Chapter 14
“How was your last visit with your mate?” Mother asks.
I lean over, banging my head on the table in front of me.
“Adeline, is everything alright?”
“I fell asleep,” I mumble.
“You, what? Sit up straight and talk to me. What happened?” Mother sits in front of me.
“I fell asleep the last time I was with him. We sat down and I laid my head on his shoulder, and before I know it I was being woken up to leave. I don’t even remember saying a single word to him,” I grumble, annoyed at myself.
I had wanted to talk to Kieran so badly in person and just be in his presence but I just had to fall asleep.
Sweets, it’s okay, Kieran tries to soothe me through the bond.
“Was he mad at you?” Mother inquires.
I shake my head. “He wasn’t. He was happy that I was finally able to get some sleep. He made sure I stayed asleep the whole time so that I could get the rest I needed.”
I wanted to talk to you, I reply. I wanted to be in your presence and talk to you about things. I wanted to be awake for it all so that I could remember it.
“Well, him and I are thankful that you slept. You need all the sleep you can get.” Mother gives me a pointed look. “Don’t think I don’t know that you wake up from nightmares every single night.”
“Can everyone tell?” I ask.
And next time you come we will sit and talk to each other. But you needed to get that sleep and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sighing, I lean my head back and look up at the ceiling.
“In the beginning it wasn’t, but you have lost weight and you have dark circles under your eyes. Any time you want to go lay down, you can do so. You need all the rest you can get, and all the food,” she says.
“I guess I’m going to go lay down then,” I tell her. “I can barely keep my eyes open right now.”
Mother smiles and nods. I quickly go to my room and lay down on the bed.
I’m going to try and get some sleep, I whisper to Kieran.
Sleep well, he replies, and I fall asleep.
Shooting up from bed, sweat slides down my face and back. I heave in a breath.
“It was just a dream,” I whisper to myself as I gently tap my chest above my heart.
“Adeline?” Mother peeks into my room. “Come and have a warm cup of tea.”
Nodding, I get off my bed and walk into the kitchen, sitting down right as Mother places the cup down.
“Same nightmare?” she asks.
“Yes.” I clear my throat, taking a sip of the tea.
I let it soothe me.
“How long was I out for?” I ask.
“Three hours.”
Expected. It seems like three hours is the most I can get no matter the time of day. When is this going to get better?
When she’s dead.
But I have no idea when she is going to die. They need to figure out how to break the curse.
Have you gotten any closer? I ask Kieran.
“Everything is going to get better. I’m going to trade some jackets I made for some herbs that you can drink before you go to bed. Hopefully it will help you sleep through the night,” Mother informs me.
“What kind of herbs?” I ask.
“Ones that will hopefully knock you out so you won’t dream but get sleep.”
Shaking my head, I place my cup down. “I don’t want to be knocked out. What if she comes in the middle of the night and tries to do something?”
“You can’t think like that. She is not going to come in the middle of the night to get you. You need to sleep, and if this is how it’s going to work then we are going to do it. When you take it for the first time I will sit beside your bed the whole night to make sure nothing happens,” she says.
Not yet, Kieran replies.
“I can sleep perfectly fine when I’m with him,” I mumble to myself.
“But you can’t always be with him. For you to get the proper sleep you need, you can’t stay with him that long. It will bring too much suspicion,” she replies.
“I know. Maybe I can slip away in the dead of the night and get some good sleep.”
She shakes her head. “Did you forget what the prince told you? He has made sure there are more guards in town so that you’re safe. They patrol during the night as well.”
“I hadn’t noticed that they were,” I say as I look out the window.
Ever since I came back from being tortured, I haven’t been as focused at all. I don’t pay attention to details to make sure everything is okay or if I need to keep watch of someone.
My mind has been preoccupied.
“I knew from the day you were back that you would need someone to look after you and make sure they were keeping account of everything happening around you,” Mother explains. “I wanted you to not have to worry about anything else but healing properly.”
“Thank you.” I wipe away the lone tear.
Mother places her hand on my shoulder, giving it a little squeeze before walking off to get food.
“Can you go to Leah’s stall and get me some salt?” Mother asks as she turns around. “I seem to have run out.”
Guilt flows through me. It was always my task to make sure that everything was stocked, and if we were running low I would buy it before Mother noticed.
“Adeline, you were gone for over a month. It’s okay,” she says.
