Chapter 12
“Avira wants to see you,” Henry tells me after I open the door.
My face drains of color as I stare at him.
“No,” I whisper, taking a stuttering step back.
Everything flashes before my eyes as those words keep repeating in my head. Avira wants to see me again. Is she going to whisk me away and torture me again? Will she get to me before Henry can save me?
“The prince has granted her permission to talk to you with me present. You get to pick the place, but we need to go there now and tell another guard to tell your sister where,” Henry explains.
“What’s going on?” Mother asks as she steps behind me. “Are you okay? Adeline, talk to me.”
“Av-Av—” I can’t bring myself to say her name out loud.
“Avira wants to talk to her and the prince has said it’s okay as long as I’m there,” Henry fills in for me.
“No. I will not allow her to see Adeline,” Mother declares.
Henry slightly bows his head. “Unfortunately there is no way out of this for her.”
Stars flitter around my vision as I grip onto Mother’s hand, holding on as tight as I can, trying to stay upright. Is Avira watching right now? Is she smirking and laughing about how pitiful I look?
“There is really no way out of it?” Mother asks. “You couldn’t ask the prince to get her out of it?”
“There is only so much the prince can do. While he does not like Avira right now, she does work closely with his father. He said that you can hear her out and not say anything at all and then leave, but you have to meet with her so that he doesn’t get in trouble,” Henry explains.
Of course. Prince Archie may care about me a tiny bit, but he cares more about himself and how it will impact him. I shouldn’t have believed that he really cared for me.
“Let’s go. You can tell me where you want to meet with her while we walk there,” Henry says.
“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Mother whispers in my ear.
I turn toward her and take a deep breath. “But I do. I don’t want anything to happen to you or the baby. I’ll just go and hear what she has to say and then I’ll leave.”
Adeline, is everything okay? I can feel dread flowing through you, Kieran asks.
Turning to Henry, I lock eyes with him. “Let’s talk where I had a discussion with Skylar. Out in the open so she can’t do anything.”
He nods and calls over one of the guards, pointing to the bench in the middle of town.
Everything is okay, I lie.
Sweets. His voice holds disappointment. I know you’re lying. What is going on?
Avira wants to talk to me and the prince granted it. There is no way out of it.
I can’t be seen in town when you are there but there will be some of our people there that will watch over you to make sure nothing happens, Kieran replies.
No, I say sternly. Don’t allow them to do that. I don’t want them to get hurt or die if Avira tries to do something to me. I will never forgive myself if one of them gets hurt because of me.
Worry flows through my body as Henry and I slowly walk toward the bench. There are Fae straight ahead of us, their eyes looking over at us every once in a while.
They know not to engage in anything unless it looks like you are going to die, but they are going to watch you and your conversation with Avira. Even if I told them not to, they still will because they care about you.
I hate that Kieran is right. I know they are going to watch over me even if he tells them not to.
They care for you. Don’t wish that away, Kieran says.
I’m not, but I just want them to be safe as well. I want them to know that they don’t have to step in if something bad happens to me and then they get whipped or even killed. I don’t want them to regret helping me if something really bad happens, I whisper.
They won’t. They think of it as an honor to help keep you safe and look after you. They would lay down their lives for you in a heartbeat.
That’s what I’m worried about. I don’t know how to react to that. I’m just one person and they are willing to do that for me.
No one has ever said those words to me. I’ve never seen them stick up for me, but I know they would. They didn’t hate me when Kieran got taken away and whipped twice because of me. They didn’t give me mean looks, and they were actually worried about me.
You are one very important person to them.
They were skeptical of you in the beginning, but when they saw how you treated me and the other Fae you interacted with, they slowly started to realize that you weren’t going to harm them.
When you got the book for us, it made them ten times more protective of you because they heard what happened afterwards.
You have proven that you are meant to be the High Lady, Kieran says.
“We’re here,” Henry says, pulling me from my conversation with Kieran. “I know you were talking to him. Make sure you don’t while you are in front of Avira. You don’t want her to suspect anything.”
“Right,” I mumble. She thinks I love a Fae, but doesn’t know that he’s actually my mate or who he is.
I need to keep it that way.
“If you want to leave at any point you just let me know and I will get you out of here. The prince does expect you to listen to her and what she has to say, but after that you can be done,” Henry reminds me.
“Okay.” I sit down on the bench.
In hindsight, I wouldn’t have gone out for a walk yesterday if I knew I was going to be meeting Avira here today. My body is sore and aching all over, and being on edge is only making it worse.
