Page 21 of Forgiving a Fae Warrior

“You planned to?” She flung out her arms in exasperation. “Waited a little late, didn’t you? And how have those plans turned out recently?”

He flinched against the verbal. Sylvie grimaced, seeming to regret her words, but she’d already hit home. Her pointed barb had him on his heels, the need to defend himself rising up unchecked.

“What about you?” he snapped in return. “You shifted in and engaged the enemy directly. A risky move. Far too risky.” One they’d been taught never to do. A second or two late or a bit off in the shift could have dire consequences. “Not to mention that you’re here engaging with me instead of back at the battle. They know you helped me. That can’t be good for you, helping a traitor.”

Sylvie’s lips quivered before smoothing into a thin line as she held her head a little higher. “I couldn’t not help. I couldn’t watch you die.”

“Why?” Galen pushed. “Why risk yourself for someone like me?”

She shoved hard against his chest, sending him stumbling back a step. “Because I love you, you idiot!”

Chapter 11

Galen’sheartskippedabeat. The confession echoed in the silence of the small room. Sylvie stared at him wide-eyed, mouth slightly agape, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.

Those simple, powerful words broke the chains that had bound his truths for so long. All hesitation and fear of rejection vanished.

Galen moved directly in front of her. Sylvie’s breaths ghosted across his skin as she stared up at him, unspeaking.

“I love you too.”

And then his lips were crashing into hers. Galen’s arms wound around her body, his fingers tangling through the ends of her braided hair as he tugged her close, heedless of his injuries. They didn’t matter. Nothing did, except showing her exactly how much he loved her, too. A thousand feelings sparked under his skin as her soft lips pressed back against his. Sylvie’s breath filled his lungs, his soul. He’d imagined the moment for years. Dreamed of it. Yearned for it. Yet all his many imaginings couldn’t compare to the real thing, to the feel of her against him sharing his passion despite the blood and dirt that marred him.

Her palms found his chest, the material of his shirt bunching in her fingers as they dug toward his skin. And then she shoved him, hard, breaking their kiss and sending him stumbling back until he hit the wall, little bits of dust and debris floating down atop him.

“Sylvie—”

But once again, she cut him off. “You love me?” she asked, her voice caught somewhere between a screech and an uncertain question.

“Yes.” Galen’s chest rose and fell as he reclined against the wall, still reeling from the kiss and her sudden rebuff. “I love you, Sylvie. I have for years. You. Only you.”

Of all the ways she could have reacted, she laughed. Not a simple chuckle, but a deep thing that shook her whole body. Sylvie’s hands covered her face, and when she pulled them away, new tears streaked down her cheeks. Galen stood frozen in place, mouth gape, able to do nothing but stare at her as various emotions chased themselves within.

Sylvie dropped to sit on the floor, still rocking and shaking with a mix of laughter and tears. “Then how dare you?” She rubbed at her tear-stained face, staring up at Galen where he still clung to the wall in shock.

Galen shucked the weight of his sword, letting the scabbard clatter to the ground. His dagger belt too. He approached her slowly, like a spooked horse ready to buck and flee, one hand up and open in front of him to show that he meant no harm. Her hard stare never waivered as he settled on the ground near her. “How dare I what?” he finally asked, his voice barely a whisper.

“Not tell me. About your vow to Sigurd. The spying. Everything. How could you just leave me in the dark and then…leave? You left me.”

The pain etched on her face would have brought him to his knees if he didn’t already sit on the ground. “I had to leave. It wasn’t a choice.”

“You still could have told me.”

“That I was a traitor?” Saying the word aloud was painful. Confessing it to her if he didn’t have to? Impossible. “That I was forced to betrayourking when I didn’t want to? How could I have ever put that burden on you?” Either she would have had to turn him in or become a traitor with him by keeping his secrets. The first he hoped to avoid. The second, he could never allow.

“We could have worked something out together.” She sniffed. “Come up with a plan, some way out of it.”

And just like he feared, she would have kept his secrets. “It was bad enough I had to betray our king. I couldn’t risk you getting wrapped into that too. I never wanted you to be hurt because of what I had to do. My faults, my errors.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but this time, he cut her off. “Even right now, you could be implicating yourself. They saw you shift me away. They may notice you did not return. Plus, you brought me supplies, stayed with me, helped me—me, an exile and a traitor.” His voice rose of the word, a burning fury inflaming his thoughts at the risks she took. “Every moment you spend with me risks yourself and your position. I couldn’t bear it if anything were to happen to you or you were punished because of me.”

“Then you know exactly how I feel,” she snapped before crossing her arms and hugging them close to her chest.

“How you feel?” He gaped, sitting a little straighter.

“Yes. HowIfeel.” She huffed, tossing her head so her braid slipped back over her shoulder. “It tore me up inside when you left. When I thought I’d lost you forever. All I could think was that I should have known somehow and kept you out of trouble. The male I’ve loved for years committed this horrible act and vanished before me, and Iknewit wasn’t like you. Iknewyou must have been forced. But what could I do?” She smashed her fist onto the ground. “Absolutely nothing.”

Galen could do no more than blink in the wake of her words. Of everything, one line stood out among the rest. “You’ve loved me for years?”

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