Page 110 of The Cursed Kingdom

ABBY

MY LUNGS CONSTRICT, and I tighten my arms around Kie’s torso in a panic, pinning his arms to his sides. He lets me, too busy looking around my bedroom to care about my attempts to subdue him.

“This is new,” he mumbles.

I thought we were returning to the faerie realm. Why didn’t she take us there? Zaha must be playing a cruel joke on me. She saw how desperate I am to keep Lill’s existence a secret, and she’s brought the princes here to punish me.

Does Kie realize this is my home? My bedroom? Probably. After all the personal questions I ignored these past few days, I just know he’s creaming his pants right now.

He doesn’t know about Lill, though, and I need to keep it that way.

The portal behind Kie vanishes, the black doorway disappearing in a flash. Mason never came through, though—only Kie and me. I don’t have time to worry about it.

“You need to leave,” I say. “Go home.”

Kie chuckles, not entertaining the idea.

“Mason’s not here,” I continue.

That grabs Kie’s attention, and he smoothly wiggles out of my tight grip before looking over his shoulder to see for himself. He then does a full spin, his eyes darting around as he searches for the shifter.

“You should get to Bellmere before he does,” I say, stepping toward my bedroom door. “He’s just been given Zaha’s blessing to steal your throne, and I doubt he’ll hesitate to take it.”

My bedroom door is thankfully shut, blocking Kie’s view of the hallway and the faerie potentially lurking about within the apartment. He can’t know Lill’s here.

Something’s up with her and her mom having come to the human realm in the first place, something fishy, and bringing the once-crowned prince inside our apartment is the worst thing I could’ve done. Even if Kie doesn’t recognize her, he’ll wonder what a faerie’s doing in the human realm—especially one so close to death.

It won’t take long for him to draw a connection between Lill and my interest in delysum. Kie’s not stupid, and he’ll put two and two together. I played theI’m a dumb human who doesn’t know anythingcard until he gave up asking, but Lill’s a faerie. Kie will hold her to different standards, and he’ll expect her to give him answers.

Answers I know she won’t want to give.

Kie’s eyebrows furrow, and he runs a hand through his dark, wavy hair before shifting his attention to me.

“Mace will be fine,” he decides. “He won’t do anything without me.”

I shake my head, denying it. “He could die.”

Kie doesn’t justify my fake concern with a response. We both know Mason’s more than capable of keeping himself alive, which is infuriating. He’s like a cockroach—impossible to kill.

“He could kill your family,” I point out. “If you don’t hurry, you could return to new leadership.”

Instead of worrying about Mason, which he should be doing, Kie takes a slow stroll around my room. It’s untouched, and thankfully, the credit cards and note I left for Lill have been removed from my bed. If Kie got his hands on the note where I explained my plan to Lill, everything would be ruined.

“So, this is where the mysterious Abby is from,” Kie says. “It’s not what I expected.”

He fingers a black, silk nightgown hanging over my closet door, his lips twitching as he glances between me and the fabric. If I weren’t so adamant about blocking the door to the hallway, I’d rip it out of his grubby hands.

At least he’s wearing his gloves.

I’d have to burn the nightgown otherwise.

Kie releases the fabric and moves to my dresser. The surface is scattered with perfumes, random pieces of jewelry, and small trinkets I’ve collected over the years. It serves as a bit of a catch-all, and Kie seems quite pleased with himself as he touches every single fucking thing I own.

He even smells my perfumes, his nose scrunching for almost all of them. It wouldn’t kill him to keep his dislike to himself. Still, I remain silent, letting him have his fun. I’ll let him do whatever he wants as long as he stays quiet. If he feels the urge to examine all my things before heading home, so be it.

“You like things,” Kie eventually says.

He trails his fingers over a pack of stickers before picking up a purple, plastic tiara I bought for a Halloween costume several years ago. A cocky smile spreads over his lips as he sets it on his head, crowning himself.

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