“If she tries anything I’m relying on you. I can’t move fast enough,” I tell Henry.
“I will keep a close eye and stay nearby.” He nods.
Silence falls upon us but it doesn’t last long before Avira walks straight up to me. My whole body locks, terror running through me as I stare at her.
“Hello,” she says, smirking. “It’s so nice to see you. How have you been?”
I push my lips together as I continue to look at her.
“Adeline?” she calls. “Are you alright? It looks like you’ve seen a ghost. Did something happen to you?”
She knows exactly what happened to me.
“Get on with what you want to talk to her about,” Henry says as he takes a step closer to me.
I finally manage to get a breath into my lungs as Henry gets closer to me.
“You may leave while we talk.” Avira dismisses him.
“I was told to stay right next to Adeline while you talk to her,” he replies.
Avira glares at him for several seconds.
“He isn’t going anywhere,” I say, my voice weak.
Her eyes snap to mine and narrow. “Because you said so? You don’t have any authority yet. I don’t want him here while I talk to you and ask questions. I want him where he can’t hear anything.”
“The prince told me to stay close and protect her. You may be her sister, but the prince told me what you did to her and he does not want her alone right now,” Henry says before I utter a word.
Avira clenches her jaw before sitting down next to me. “Okay. That is okay.”
It is anything but okay. She’s mad, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s going to try and do something to me later when Henry goes back home for the night. Will she take me in the dead of night back to the dungeon?
Gripping my dress, I lock eyes with her. “What do you want?”
“I just wanted to ask a couple of questions.” She smiles sweetly at me as people walk past us.
“Yes?”
“What does he look like?” she asks.
“Who?” I reply, keeping my tone even.
“The Fae that you are in love with.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie.
Avira chuckles. “Oh, sweet Adeline. You do know you told me that you had fallen in love with one of them before I told you who I was.”
“I don’t love him anymore,” I lie, flinching slightly at my words.
“Lie,” she whispers, getting closer to my face. “It’s a lie and you know it. Who is he? Is he in Bellhollow or in Hellhollow? Who am I kidding? He has to be here since you have fallen in love with him. You wouldn’t have enough time to get to know him in Hellhollow.”
Sweat slides down the middle of my back as she continues to talk.
“How about we line up all the Fae and we go through them one by one. I’ll give them two lashes from a whip and watch your reaction. That will be an easy way for me to tell who it is.” She smirks.
“You know I don’t like violence and won’t be able to handle any of that,” I whisper, my voice quivering as I imagine her doing just that.
She hums and tilts her head. “True, but I will get enjoyment out of watching you puke, cry, and beg for me to stop.”
“Avira.” Henry’s voice drops an octave.
Sighing, she rolls her eyes. “Fine. We won’t do anything, but give me one detail about him.”
“He has brown hair,” I reply, holding my smirk back.
Her face falls and she looks at me with disgust. “Something else besides that. There are so many of them that have brown hair. I would say ninety percent of them have brown hair.”
“You said to give one detail and I did. You didn’t specify what kind of detail,” I reply, finding a little confidence with Henry so close to me. “Now, do you need anything else?”
Avira growls. “I don’t like this newfound confidence you have. So then tell me where the book is and I will be on my way.”
“I told you before that I don’t know what book, and I don’t have the book,” I say, contradicting myself.
“You do have the book. I smelt it all over you,” she says, annoyed.
So she isn’t afraid to talk about it right in front of Henry. Is she not worried he will ask questions, or has she placed some kind of spell over him to make him forget everything?
“I don’t have the book. I told you before that I found a book in a random hallway in the palace and lost it when I was walking back from Hellhollow,” I reply.
“Then get the book back.”
“I can’t. Prince Archie wants me to recuperate and not do a lot of things since we don’t know when the wedding will be now.” I smile sweetly at her.
I’m surprised she can’t cast a spell to locate it.
“Is that all?” I ask. “I am exhausted and I would really like to go back to the house. I was told you were going to talk about why you did what you did and apologize, but I guess I was wrong.”
I stand up, taking a deep breath as I steady myself.
“I hope to never see you again,” I say, keeping my back to her. “Let’s go, Henry.”
“I’m not done with you!” Avira yells as we start walking.
I hold my breath, clenching my hands as we walk away. Avira yells several things but I block them out, keeping my head down.
“We’re here,” Henry says.
“Thanks,” I mumble, and walk into the house before he can say anything else.