Page 114 of A Bargain with the Fae King

“We were desperate.Iwas desperate.” Riven’s unbloodied hand scrubs down his weary face as words tumble out, one after another. “I needed to find a way to get humans here in order to save my people. I’m responsible for all of them, yet we’re fading. A slow death of our magic. A failure after all these generations. My father was loved, respected, and yet I, his only heir, let his legacy fall to ruin in years.” He shakes, magic wafting off him like steam. “I needed you here. I wanted you and you alone. I asked so many times. I told you we needed you.” He shakes his head, and the outpouring of magic stills. “You’ve done so much just for your sister, but what if everyone you loved was at risk? What would you do to save them all?”

What would I give for those I love?

Anything.

I look at him then—really look—wiping away the tears that threaten to cloud my sight.

I’ve always perceived him as the glorious, powerful King of the Forest. Immaculately dressed, pointed ears poking through long hair, emerald eyes I could drown in, the mask of cocky arrogance he often donned in public, a poor attempt to step into the shoes of his beloved father, and the fierce, kind man I’d known in private.

All of those pieces are still there, but like a shattered vase, he’s broken.

All pretense of arrogance and playfulness is gone, replaced by vulnerability, honesty, a king who’s laid his soul bare and stripped away all his masks.

I sniffle.

Anything.I would do whatever I could to save them, no matter the cost to myself.

He must see the answer in my eyes because he continues, his voice low and brittle as the first crust of ice over the lake. “Our fading magic would soon have given others—other Seelie Courts, the Unseelie—an opportunity to invade us. You saw how weak our wards were. As a king, as the leader of my people, I couldn’t allow that. Their wellbeing has to be my top priority. So, I sent some of my best sensors, fae with the ability to sense the gift in humans, to watch the areas around our few doors in shifts. We were constantly looking for gifted humans we might entice to come here.

“We saw many humans but precious few with the gift. The gifted we found we were unsuccessful in recruiting. Most turned and ran. Others likely thought they were hallucinating. We’d begun to consider taking humans by force, but I dreaded the idea.” His chest shakes, his voice rising on every word. “I hated it!”

The words echo through the trees, calling back to us long after they leave his lips. His fist clenches at his side again. Fresh blood drips to the ground. Fire burns in his eyes before gutting to a dull green.

“But even so, I can’t ignore the needs of my people. Our outlook was bleak. Then, one night, you collapsed at the door. A young, gifted human, hurting, desperate…just like me. When I saw you, I knew you were the one we were waiting on.” The hard lines marring his face soften, and Riven reaches for me. His eyes widen as he catches sight of the blood coating his hand, which he hastily wipes on the grass. “I feared I’d lost my chance with you when you left your home in the woods. It took a considerable amount of magic to send you those dreams, but I needed a way to reach you, to encourage you to come back to the door, to me. Some days, I could do little else. A few minutes with you took everything I had.”

My eyes water again. A different type of tears form at the softness in his voice, the utter vulnerability. “I loved those dreams. Those moments. It got me through when nothing else did.”

Without them…

Some days my guilt crushed me so hard it was all I could do to wander through my waking hours like a zombie, carrying out one mundane task after another until I could fade into blessed sleep. Sink down into that comforting darkness where I simply was. And maybe, just maybe, where he waited for me, to pull me back up, piece me together, and give me the strength to keep moving forward.

“As the spark of hope you gave me got me through.” A weighty silence lingers until Riven continues, “When you came to the door again, I could barely contain my excitement. I already knew you were beautiful. But your determined spirit and love for your family enraptured me more than physical beauty ever could. More than I even realized at the time. You loved so deeply, so passionately. I wanted to take you through right then, but I needed you to come of your own free will. I remembered the legends about the door key, the conditions to retrieve it, and that object could save my people for generations to come. It would make me a hero. A worthy heir in the eyes of the court, not some fool boy unfit for the title and magic that was bestowed on me before my time.” He shakes his head and looks away. “I wanted that. For my people. For me. Yet you rejected me so adamantly.

“And then I heard you and your sister talk about moving away. I was desperate. I couldn’t lose you. In a horrible moment, I realized what would get you to come to Faery, and I knew I had to do it to get you here.” He hangs his head. “She was never supposed to be in any real danger. I didn’t consider that my plan may not work. It felt perfect at the time. They’d agreed to take her and keep her in a magical slumber. I knew Ambrose and my guard had the skill to find and track them. They did. Then it was just the matter of taking them out, as I’d planned to do before I involved them in my plot.”

A hard knot settles in my chest at the casual mention of death and his use of the Unseelie as unwitting sacrifices in his plan. I pull my legs toward my chest and hug them. Whatever horrible things they’ve done in the past, this is just as cruel. Riven was desperate, and I know what desperation can make a person do, but the Unseelie are desperate in their own way. Their land isn’t dying, it’s already dead.

“I’d return your sister to you,” he continues. “She’d be safe.You’dhave saved her. We’d both win.”

He looks back at my face and winces. I don’t bother to hide everything I’m feeling, he deserves to see the pain he’s caused. A win for us both, if it had worked, but at what cost? A horrible one I was never supposed to understand.

“I knew you’d hate me if you learned the truth.” A sad smile touches his lips. “I never wanted to see the look on your face I’ve seen today. I thought if I could just get her back, get her home safely, no one would have to know the terrible truth of what I’ve done. I can handle my own guilt and pain—I’ve lived with them most of my life—but not yours. If I could go back, I’d do things differently.”

“And the Unseelie?” I snap. “What excuse do you have for your treatment of them?”

Riven’s lips quiver in the beginning of a snarl, his pointed fangs, ones that have yet to retract, peeking out. “They’ve done far worse than steal young girls. They deserve far worse.” The trees around us quake, their limbs snapping. “A quick death by my magic would have been a mercy. What they did to my mother…”

A deathly stillness falls over the forest once more.

Sigurd’s words come back to taunt my awareness, an unexpected certainty suddenly sliding into place. “Your mother was human…”

Riven nods. “Captured from your world by the Unseelie and brought here.”

Just like May. My eyes water. He’d subjected my sister to the same fate, the same actions he hated the Unseelie for.

“She was already an adult, and they did not keep her asleep…” His words trail off in a whisper as his eyes glow an eerie green.

My insides twist and churn, horrible possibilities teasing my thoughts.

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