Page 14 of A Bargain with the Fae King

Chapter 4

Mylungsburnbythe time I reach the circle of trees at the top of the hill. The whole run I’ve begged for Riven to be there—waiting for me. But another part, the part I refuse to acknowledge, is afraid to find him. Afraid to see my sister clutched in his arms.

A bear lounges in the clearing instead. I skid to a stop.

Everything in me locks up at the sight of the predator standing in the clearing staring back at me. Its too-intelligent eyes gleam in the night. I hadn’t made any attempt to be quiet on my way here. No doubt it heard me coming from far away. My heart thunders, adrenaline mixing with fear.

The bear assesses me as I gaze at it, wide-eyed and uncertain. A thick, furless scar mars the side of its face. It’s the same bear from the other day, I’m almost certain.

Wild. Animalistic.

“Riven!” My voice cracks as I call his name.Please, oh please.

The bear’s form wavers. For a moment, it’s the shadowed outline of a man crouched on the ground instead of a bear. Not Riven. Someone else.

Unseelie?

“I know what you are!” I shout, flinging out my hand and pointing at it. Either I’m right or an idiot. Doesn’t matter. “Give my sister back. Right now!”

Its intelligent eyes take me in for a moment longer before it shakes its big head from side to side.

Okay, that’s an answer, right?

I steel my nerves and step toward the bear. He blinks at me and makes a deep grumbling noise in his throat. My body locks up midstride. Not a growl—it didn’t sound threatening—but I have no idea what it means. The bear turns his bulky form around and lumbers toward the tree line. Instead of walking into the forest, he disappears.

Goosebumps race across my skin.

Fairy. Definitely a freaking fairy.

But a good fairy or a bad fairy?

“Riven!” I stomp through the grass, my hands in fists at my sides. “Shit. This…. Shit!” Can I go to Faery without him? How do I get there? God, am I seriously considering this right now? I run my hands down my face.

If May’s there, I have to go after her.

Before, I took his hand, and we were simply somewhere else.You wanted to see it, so it brought you through.His words echo in my mind.

Could it really be so easy?

“Take me there.”

All at once, the world shifts.

With Riven, it was seamless. Alone, the world tilts and spins. Trees dive into the ground as monolithic boulders spring up. I lose my balance and fall as a scream rips from me. My head is still spinning when the world stops shifting, and once more, I’m in Faery.

Night cloaks the forest. Of all the wondrous trees I saw during the day, the only ones I can seem to focus on now look like giant clawed hands with their spindly roots digging into the ground. Colorful leaves, muted by the glow of the moon above, litter the forest floor as if it’s early autumn. The air holds a crispness that conjures visions of apple pie and Halloween. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I stepped through time instead of into a different world.

Both? Surely not.

“May? Riven?” I scrabble on the ground, trying to see everywhere at once. God only knows what waits for me among those horror-movie trees. And where the hell did that bear go?

A light breeze is the only response. Well, that and some decidedly odd nocturnal noises that better just be normal-sized, totally non-venomous bugs.

Mistake, mistake, mistake,my inner voice yells. But I have to find May. I can’t leave her.

“May?” I pace around the circle, looking back over my shoulder every few seconds, expecting something or someone to appear. A half-moon, a little too blue, and with all the wrong craters hangs overhead.

Shit. I stomp through the crisp leaves. Staying here is out of the question. I came to Faery, for fuck’s sake, but it’s not like there’s a sign: Find your sister here!

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