Page 52 of The Forbidden Fae King

“You have no idea of the grief I have suffered for being sympathetic to humans,” I say. “I suspect it’s why Cyprien was surveillingme, to make sure I was behaving - which I was. Your timing was very unfortunate for me.”

“Are you some sort of rogue party?” Her eyebrows crease into a frown.

I exhale, long and slow. “You could say that. Exiled. To the wildlands. We cannot step foot into the capital city unless summoned.”

“Is that why you were fighting Cyprien? There was so much anger between the two of you.”

A flash of red-hot anger boils within me at the thought of the man. “Cyprien is a fool. A blind, rash fool.” Bitter betrayal floods through me. “We are enemies because he killed my sister.”

Keira stops suddenly and stares at me, stunned. I almost crash into her. The blood drains from her face and her skin turns deathly pale. “And now he has my sister.”

Unshed tears glaze her eyes and her hands start to tremble.

“No,” I say, wiping a tear that escapes her eye with my thumb. “No, it’s not like that. He is not a cruel man, just stupid.”

Keira angles her whole body away from me, as though she remembered I am a monstrous high fae. It hurts more than it should.

“I will make that bargain with you, Aldrin.” Her entire countenance is cold once more. “I want my sister freed from Cyprien, but I will not return to the human realm until I am ready to leave. I have hardly experienced this realm.”

A distance opens up between us and all I want to do is close it back up again. I don’t want her to leave either. I have a feeling I am going to need her.

“A bargain.” I hold out my arm to her. “I will help you release Caitlin from Cyprian’s capture. Once your sister is free, you will tell me your story and why you traveled to this realm when I ask for it.”

Keira takes my hand. “It is a bargain.”

I slide my palm up her wrist, so that we grasp arms instead, then shake it firmly twice. Thick ribbons of bright white magic wrap around our clasped arms, tying them together with multiple loops. They feel like silk brushing against my skin, warm like a ray of hot sunlight on a cold day. My skin tingles where it meets with Keira’s.

The glow of the magic dissipates, with silvery loops etched into the skin of our wrists in matching tattoos. Keira looks down at it, then up at me, with horror growing on her face. Those pink lips part in shock as she struggles to speak.

“Don’t fret,” I brush away the strands of curling red hair that fall across her face. “A fae bargain isn't the horrendous thing I am sure you have been warned about. They are our most valuable currency. The only one that binds a person to their word.”

I scan her face, tipped up at me, large doe eyes wide. It is an effort to keep my hands at my side, when I want to grab her chin and turn her face from side to side, so I can inspect every detail of her beauty. I want to brush those lips with my own, to see how they would taste. If they are as soft and supple as they look.

Perhaps this is why only young, beautiful women wander into this realm; because we fae find them so irresistibly beautiful. So delicate and fleeting.

Her chest heaves. My hand somehow clutches her wrist, and I lift it to examine the markings of the bargain there. Her creamy flesh is pale and iridescent compared to the tan my own. Smooth, where mine is full of calluses from years of handling weapons.

Keira doesn’t pull away from me, but I let go of her anyway. “We will leave in the morning. I expect to find Cyprien by nightfall.”

I am almost certain I know where he has set up camp. The man is far too predictable.

Chapter 15

Keira

Alarge yawn cracks my jaw, as I sit huddled by the fire with a mug of sweetened coffee in my hands. Morning came on too quickly.

I stare at the silvery lines of the bargain that run up my hand to my lower arm, turning it around so I can view the entire faint marking in the morning light.

I have lost my mind.

There was a sincerity about Aldrin that I almost find myself trusting. We have a common enemy for the moment. To get Caitlin back, I only need to tell Aldrin my story.Then we will see if I am truly his prisoner or if he will let me go.

He never specified how much of my story was required.

I won’t need to betray the priestesses or give away the purpose of our pilgrimages. I came to this realm on a journey of self-discovery. That is my story.

Not to steal relics or heart-stones or an unborn babe. The details of my secondary mission, to convince a Lake Maiden to give me a seed-stone, I mean to leave out. I will not give a fae any information on my people. Not when they could use it against us.

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