Chapter 34
Gasping, I shoot up in bed and look around.
“Kieran?” I call out his name as my heart beats faster.
I push the covers off of me and slide out of bed. I need to find him. Where is he?
“Kieran!” I yell his name as I walk out of the room. “Where are you?”
“Adeline?” Henry takes a step toward me but I quickly take one back.
“Where is Kieran?” I ask.
“He’s out talking to the people and should be back soon,” Henry replies. “He left a couple of minutes ago and said it wouldn’t take him long.”
“I need him,” I whisper as I move my body around Henry’s. “I need him. It’s important.”
“He’ll be back in a couple of minutes and you can talk to him then,” Henry says again. “How about you go back to your room and wait for him there.”
I shake my head. “No time. I know something.”
Dagger.
Important.
Where is Kieran when I need him?
“Adeline, please. He doesn’t want you to leave the room right now.” Henry stands in my way.
“Henry.” I lock eyes with him.
“Adeline, are you alright?” he asks as he searches my face. “What’s wrong?”
“I need him. What if she comes to him now and he isn’t prepared? What if something happens and I could have helped prevent it? What if—”
“Adeline, take a deep breath,” Henry tells me.
“You don’t understand. I need to see Kieran before it’s too late. We don’t know where she is.” I mumble toward the end.
I take a step to the left and try to walk past Henry but he jumps in front of me again, making me take several staggering steps back.
“Please, Henry,” I beg him.
“Adeline, I know you don’t want to be touched right now but the High Lord gave me explicit orders not to let you leave the room until he comes back. He wants you safe,” Henry explains.
“What about him?” I ask. “Who is looking after him right now? Where is he? I need to get to him.”
“High Lady.” Henry uses my other title. “He told me if I needed to pick you up and place you in your room, that I could. Please don’t make me do it.”
“You don’t understand. What if she comes to him right now? What if I’m too late and lose him? I can’t. Please,” I say.
Henry shakes his head and stays in front of me. “I’m sorry, but I must obey him.”
Kieran? I call through the bond.
Sweets, what’s wrong? he asks.
Where are you? Henry won’t allow me to come and see you. Please, I need to see you. I have something important to say.
I pace back and forth as I wait for Kieran to reply to me.
“Henry, please just let me leave and go to him. You will be with me and I’ll be safe. Please,” I practically beg him.
“Adeline, I cannot go against the High Lord,” he says.
“So him and I aren’t equals?” I ask.
Henry shakes his head. “You are, but when it comes to your safety, I am on his side. He wants you here right now until he comes back and he must have a good reason for it. I just need you to be patient for a little longer and wait for him to come back.”
“Henry, you don’t understand. If you were in my position, then you would know that I need to get to him right now. I need to see him!” I raise my voice, not caring who hears me at this point.
I take a step to the right and Henry follows my movements.
“Sweets!” Kieran yells my name.
My eyes go wide as I stare at his running figure coming toward me.
“What’s wrong?” he asks as he stops right in front of me and looks up and down my body. “Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m not hurt,” I manage to get out.
“What’s going on then? What has you so shaken up?” Kieran asks.
“I know how to kill Avira,” I say.
His eyes widen, and he looks around the hallway. Several guards are behind Kieran, looking directly at us.
“Let’s go to my office,” he says.
Kieran grabs my hand and starts walking to his office. Henry and the other guards follow directly behind us, keeping watch over everything around us.
“You guys can wait out here while we talk,” Kieran says as he opens his office doors.
I step into the room, Kieran shutting the door before he turns to me.
“How did you find out how to kill Avira?” he asks as he sits down in his chair. “Come here.”
I walk over to him and sit sideways on his lap, looking him in the eyes. “It was the shadowy figure.”
Kieran’s eyebrows bunch together. “The shadowy figure? Tell me from the very beginning.”
“When I died, I told you that I saw a shadowy figure and she said something to me, but I couldn’t remember what it was. When I was asleep, I dreamed about it again and remembered what she told me,” I explain.
“What did she tell you?” he asks.
“She said I was the only one who could kill her and it had to be with the dagger you placed in my hand the first time we met,” I say.
“The dagger?” he repeats. “This dagger?”
It appears in his hands and I nod.
“That’s the dagger. The person said it was important, and that I was the one who had to kill the witch,” I say again.
Kieran shakes his head. “You are not killing her.”
“Kieran, if it’s the only way, then I have to.”
Kieran pins me down with a stare. “You are not going to kill someone. I do not want blood on your hands and you have nightmares for the rest of your life. You aren’t going to do it.”
I cup his face and gently caress it. “Kieran, I told you before that I wanted to kill her to make sure she was actually dead so I could live the rest of my life peacefully. I know you don’t want me to do it, but I think I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life and always be looking over my shoulders if I don’t do it myself. ”
Kieran gently places me on the ground and stands up. “You are not going to do it.”
“Kieran, please listen.”
He shakes his head. “No, you are not going to do it and that’s the end of the discussion.”
Kieran walks out of the room before I can say anything more.
“Is everything alright?” Henry asks as he stands in the doorway.
I shake my head and look at the ground. How is this going to work?
“Do you want to go anywhere?” Henry asks.
“Yes,” I reply and run out of the office, chasing after Kieran.
He’s all the way at the end of the hallway, talking to several other guards.
“Kieran!” I yell his name and continue to run.
He turns to face me and stays silent.
“Wait! We are not done talking,” I say.
“We are if it has to do with the other matter,” he replies.
“No, you heard what I said, and it needs to happen!”
He fully faces me now, the guards around him looking down at the ground.
“We don’t need to talk about anything. We don’t even know if what she said is true or not. It could just be a ploy from Avira and we don’t have a clue,” he says.
“Kieran, think about it. Why would she bring me back to life when the curse would be broken?” I ask. “Why would she do a silly thing like that when it would bring you more suffering to keep me dead?”
Kieran growls and takes several steps toward me. “Because she is twisted like that. You don’t know the witch like I do.”
“Just think about it. The shadowy figure that brought me back to life didn’t give me that bad feeling Avira always gave me. She didn’t look anything like Avira.” I try to reason with him. “You have to believe me. I need to be the one who kills her with the dagger.”
“Adeline,” he says, and I flinch. “You are not going to get into harm’s way. Not after everything that just happened. You are not going to get blood on your hands when I already do and can kill her myself.”
“You aren’t listening to me,” I say, trying not to let the frustration pour out of me.
Everyone is staring at us right now and I know we shouldn’t be having this conversation out in the hallway. But Kieran walked out of the office, and if this is where we are going to have it then so be it.
“I’ve heard what you’ve said and I don’t agree with it. You don’t know who this shadowy figure is and if we can trust what she said,” Kieran says.
“She brought me back to life!” I raise my voice finally. “Isn’t that enough for you to trust her? Why else would she have brought me back to life?”
“Sweets.” He takes a deep breath. “You have to trust me.”
“And you won’t trust me?” I ask as I take a step away from him. “I’m telling you what I was told when I was dead. How she told me to stay near you and that I was the one who had to kill the witch. How the dagger was the way to kill her. She brought me back to life with this in mind.”
Kieran shakes his head and takes a step toward me, but I hold my hand up, stopping him.
“I need some time to think about everything,” I mumble, hurt rolling through me in waves.
“Sweets,” Kieran gently says.
I shake my head and look away from him, my feelings almost betrayed. I didn’t expect it to turn out this way.
“I’m going to go out in the town and walk around. Don’t worry, Henry will be with me to make sure I’m safe,” I say in a monotone voice.