Page 121 of The Cursed Kingdom

Good. Kie’s soft, and I’m pleased he didn’t put her in one of the bedrooms. As a titled lady and the daughter of the late king’s mistress, she’s technically entitled to one.

“What have you gathered?”

Zaha thought it would be fun to drop me off in the middle of fucking nowhere, and it took six hours of running in my animal form to reach Bellmere. I used to respect the gods, but now I see that Zaha’s nothing more than a frigid bitch. She fucks with us for entertainment, and I’m growing tired of it.

Not that I wouldn’t do the same if I were in her position.

“We can’t hurt her,” Kie says, quickening his steps so he’s walking alongside me instead of lingering behind.

Tradition states I walk behind him when in public, and Queen Gitta will throw a fit when she hears I’ve been walking in front of the crowned prince. She’ll be even angrier when she learns Kie’s agreed to give me his title. We should speak about that soon.

After we deal with Lilly.

I’m not excited to be the crowned king. I was looking forward to spending my days uniting with my family and fucking shifterwomen. Now I will be stuck in Bellmere, trapped by duty inside the royal compound. Zaha won’t be happy to hear I’m skirting my responsibilities, and I doubt Kie would let me do so even if I wanted to.

And I want to.

The brothels are full of faeries, and I hate how they’re whom I’ve resorted to finding release with. I’ve spent years fantasizing about the fun I’ll have when Kie’s crowned and I’m allowed back into the forest.

I’ll come to Bellmere to fuck our chosen wife and create heirs, but I want to spend my days with my kind. Zaha ruined that for me.

“Mason!” Kie huffs, grabbing my arm. “We can’t hurt Lillian.”

“And why not?”

Kie takes a long moment to respond, which tells me his reasoning isn’t sound. Lilly is the reason Kie’s father is dead, and I fully intend to squeeze every detail from her. Starting with figuring out where the fuck Callie is. She was working with the shifters, betraying her own people for a reason I can’t even begin to imagine.

“We just can’t.” Kie lets out a low groan. “Abby’s imprinted on her.”

Imprinted? Who the fuck says that? Abby’s not a fucking bird.

Besides, I don’t care what Abby thinks. If anything, she should be placed in the cells alongside Lilly. She was asking us about delysum, and now it’s discovered she was harboring a fugitive? I should put her in the cells myself. I should turn around right now and grab her.

Queen Gitta will demand it when she learns what happened.

I continue forward, still holding my stab wound shut. I’ll kill anybody who tries to put Abby in there.

“If we can’t hurt her, then why are you covered in her blood?” I gesture to Kie’s arm. “And don’t bother telling me it’s not hers. I remember what she smells like.”

People outwardly stare at Kie and me. I ignore them, too busy to deal with the politics involved in conversations with the nobles.

“I didn’t hurt her,” Kie says. “I placed her in the cells before taking Abby to our home. When I returned, I caught one of the guards trying to take advantage.”

Trying to take advantage?

“Did they rape her?” I ask.

I clench my fists, annoyed at the thought. Faeries pride themselves on being better than thebarbaricshifters, and they frequently boast about being above rape.

When I first arrived here, despite being only a child, it quickly became a popular topic of discussion. Several noble mothers took it upon themselves to hide their daughters from me, the uptight snobs convinced that eight-year-old me was a danger to their children.

“They didn’t,” Kie confirms. “But a young guard thought he’d earn points if he got information from her. He whipped her before I got there, and she bled on me as I tried to patch it up.”

Tried?Lilly comes from a powerful family. She should heal within minutes, no patching needed.

I’ve seen her do it before.

We were hiding from Kie in a tree when she told me she thought shifters were dirty. I pushed her out of the tree, naturally, and she broke her leg in the fall. Despite her young age, she healed in the time it took Kie and me to carry her to the healer.

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