Page 14 of Forgiving a Fae Warrior

“Of me?” She sat a little straighter.

Galen nodded. “Brave. Kind. Strong-willed. We were allies in several of the rounds. I suppose, by the end, I thought of her as a friend.”

“Like me,” Sylvie said.

Without thinking, he reached out and took her hand in his. She gave a sharp inhale of breath but didn’t pull away.

“No. No one could mean as much to me as you.”

Her lips parted as she blinked at him in return. “Galen.” His name was barely a whisper on the gentle breeze.

Shit.And there he went, stirring up things he planned to keep to himself. It had always been so easy to hide his feelings until now. “You’re my best friend,” he amended. “Closer than my family.”

Sylvie’s expression settled into something he couldn’t read, but she squeezed his hand in return. “As you are mine.”

She pulled her hand from his and used it to tuck some hair behind her ear before tugging the rolled blanket close.

Sylvie looked away to stare at the boulders in front of them. “Unlike Wren, I could never love someone like that, though,” she whispered.

Galen’s chest tightened. She might as well have said she could never love him, not after what he’d done.

“It has to be more than just physical fulfillment and lust for a mark to settle, doesn’t it?” she mused. “Sigurd is fair to look at, but what could she have seen beyond that to stir such feelings?”

Whatever they had did go beyond the physical—he could see that in the way Wren looked at Sigurd and in her faith that he would keep his word to her, to do as she asked in granting the wishes of the other finalists, including his. Somewhere beyond all his vile sins, she’d found something to cling to.

If only he could be so lucky.

“He did seem a bit different with her,” Galen replied, thinking back to that night at the finalists’ ball. “I didn’t see them together often, but when I did, their connection was impossible to miss, even before she accepted his mark.” Sigurd had stared at Wren like she was the moon, sun, and stars. It was so obvious to anyone who dared to look, except perhaps to Wren herself. The words had come so easily to Galen’s lips as he watched Sigurd stare at Wren.“He’s in love with you.”How Wren was the focus of such attention and couldn’t see it herself then, he still couldn’t understand.

“Perhaps love changes people.” Sylvie adjusted her position, and Galen sucked in a breath as she moved ever so slightly closer to him. It was probably an accident or something done without thought, but he couldn’t miss it, not when their legs nearly brushed. “Maybe he saw something in Wren that brought out the good in him?”

“Maybe,” Galen echoed. If so, Wren was the one to see it. But… Sigurd had kept his word. He had revoked his vow without thought or question. It was a risk to him and his reign. He had to know that Galen would try to return to the Forest and would almost certainly tell them everything he knew about Sigurd, his court, and his plans—not that Galen had the opportunity to do that yet. He might never get that chance after what he’d done taking Wren, but Sigurd couldn’t have possibly considered such an outcome when he removed the vow. If he had, he’d have struck Galen dead instead.

“And whatever she saw was enough to forgive him for his past, or at least let her look past it,” Sylvie surmised.

“You think it’s so easy to forgive?” Galen asked.

“When love is involved.”

That wayward bit of hair had slipped over her pointed ear again, and she moved to push it back, grazing Galen’s sleeve in the process. That little touch, so incidental and meaningless, had his whole body clenching tighter. The scent of her all around him, like new budding roses, didn’t help matters.

“After all,” Sylvie continued once her hand settled atop the blanket roll once more, “Look at Rivenean and Lia. The way he betrayed her by endangering her sister was a terrible thing. In some ways, I understand why, but it doesn’t lessen the vileness of the act. Yet still, she loved him enough to see past that, to forgive him, as did the court. And me. And you, I suspect.” Her head cocked to the side, a small smile pulling at her lips. “Why else would you try to swear loyalty to him again unless you forgave him?”

For you.The words curled on his tongue, ready to be spoken, but he held them back. She was right, though, too. Galen’s years of loathing for the vow Sigurd demanded of him soiled any sense of loyalty or love he could have for that king long before Sigurd first called on Galen to spy for him. Riven, however, he’d admired and respected. Galen had pledged his service to him and been as loyal and forthright as he could possibly be given his previous vow to Sigurd. Day after day, he saw how the king loved his people and tried to do his best for them, even when he fell short or when he was seen as less than his father—still a young king trying to fill large footsteps. Galen would have laid down his life for the King of the Forest. He loved him in his way. And though he’d learned of the terrible ploy he’d constructed and felt that hurt and betrayal deep in his heart, he still found reason to wish to remain in his service and at his side.

Rivenean had made a terrible mistake and taken it too far before he could repent. His plan had gone array before he could bring it to the conclusion he’d been so sure would follow.

Bitter laughter caught in Galen’s throat, and he stared at the ground. “I think I understand him even more now. He tried to do what he thought would help his people, but he failed.”

“Lia saw that,” Sylvie said. “It hurt. It gave her great pain. But her love was enough to forgive him and move forward.”

Sylvie’s hand settled on his leg, and Galen nearly jolted out of his skin. His head snapped toward her.

“I think you tried to do something similar with Wren. Well, it may not have been best for the Court of Air, but you never meant her harm. She wanted to go home. You knew the Court of the Forest would keep her safe and see to her wishes.”

“But then everything fell apart.” His gaze drifted to her hand, still on his leg.

“We all make mistakes. Miscalculations. The ability to see the future is one of the rarest, and even then it can mislead.”

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