Page 69 of A Bargain with the Fae King

There’s no need to ask whohimis.

I draw a sharp breath, my attention snapping to his face. Spies.He definitely has spies in Riven’s court if he knows so much. And if he’s aware of the bargain, then he should know why I made it. That was part of what we agreed on, after all.

“My sister,” I say, quieter than I’d planned. Just talking about it cuts at my heart. “I promised to stay with Riven if he helped me find my sister and return her home.”

“Just stay with him?” he cocks an eyebrow.

My cheeks flame. “And to be his consort.”

“Interesting.” His fingers trail along the back of the bench, brushing over the open petals of a flower just smaller than his palm. Sigurd’s gaze rakes my body, sending a shiver down my spine. “Though it doesn’t appear you’ve upheld your end yet.”

“How—” But the question sticks before I finish it. Riven said marks are a magical and physical representation of a bond. Whatever magical signal one holds, I clearly don’t bear it.

“Do you find your Forest King lacking?”

“No.” I purse my lips. Asshole.

“Hmm.” He drums on the wooden bench. “If you did, a human such as yourself would have options. Otherchoices. Though that bargain is a bit of a complication.”

I squirm at the implication of his words. “Why tell me that?”

“I may have a soft spot for human women.” He shrugs. His words send an unwelcome tingle of warmth coiling low in my body.

“And you, you don’t bear a mark?” I ask to move the conversation away from me.

Sigurd smirks. “Does it look like I do?”

I look away to keep my eyes from trailing across his exposed skin again—that chiseled six-pack, the muscles disappearing down below his waistband to regions I dare not think about. “I wouldn’t know.”

“Each fae’s mark is different, but they all appear in the same place.” He pauses. “Look at me, Lia.”

Reluctantly, I tear my gaze back to him. He rubs a spot just above the waistline of his pants.Theplace I’ve tried hardest not to look. “If I shared my mark,” he continues, “you’d see it here.”

My mouth goes dry. He couldn’t be more direct if he’d held up a blinking sign that said single.

“I’d think fae would trip over themselves to get into the bed of a king.” My teeth rattle as I snap my mouth closed. Why, oh why, did I say that aloud?

He chuckles. “Perhaps. But staying away from unnecessary entanglements was one of the first lessons I learned—that any decent king learns. Besides, why would I want a fae when a human is so much more… helpful?”

His eyes practically glitter on the word.

I shove to my feet and move away, unable to sit still next to the predator at my side. Sylvie steps in my direction, but Galen holds her back. I flash them a tight smile. My discomfort isn’t reason to cause a bigger scene than necessary.

“Humans are rare in your territory too then?” I don’t turn to look at him but gasp as he circles around to stand before me, his movement stirring a gust of wind that ruffles my ponytail. I hadn’t heard him move.

“Not nearly so much as here.”

On instinct, I retreat a step, but his words raise more questions than answers. Humans are more plentiful in his territory, wherever it is, yet he’d chosen not to mark one, despite the magical boost it would provide him and his people. My brows wrinkle in confusion as I stare down the enigma before me.

His smile falters. Something flashes across his face, too quick to interpret, but it wipes away his playful amusement, leaving a somber note in its wake.

“I loved one once, long ago,” he says, maybe in answer to the question on my face.

I rock back on my heels. Of all the things I expected him to say, that hadn’t been anywhere in my imaginings.

“Others have…not compared.”

“What happened to them?”

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