Page 116 of A Bargain with the Fae King

I jerk away, leaving his arm hovering in the air. “I already did.”

His hand clenches as he draws it back to his body. Riven draws in a shuddering breath. “Our bargain will exact a price if you leave before it’s complete.”

My heart skips a beat. “What?”

“Magical bargains cannot be broken without cost,” he says, the words just above a whisper. His eyes close as he shakes his head from side to side. “Leaving Faery, or possibly even going too far outside my territory, will break it. Sigurd would know that.”

Shit. No wonder Riven panicked and held me close every time we were at the door.

“The price?” I swallow the tightness in my throat.

He shakes his head. “I don’t know, but it could be as severe as death.”

Death. The word lingers in the air, spreading an icy chill that seeps under my skin.

How does it feel to have someone you love taken from you?Sigurd words echo in my head, taking on a whole new meaning. Maybe he hadn’t been referring to emotional separation but a more permanent, lethal type.

A shudder wracks my body. Fae cruelty knows no bounds. They all trade death like playing cards.

But…I’m not the only one bargain bound.

I cut my gaze to Riven. “If you don’t save May…”

He nods, his jaw stiff. “Though even if I hadn’t bargained it, I’d find a way. For you and your sister.”

My heart twists again, ready to spill open anew. Riven deserves my anger for what he’s done, but though I hate to admit it, I understand his reasons. What wouldn’t I do to save one person I love, much less all of them? How many sins would I carve into my soul? Our bargain will cost him, maybe kill him. And from his perspective, I just allied with his hated enemy and gave away something that could change the future for his people. Everything he’s done will be for nothing if their magic still dies a slow death.

Yet still, he pledges to help me. The truth of it scrapes something raw inside me.

I jump as forms take shape a few feet from us. Riven leaps to his feet in one swift motion, stepping between me and the arrivals.

“What’s happened?” Ambrose’s gruff voice carries through the space as he trots over with hurried steps.

Tension slips from Riven’s shoulders at the friendly presence. A sigh escapes my lips. Riven turns and offers a hand to help me up, but I ignore it and push myself to my feet.

“Galen?” Sylvie calls from behind Ambrose.

The knots in my stomach twist painfully tight at the urgency in her voice, the fear. In that moment, I miss Riven’s comfort, his care, especially as my legs wobble beneath me.

“Gone. With Sigurd,” Riven says.

Sylvie freezes, eyes wide. “He took… how?”

“Galen shifted Sigurd away.”

“But…” Another denial comes to her lips. Even Ambrose pales but keeps silent.

“I don’t believe it was Galen’s choice to help Sigurd.” I step around Riven to stand a few feet from his side. Ambrose’s eyes flick to the gap between us, my face, his brows creasing, but I ignore it. “Sigurd had an oath from him and called it in.”

“He told you that?” Riven asks.

“Yes.”

Sylvie is utterly still. The handful of other guards behind her look equally disturbed by the news.

“But why would he call in his oath now?” Ambrose ponders, rubbing his bearded chin. “Just to drag you out here in the woods when he was just with us for days?”

I stare at the grass under my feet. The time to confess my sins has arrived. I’m not ready. I’ll never be ready.

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