Page 5 of Forgiving a Fae Warrior

The rush of fear fled as quickly as it came, leaving him numb and hollow.

“Where did she take her?” Sylvie demanded, an edge of hysteria leaking into her voice.

Galen shuddered and pinched his eyes closed. He had no idea—none.

Magic rolled across his skin moments before another voice he recognized demanded, “What is this?”

Galen sucked in a desperate breath before he opened his eyes and hazarded a glance at Ambrose, the gruff Captain of the Guard, where he stood with a number of other fae behind him. Several familiar faces stared at him in shock. Ambrose would have felt his entry and come to investigate, something else he’d anticipated, but in all his musings, Galen never imagined that Wren would have been taken and he’d have to explain himself emptyhanded and while bearing another burden of guilt.

“Galen returned with a human woman,” Sylvie said when he failed to respond. “But she was stolen by Katiya, that pink-haired Unseelie woman who ordered our king fired upon.”

Galen flinched. He hadn’t been there when Riven had taken a poisoned arrow to the chest in defense of his consort, but he’d heard the stories. No court boundaries could keep news like that contained.

Ambrose let out a roar of fury that shook the nearby trees.

“That’s not all,” Sylvie continued. “She bears—"

An even stronger surge of magic rolled over Galen and silenced the nearby fae. It came from the direction of the Unseelie lands, but it was no Unseelie who bore that magical signature. The power of Sigurd’s fury washed over them all like a wave, thick and oppressive.

“Where is she?” Sigurd demanded. “Where is my mate?”

Chapter 3

TheKingofAirstood shirtless and barefoot, hair disheveled as if he’d woken in search of his mate and shifted directly there the moment he found her missing. He probably had, following the trail of Galen’s magic and the power of the bond Sigurd shared with Wren.

Galen shoved to his feet and steeled his resolve. He couldn’t let Sylvie and the others suffer for what he’d done.

“You.” Sigurd’s accusing stare landed on him. “I felt her here, then—” He snapped his head to the side, looking deeper into the trees from where he loomed just across the boundary line at the edge of the Forest lands. “You’ve hidden her.”

“No, we—” Sylvie began.

“No.” Galen put all his strength into that word and stepped in front of Sylvie. “The Unseelie took her.”

Sigurd went eerily still. The blue glow of his eyes flared in a corona around him.

“And you what?” he grated out. “Watched? Helped them?”

“No!” Galen yelled. “Never.” A traitor he might be, but helping an Unseelie steal a human? A friend? That was the lowest of low.

Air swirled around Sigurd, picking up dust and debris. “How did they get her? Why bring her here?” he demanded.

Other Air court fae shifted in behind him. The tell-tale ripple of magic through the air altered Galen to other members of the Court of the Forest shifting in as well. They had minutes, seconds, until chaos erupted.

“I—” Galen began.

“If the Court of the Forest allied with them to take her…” Sigurd snarled. Wind beat against the barrier between courts.

Galen flicked a half-glance at Sylvie, swallowed, and turned back to the fuming king. “I took her from you and shifted her here.”

The wind died. The resulting stillness was more damning and terrifying than the cyclone the king had summoned. “Youknocked out my guards and stole my mate?”

Knocked out the guards?His brows pinched, but there was no time to ponder that.

“I brought her to the Forest.” Galen stood a little straighter, braced for whatever fate awaited him. “But I never planned for her to be in harm’s way or for the Unseelie to get her.”

Sigurd blinked at him. “She asked you to bring her here?” The pain and doubt in his voice was unmistakable. He truly believed Wren might have chosen to leave, and it gutted him. Sigurd really did love her.

Something about the desperation in his voice hit Galen like a fist to the chest, causing him to flinch. At least he could set the record straight, even if it would damn him.

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