Page 62 of Kingdom of Betrayal and Unknown (Kingdom of Bellhollow #1)
“I love it,” I whisper. “Thank you again. I’m going to cherish this.”
I carefully place it in the pocket of my dress. Overcome with emotions, I step on my tiptoes and meet his stare. I could live forever in his eyes.
With my arms around his neck, I can feel his breath on my lips. I have dreamed about these lips against mine for so long.
This feels right. Safe.
He makes me feel safe.
Leaning in, I brush my lips over his before pushing my face closer, planting my lips on his. His grip on me tightens but Kieran’s lips don’t move, and we stare at each other awkwardly.
Am I wrong to kiss him?
As I’m about to pull away, Kieran places his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me impossibly closer to him as his lips start to move against mine. Eyes fluttering shut, we fight for dominance, but Kieran is quick to take control.
He swipes his tongue across my lips, but I pull away, taking a deep breath.
Kieran rests his forehead against mine. “Oh Sweets, there is time. No need to rush because if this continues, I don’t know if I will be able to resist claiming you fully.”
He brushes another feather light kiss on my lips, and I lower myself, landing flat on my feet.
“Wow,” I whisper and bring my fingers up to my lips.
I can still feel his lips against mine, like they never left. Giggling, I look up at Kieran with excitement.
“Absolutely amazing,” Kieran mumbles, a smile spreading across his face.
“Now you don’t have an excuse not to kiss me,” I point out smugly.
He shakes his head. “Correct. Now I don’t have to hold back,” he growls at the end.
I get all giddy again and giggle, smiling big at Kieran. Things are looking up. We are going to make it through this.
“Now you can finally tell me why you were crying the other day and absolutely terrified,” Kieran stands to his full height.
Sucking in a breath, I clasp my hands together and feel my mood drop.
“Adeline.” He cocks his head to the right. “What happened?”
“I don’t like it when you use my name. I like Sweets.” I sigh. “When you call me by my name, it makes me feel like I’m in trouble. Sweets at all times, please.”
He cracks a smile. “Good to know. I’ll try to use your name only when I am particularly cross with you. Now, tell me what happened.”
Right. I’m not going to get out of this one. He’s waited patiently for over a week, and I owe it to him.
“The prince came over to see my mother the day after she had the baby,” I start. “It was all going well until he was leaving, and he said I owed him,” I whisper.
Fury is written all across Kieran’s face as I finish.
“He’s been visiting us once a day, and I don’t know why. He says he wants to make sure we have everything we need, but there has to be something else,” I ramble. “Visiting once a day is a little excessive.”
Kieran nods. “It is.”
“Please, don’t do anything. I am handling it. I don’t want you to get hurt again. Not until we find out how to break the curse. Then you can go after him as long as I get to get a few punches in.” I crack a smile at the end.
“My violent little Sweets.” He kisses my forehead. “Is that all?”
Nodding, I smile at him. “I’m pretty sure you have noticed all the guards in town now. Mother thinks it’s because rulers from the other towns are coming in to talk to the king and prince.”
“That has happened a couple of times before,” Kieran agrees. “They normally increase the guards in Bellhollow when they come. It will be over in a week.”
“I don’t like it. It makes it harder to meet up with you,” I point out.
“It will be over soon, like I said. It is a short time in our long lives. When we look back on it, it will feel like just a day.”
Sighing, I wring my hands together. I know it’s going to feel like a day years from now, but we are here and not in the future.
“I don’t care about the future if we don’t have the present with each other,” I tell him. “That made no sense, but you must understand what I am trying to get at.”
“I do, but we need to have something to look forward to. If we are so focused on now and how bad it is, there is nothing to fight for. But looking at the future and realizing we are going to be together and the curse will be broken, that is something to fight for,” he passionately says. “I will always fight for you… for us .”
“Right. Fight for the future us,” I mumble.
I need to remember that when the times get hard.
“Look at the picture of my eyes and remember, when the curse is broken, you won’t have to look at that picture during the day, but you’ll be able to stare into the real thing.” Kieran cracks a smile.
I laugh and shake my head. “Now that… that is something I really look forward to.”
We stare at each other for several seconds, enjoying each other and the silence around us.
“This was perf—” I start to say.
“Move away from the woman,” someone yells.
I take several steps back and look around us.
Surrounded.
Kieran and I are completely surrounded by guards. I move forward, but Kieran shakes his head.
Several guards step to the side, and Prince Archie walks into the circle with a female behind him.
I gasp as Skylar points a finger at me. “See, I told you Adeline was meeting with the Fae.”