fae, searching to see who made the sound. But no one is looking at us or doing anything out of the ordinary. Looking at Skylar, I take in her reactions to see if she heard anything, but she isn’t looking around.

Did I just imagine that?

But as the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, I know I didn’t imagine it.

He’s here.

My eyes scan the crowd again, desperately trying to find the familiar cobalt blues. Who do they belong to? Why do I feel a connection toward them? But as I scan the surrounding area, I don’t find them. They aren’t anywhere in the crowd of humans and Fae.

Disappointment fills me as I look at my best friend.

If I could paint those eyes, I would. I want to but I know I can’t.

I can’t draw or paint for shit but maybe I could save up more money and have someone paint them for me so I can always look at them.

Admire them and get lost in them whenever I want to.

A dream.

Skylar takes my silence as agreement and starts talking again. “I could never be queen. I know you said before that I could, but I can’t. You are good with people, sophisticated.”

I shake my head. “I am not. Have you seen how awkward I am?”

“Yes, I have. You help people all the time without even knowing it. Prince Archie has probably seen how amazing you are with people. You’ll need to change if you want him to forget you.” Skylar chuckles. “I know I work in a shop and interact with customers, but I’m not a natural like you are.”

“If I don’t know I’m doing it, then it’s going to be hard to change,” I mumble as we walk up to my house. “But you would do far better than me. You are the more sophisticated one out of us. You are more proper.”

“Just carry on being you. It will probably turn him off when he realizes you aren’t going to change for him.” Skylar pulls me into a hug. “You’re going to be okay. It won’t be the end of the world if you get married to him.”

“You don’t know that. We don’t know anything about the royalty and how they work. They keep to themselves,” I point out. “For all we know, he might marry me and then kill me. No one would know. No one would ask questions if he went searching for another wife.”

“Until now. You may discover that he isn’t as bad as you think.

You may be able to change his mind.” Skylar shrugs.

“Whatever you do, don’t be disrespectful.

I don’t want my best friend and her family to be banished to another realm.

We don’t know anything about what happens to people who go there and whether you can come back here or not. ”

I shiver just thinking about my family disappearing right in front of my eyes on the king’s say so.

No. Whatever I do, we are not going to get sent to Tarravega.

“Just promise me you won’t get banished,” she begs.

“I’ll try my best.”