Page 102 of A Bargain with the Fae King

“You sent those dreams to my father again, right?” I ask. “So he’ll know where to find May once we rescue her?” The idea had struck me when I’d widened the door to Earth. If Riven could appear to me in dreams, it reasoned he could send them to my father as well. He could find the door. Take May home. Somewhere safe. Far, far away from here.

Far from me. It hurts just thinking about it, but it’s what’s best—for her.

“Yes. Last night and the night before, like you asked.” Riven yawns then kisses the top of my head. “Though hopefully he is less stubborn than you and listens to them.” He chuckles.

I roll my eyes. Never going to let that go, is he?

He releases me and walks back to his desk, where a mountain of paper waits for his attention. He ignored much of his duties to summon the magic necessary to send dreams to my father two nights in a row.

“What happened with Solona this morning?” I ask after plopping down onto a cushioned settee of forest green velvet.

Using so much magic had drained him, and I’d left long before he awakened, only to return to them arguing about something in a language I didn’t know. He was the confident king addressing his advisor, not the man who yearned to fill the footsteps of his father. The edge to his voice, the wildness in his eyes, was something I’d only seen on the battlefield. Whatever they discussed, it was deep—personal.

Solona stormed out with a huff shortly after and didn’t return. Riven was ruffled, pacing back and forth and running his hand through his hair until the shorter hairs around his face stuck out in a wild array.

The jovial expression he wore moments ago vanishes at my question. A muscle works in his jaw. “We disagreed about my handling of a certain situation.”

Thick, full silence hangs in the air, but he makes no move to end it.

Despite his reluctance, I push on. “Do you disagree often?”

“No.” He snorts air through his nose. “Very rarely, if at all.”

“Do you want to talk to me about it? Maybe I could provide a different perspective?”

Riven gives a huff of laughter, and I squirm in the seat, smoothing out my clothes. It wasn’t a funny question to me.

“No, I think it’s best if I don’t,” he says.

The rejection stings. “Fine.”

I sigh. It’s not his fault my nerves are so on edge today.

It takes more effort than it should to push to my feet. “I’m going to the library.”

“Again?”

I shrug. “It can’t hurt.”

At the very least, it’ll keep my mind occupied for a few more hours.

Chapter 32

Thelibraryisquiettoday, devoid of Solona and the other fae she recruited to help her search the old tomes. Too bad. Having others around to distract me would have been helpful, but at least my two friends keep me company.

“To think people actually read these books for fun.” Galen pages through yet another tome.

“A lot of people read for fun. Maybe not that one, but other books,” I reply.

“Don’t let it get to you, Lia. Galen has never been the best of students,” Sylvie says with a wink across the table.

Galen scowls at her. “I learned what was important.”

“Important toyou,perhaps.”

“How is any of this history supposed to help on a battlefield?”

“Knowledge is power, all of it.”

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