Chapter 37
“Idon’t think we should be doing this,” Henry says as we sneak out of the palace.
“You don’t think a lot of things are a good idea,” I mumble.
“But this is extremely dangerous and you don’t know what you are going to get yourself into,” Henry points out. “Do you even know how to fight? What if she comes out of nowhere and hurts you?”
“That’s why I have you,” I reply. “You’re going to keep me safe through this.”
Henry groaned. “Adeline, that’s not how this works. I’m supposed to be guarding you.”
I stop and turn to look at him. “And you are doing just that. You are guarding me and keeping me safe. I don’t see what the problem is.”
“If the High Lord knew you were going to be doing this, he would have locked you in your room,” Henry says. “You know this is wrong and dangerous but you don’t care. What if you die?”
I wave my hand and start walking again. “I’m not going to die. There are plenty of Fae around us that will know if something is wrong and I have you right next to me.”
“Against a witch,” Henry sighs. “You know that I’m no match up against Avira, right? She’s already hurt me once before.”
“If you don’t want to come with me, then you don’t have to. I’m going to do this though.”
Henry follows me as I continue to walk into the town and straight toward the forest. People wave and ask me how I’m doing. I reply and move on, on a mission to find Avira and kill her before she can do anything else.
Kieran says no one has spotted her yet and I’m determined to do just that.
“What about your mate feeling your emotions?” Henry asks as we walk past a group of Fae.
“Shhh!” I look around. “Can you be any louder? We are trying to do this without him knowing. I don’t need him getting all angry at me.”
“And you don’t think he’s going to get angry when he finds out that you did this later on?” Henry asks.
I shrug. “If we find her and I kill her then he’ll be angry for a little bit, but I don’t think he’ll be mad at me for long. Not when I’ve killed her.”
“That’s if you kill her! There is no guarantee that she won’t kill you. You aren’t her favorite.”
Grinding my teeth together, I turn away from him. “Thanks for reminding me again. We’re going to do this and that’s the end of the discussion. If you don’t want to be here then you can leave and I’ll do it on my own.”
Henry stays quiet as we walk further into the forest. Avira could be anywhere. She could be all the way in Hellhollow and this search would be pointless.
But I have a gut feeling that she isn’t far away from us.
“As for him feeling my emotions, I’ve got that under control,” I reply.
“You blocked him, didn’t you? You do know he knows what that feels like and he’ll know something is up right away,” Henry points out.
“I know that, and no, I didn’t block him. I’m keeping my emotions in check, though, you’ve made me very annoyed, but recently that’s been one of my more prominent emotions thanks to having to be in bed all day,” I say.
Even though I’m fully healed, Kieran still wants me to be resting in the bed. He wants to make sure I’m fully healed before doing anything.
I personally think he wants me in bed resting so I can’t walk around and find Avira or she finds me. He wants me safely tucked away where she can’t get to me, and while I find it incredibly sweet, I also am irritated because I’m the one who is supposed to kill her.
I’m the one who can lure her out.
“Do you really think he won’t know that you’re here?” Henry asks.
I whirl around, anger coursing through me. “He won’t know unless you tell him! So I suggest you don’t.”
Something rustles to the right and we both look over. Nerves and fear bubble up inside me and I take a deep breath, squashing those emotions down before Kieran can do anything.
“Do you think it’s her?” I whisper.
Henry gets in front of me, sword drawn. “Just stay behind me.”
But after several minutes, nothing comes out.
“I was really hoping it was her. I was hyping myself up for killing her and it’s all gone down the drain,” I mumble.
Henry relaxes.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Kieran asks as he wraps his arms around my waist.
Screaming, I kick my legs back but Kieran is quicker than that.
“Kieran, you gave me a fright,” I say as I pull away from him.
He doesn’t look happy.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as I take a step back.
“What am I doing here?” he repeats my words and I nod. “Are you seriously asking what I’m doing here?”
“Y-yes?” I hesitantly reply.
“No.”
“No?” My eyebrows bunch together.
“No, you shouldn’t be asking me that. I should be asking you why you’re here. I should be asking why my mate was seen rushing and sneaking to the forest. I should be asking what made you decide to come out here looking for Avira when I told you I don’t want you to do that,” Kieran says.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I look around me to see no one. Where did Henry go?
“You see, here’s the thing…” I trail off as I take a step to the left.
“Freeze,” he commands and I stay frozen. “You are going to tell me what you were thinking.”
“I wanted to find Avira once and for all and take care of her myself!” I raise my voice. “I don’t want to be stuck in the castle not doing anything while everyone else looks for her. No one is going to find her when she wants me and I’m the only one who can kill her!”
Did he really not understand?
He had to.
“Do you know how dangerous that was?” Kieran asks. “Do you know how worried I was when I heard from several people that they spotted you? Do you know that I rushed out of a meeting to get to you and make sure you were okay? Do you know how scared I was when I felt the fear through the bond?”
“I know it was dangerous, but I’m just tired of sitting in the castle when I could be doing something!” I throw my hands up in the air. “I know it was dumb and I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I wanted to help.”
Kieran steps forward and cups my face in his hands. “You are my world, and if something were to happen to you, then I don’t know what I would do with myself.”
“Kieran.”
“Promise me that you won’t do something like this again,” he mumbles. “Promise.”
“Will we work together?” I ask.
He sighs. “We’ll work together for this. We’re going to find her. I know you want to and I want to as well.”
“I promise.”