Page 134 of A Bargain with the Fae King

Dad goes utterly still before turning to gaze at me, expression full of barely concealed panic. “You’ve both been missing for days.” His voice is icy, the false calm concealing the emotions surging across his face. “We didn’t know if you were alive, and now I find you both in this place that shouldn’t exist.”

May whimpers, the tears coming again.

I drop down next to her and wipe at her face. “It’s okay. Don’t cry. You want to go see Momma, right?”

She nods. My hands slide to cover her ears. “I made a magical promise to stay for a year. It was the price to save her.”

Dad’s mouth drops open. His eyes slide from me to the fae lurking outside the stone circle. A muscle ticks in his jaw.

I release May and stand, attempting to position myself in his line of sight.

“But I would want to stay even if I hadn’t promised to. I want to be here, Dad. I belong here.” The words ring true in my heart as soon as I speak them.

His head snaps back to me now, eyes shining with unshed tears.

“You know how hard a time I’ve had since...” I glance at May, fleeting. “But I fit here. It’s right here.I’mall right here. I want to stay, and I’m old enough to make my own choices about life. More than old enough.”

“Are they even human?” The silent plea laced in his words doesn’t pull me the way it might once have.

“In the ways that matter.”

He sucks in a ragged breath. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. Come home.”

May sniffles again. This time, Dad lifts her into his arms with a grunt and holds her against his chest.

Tears glaze my eyes, accompanying the sad smile on my face. “I can’t, but you can come visit me. I’d like that. I think they’d all like that.” I motion behind me. “Take May home, tell Elise I love and miss her, and then come back tomorrow. I’ll explain everything.”

I wipe away my own tears.

I haven’t run any of my plans, my offers, by Riven, but I don’t expect him to mind. More gifted humans will help their magic. How can he protest?

“How do we get home?” he asks. “Or back here?”

I place one hand on his arm and another on May. “You just have towantto be there.”

May gasps. Her tears dry in an instant as the stones around us transform into trees.

Dad swears.

“Where’d they go?” May asks as she squirms in his arms, trying to find the fae who reside on the other side of the door.

“I can’t leave here.” I gesture to the trees. “But come here, and you can find me.”

“And I can play with the bear again?”

I giggle, more at Dad’s look of horror than May’s question. “Yes, I’m sure you can.”

“You’ll be here tomorrow?” Dad questions again. “And you’ll be safe with those…people?”

“I will,” I promise to both questions.

“If they do anything to you, I’m coming through that door and—” He bites off his own words with a glance at May, but I get the picture. He can truly raise hell when he wants to, and nothing, no fae or otherwise, will stop him if anything happens to his girls again.

It takes a few more promises and assurances to convince Dad to leave with May. Even then, he stops just outside the circle and looks back at me, maybe expecting I’ll change my mind.

But I don’t. Even when the tears form again—Jesus, they really never end—and roll down my cheeks as they walk away. I keep my feet rooted to the ground, standing in the doorway between worlds. May waves at me over Dad’s shoulder where he still carries her. I bite back a sob and wave back, trying everything I can to hold my smile in place until they’re out of sight.

Strong arms wrap around me from behind, holding me tight. Their strength and support break the dam holding in my sobs.

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