“I should have made sure when I got here that everything was okay and you had everything you needed.”
It was my job.
Guilt turns into anger and I clench my fist, taking a deep breath.
Mother kneels in front of me, cupping my hands in hers. “Adeline, I want you to listen to me carefully. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
“You told me yourself that you almost passed out several times on the way here from the castle. You were in so much pain that you couldn’t look around to see if there was anything.
I didn’t expect you to do any of that. I wanted you to rest and relax,” she explains.
“I don’t care if things do not get done around the house.
The only thing I care about is that you are home and healing.
I’m so happy that I get to wake up every morning and see you safe in the house.
And when you heal completely, you aren’t going to have as many responsibilities as before. ”
“Mother.” I shake my head.
“No, I want you to listen to me. Before, you took so much on, even when your father was alive. You made sure that everything was okay and then when he did pass away, you took on even more. You are young and I want you to have some fun in your life. I want you to go to the forest and see your mate. And when the curse is broken I want you to be able to be with him and not spend all your time at home doing chores,” she says.
“I want you to have less responsibility so you can enjoy your life while you’re young.
I don’t want you to look back on life and regret not doing things because you were taking care of me and the house. ”
“But that will leave everything to you. You have a newborn,” I point out.
“The Fae male still comes and helps out once, sometimes twice a week. He has become efficient in getting a lot of things done so we don’t have to worry about them.”
Elias.
“So I don’t want you to feel guilty about some things not happening because they were your job before.
Right now I just want you to relax and get better.
Once you are fully healed we can talk about your chores around the house.
” She gives me a pointed look. “That doesn’t mean I won’t ask you every once in a while to go grab something.
I’m not going to make you useless, but I want your priority right now to be healing. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Mother stands up and walks over to the tin jar, grabbing money. “Now, can you go get the salt?”
I grab the money and head out the door, greeting Henry before making my way to Leah’s stall.
“Can I have a pound of salt?” I ask.
Leah nods and starts working on grabbing the pound of salt.
“Actually, can you make it two pounds?”
I look around the town as she works on what I need. People are trying not to make it obvious but I can tell they are looking at me and whispering. How bad have the rumors gotten now?
My eyes subconsciously move to the Fae, some giving small nods when we make eye contact.
“Is life going to get better?” I ask as I turn to Henry.
He shrugs, not saying a word.
Leah places the two pounds of salt on the counter and I hand her the money.
“Life is what you make of it,” Leah says after a while, her eyes darting toward Henry for a brief second. “You get to decide if you want to make it happy or not.”
“Thanks,” I mutter.
“Don’t give up so easily. I bet life for you is going to get a lot better soon. After all, you are marrying the prince. You’ll have everything you want and can ask him for anything. Just don’t forget about us.” She giggles at the end.
If only she knew the truth.
I go to pick up the salt but Henry grabs it before I can.
“Thank you again.” I give her a small smile and walk off.
Turning to Henry, I hold my hand out. “I can take it from here.”
He shakes his head. “You are still healing and shouldn’t be holding anything heavy. I will carry it.”
Sighing, we walk in silence the rest of the way to the house. Henry walks in with me, setting down the salt on the table before leaving.
“Thank you,” Mother calls out, and looks at me. “Thank you.”
“Everyone thinks I’m going to have a wonderful life with the prince if we get married,” I say as I trace my finger on the table mindlessly. “Do they really not see who the royal family is? Do they not see how horrible they are to people?”
“You have to remember that most of these people have not talked with the prince or any of the royal family. They have only seen them from afar,” Mother reminds me.
“But how do they not dislike them for the way they are living? Everyone is suffering and only making ends meet while they are living this lavish life. How is that fair to anyone? How do they not see that they could be living a better life?” I ask.
“They are only surviving when they could be thriving. If the royal family wasn’t ruling over this realm. ”
Even before I knew the truth, I still didn’t like the royal family and how they were living. It never seemed fair to me.
“Because they don’t want to bring attention to themselves.
They don’t want to get on the royal family’s radar and possibly get banished or killed,” Mother replies.
“They have their reasons. A lot of them probably know how horrible they are living but choose to stick with it instead of making a scene, not knowing if anyone will join them or if they will be the only ones.”
“It needs to change,” I mumble.
“And it will when the curse is broken. You and your mate are going to change this world.”