Page 109 of A Bargain with the Fae King

He places me on the chaise lounge with delicacy so at odds with what I’ve just learned. My head spins with questions, with threats, with accusations.

None of it will help.

“Calm down. You’re okay now,” Riven croons in a soft, gentle voice he might use with a startled horse.

I am so not okay.

He crawls onto the seat next to me, brushing the hair back from my tear-stained face with a tenderness that threatens to destroy me all over again. “Please tell me what happened, Lia. What did he do to you?”

I close my eyes while I think, trying to come up with something, anything other than the truth. A good lie is always as close to the truth as possible. Hadn’t he himself proven that to be true? I open my eyes again but can’t meet Riven’s gaze. Instead, I stare across the room.

“I wasn’t feeling well. I fell. I actually think he wanted to help me, but he ran off when he heard Sylvie and Galen returning.” All true.

I flick my gaze back to Riven then away. He still appears concerned, watching me, waiting for something more.

Horrible two-faced monster. Where is that arrogant king now? The one I loathed. Him, I might be able stand.

“I need some time alone,” I say. “Peace and quiet.”

Silence reigns.Please, please just leave me alone to think.

“We have to leave to meet the Unseelie in a few hours,” he says.

“Yes, just give me space until then.”

Something cracks in his green eyes. His lips pull downward. Yet he rises, giving me the space I requested. Without a word, he pulls the bracelet out of his pocket and lays it on the cushion next to me.

“If you need anything…”

“I’ll ring for Karin.”

He flinches. In a breath, he’s gone.

Chapter 34

Imovethroughtheroom like a robot, carrying out one action after another with detached, clinical precision. Tears dry on my face. The hole in my chest aches with residual pain, but I push it away.

Outfit with pockets? Check.

A touch of make-up to cover the redness of my tear-stained face? Check.

That just leaves the key. I stare at the twin stones, visual duplicates of each other, where they lay side by side, one on a pillow and one under crystal.

Can I really give away their hope? Their chance for a future?

Once, a witch loved a fae king who betrayed her. My heart aches. Tears threaten again. I’m not a witch, but I understand her pain more than I ever wanted to. How she could unleash such deadly punishment for the crime against her. She cursed the stone to protect her sisters—real or in spirit, does it matter? When she called me sister in that maze, I knew she wasn’t May, but something in her called out to me. Maybe our shared humanity, maybe our shared gift, or maybe some deeper connection. Who can say? But whatever she sacrificed to spin her revenge, she’d done that for me too. A human who loved a fae and was betrayed. A sister she’d hoped to protect in her own way.

I’d do anything for May, for my sister, and I know with painful certainty what I have to do.

“Do you need anything, my lady?”

The title cuts me like a knife. How long had it been since I’d wielded it against Sigurd? Relished in that moment of power and what it meant?

“Should we call for King Riven?” the other guard in the hall asks. “Or we could escort you some—”

“That won’t be necessary. Thank you.” The calm evenness of my voice surprises me.

They back down, obeying their lady.

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