Page 117 of A Bargain with the Fae King

“Sigurd wanted the door key,” I whisper. “He offered me May in exchange for it.”

“But that’s what we…” Ambrose trails off, looking between Riven and me again. His attention snags on my face, my hair.

I don’t need a mirror to know my eyes are red, my cheeks are puffy, and I probably look a hot mess.

“I made a grave mistake,” Riven answers for me.

Pain washes through me anew at the reminder of his betrayal. I bite my lip and will away the tears that threaten again. Riven turns to me, perhaps waiting for me to expound upon all the ways he deceived me, to lay his sins bare for him.

But I hold my tongue.

Riven turns back to his men. “I had May kidnapped to get Lia here.”

Multiple fae gasp. Sylvie steps back, her hand over her mouth.

Ambrose’s eyes fly wide. In a breath, he shifts into his bear form. The ground rumbles as his front paws land upon the dirt. A bellowing roar echoes through the trees.

“Sigurd told me.” I divide my attention between Riven and his guard, addressing them both. “I was hurt. Angry. And I gave him the stone in exchange for his offer to give me May.”

The fae swear at this, maybe even angrier with me than with Riven. The weight of their crushing stares holds silent accusations. Ambrose growls again and paws the ground. Riven steps between me and his captain of the guard.

In Riven’s eyes, I’d betrayed him too, yet even now, he protects me. Guilt twists with my anger, the unhappy cord of emotions pulling me down.

Ambrose shifts back into his human form. “You trusted him over us?”

I wince. What could I possibly say? “I… No, I don’t.”

“Then why?”

On instinct, I move further behind Riven, my regrets turning to shame.

“We don’t have time for this.” Riven’s voice cuts the heavy silence.

The sun has dipped below the tops of the trees, coloring the clear sky in shades of pink and orange. Sunset. The agreed upon time to meet the Unseelie.

“We need to go now if we’re to meet the Unseelie.” Riven turns to me and takes my hand, but I jerk it away. Hurt flickers across his features again.

He stole my sister. Does he really think one apology will erase that betrayal?

“We have to shift there,” he says. “Now.”

I stiffen.

“I’ll take you.” Sylvie, her eyes wet and dull, holds out a hand to me. If anyone can understand my feelings right now, she can. I nod to her.

Riven’s shoulders drop at the rejection. My anger has dimmed, leaving tender, ravaged scar tissue in its wake. And though I don’t want to hurt for him too, I do. My shaking hands unclasp the bracelet before taking Sylvie’s hands in mine.

“You know where to go?” Riven asks her.

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go get May.”

Chapter 36

Grayandbrownstoneslitter the ground before us, the last remnants of some old structure fallen to ruin. It would have been grand once. Towering pillars, three stories high, poke out from the tall brown grass. Other blocks, larger than a car, lay on their sides. Gnarled trees bearing a smattering of brown and orange leaves twist up amongst some of the stones and dot the flat landscape beyond the boundaries of the old structure.

A hint of soil, woody dampness, and the faint trace of smoke perfume the air, though no smoke plumes dot the ever-dimming horizon. Even the breeze refuses to blow here.

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