Page 18 of Ruined Kingdom

“I wouldn’t mind that either.” Kaine peeked over his shoulder at me with a sly smirk.

My cheeks burned crimson hot.

Tieni was polite enough to pretend not to notice our exchange. She sat Kaine down on a wooden stool as she examined the wound.

I looked around the cozy kitchen, if only to distract myself from the ominous feeling I couldn’t seem to shake.

There was a long, foggy window that let in the natural light. A large table in the middle of the room had half-cut vegetables on it. The walls were cream-colored with dark brown wood support beams running across the ceiling.

“Sophia, dear. You don't need to be here to witness this. It's not going to be a pretty sight,” Tieni warned me in a gentle voice.

“I’ll be fine.” I looked at Kaine, hoping that he wouldn’t send me away.

Tieni was not reassured, but she knew better than to argue with me. She sucked in a deep breath and pulled out a large pair of scissors.

My eyes went wide, and my stomach churned.

What’s she planning to do with those?

She clamped the blades around one end of the bolt, and I was relieved only for a moment. She grabbed the other end of the scissors with both of her hands, requiring all of her strength to bring the two blades together and cut through the bolt.

All the blood that had rushed to my head was now plunging back down at an alarming speed.

It wasn't the sight of the shears cutting through the bolt but rather the sound of the bolt shaking and pushing against flesh and bone.

The phantom pain worsened in my arm, and my hand gripped Kaine’s uninjured arm instinctively.

“The pain will lessen the farther you’re away.” Kaine looked up at me, noticing how uncomfortable I was. “Why don’t you wait for me at the soldier’s barracks?” He reached out and took my hand within his.

“I don’t want to leave.” I was offended that he’d even ask that of me.

“Really, I’d feel better about this if I knew I wasn’t causing you pain as well. Please.” His expression softened as his eyes held mine while he motioned at the back kitchen door.

I melted and found myself unable to deny him. I gave him a curt nod before turning to leave.

His words echoed in my ears as I left the kitchen. “I’ll be along shortly.”

I wanted to stay by his side… I could have stood my own pain, but I couldn't live with myself if I knew I was causing him more pain.

The cool air hit me first before the scent of dead, moldy leaves filled my lungs.

The changing of the seasons normally excited me, but each passing day was an affirmation that something bad was going to happen to Kaine.

I pulled out the strange pink rosebud that always remained safely tucked away in my breast pocket. Its form had changed again.

Fall was already upon us. We were running out of time, and I still didn’t understand what this rosebud was for.

Helene had said that I would know what to do with it when the time came, which was wildly vague and unhelpful!

As I approached the soldier's barracks, I could hear the soldiers trading stories. I slowed my pace so that I could hear the story before I interrupted them.

“It was dreadful. We were held in the stasis of darkness for years. There was something about that darkness that changed our bodies. I feel less human now than I did before I was taken by the Dark Fae,” I heard one soldier admit.

I couldn’t help but wonder if this dark plane of existence he mentioned was where the Prince had just taken me earlier. I didn't want to imagine being stuck there for years the way these men had been.

It was a fate worse than death, which had surely been the Dark Fae King’s intention. Instead of simply killing them, he’d wanted to torture them.

The door to the barracks was wide open, so I knocked on the door frame to let them know that I was there.

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