Page 12 of Ties of Bargains

Harm nodded. That confirmed something he’d been mulling over. He chose his words carefully. Saying the right thing now could be the difference between life and death. “I understand that you don’t want to play tour guide or act as my friend. I’m not asking you to do so. However, given that we will be stuck together for a while and that dragging around my dead body would be a hassle, I think it’s in your best interest to explain a few basics of this realm to me so that I don’t die before we arrive.”

He'd worded it so that it wasn’t a bargain but an obligation of captor to her captive.

For long moments, she kept marching forward as if she hadn’t even heard him. Her dog disappeared into the surrounding foliage, sniffing along a trail.

When she finally spoke, her voice had that aggravated tone that seemed to be her default. “Fine. But onlybecause showing up with a dead body would be a hit to my reputation.”

“Ah, yes. I can see how a mercenary’s spotless reputation would be important for business.” Harm worked hard to keep a straight face, his voice bland. No annoying the pricklyfeeënlady, no matter how tempting it was. “What should I call you? I’m not asking for your name or whatever is dangerous to share here in this realm. Just something to call you.”

“Val.” She crunched through a patch of smaller ferns that were an odd counterpoint to the otherwise enormous ferns stretching over their heads. “Call me Val.”

Well, proper addresses would go the way of proper attire, it seemed. “And you can call me Harm. If you get tired of calling mepup.”

The look she shot him said that she wasn’t going to stop with that moniker anytime soon.

“Did you have strange dreams last night?” An impertinent question, perhaps. But his dreams had been…odd. Too odd to be normal.

“This is the Court of Dreams.” One of her shoulders lifted in a semblance of a shrug. “Be glad we were guests last night. Our dreams tonight might not be as pleasant.”

Good to know. Harm suppressed the urge to grimace. He didn’t want to imagine what a nightmare induced by this place might be like. Better to move on to asking his next question.

“Where are we? Queen Mab has a court, but this Queen Titania also has a court?” No matter how much Harm had researched, he’d come up with very little information on the politics and kingdom-structure ofthe realm of thefeeënvolk. If he were to escape—especially since he wouldn’t be in the court attached to his human kingdom—he would need this knowledge.

Val glared at him, as if she knew this question had more to do with his eventual escape than keeping him alive now. Yet she sucked in a breath, her shoulders rising and falling. “There are many Courts throughout the Fae Realm. Each Court belongs to the broader Spring Court, Summer Court, Fall Court, or Winter Court, where the weather is perpetually that season. Right now, we are in the Court of Dreams, which is a Spring Court. We’ll be walking to the Court of Revels, a Summer Court.”

That sounded like a complicated system. “And we’ll be walking the whole way? There isn’t a public coach or river barge we can catch?”

Val huffed and rolled her eyes. “We don’t have such things here in the Fae Realm. We do have the Anywhere Doors, which is how most fae travel between courts, but those are inaccessible to us.”

“Anywhere Doors?”

She gave another huff, as if she was frustrated she had to explain something this basic. “They are doors that are magically linked to each other. By stepping through a Door, you can step from one place to another no matter how far apart those two places are.”

“Huh.” Harm tried—and failed—to wrap his mind around such a thing. He probably shouldn’t find it so mindboggling. He was currently walking through a forest of ferns that stretched taller than the tallest treesin Tulpenland. “And we can’t use them because…I’m human?”

“No. Humans are allowed to use them if they are a part of a court, just like any fae attached to that court.” Val shoved aside a six-foot-tall stalk of grass with violent force. “But I’m not a part of any court.”

“Queen Mab mentioned that last night.” Harm swept a glance around the sunlit fern forest, the sky bright overhead, the moss beneath their feet dappled with shadows and light. “What does that mean?”

“All the fae here in the Fae Realm are pledged to one of the Courts. Well, nearly all of them. There are a few independent islands.” Val shrugged, her jaw working. “But I’m not pledged to any court. When I’m not on a mission, my home is in the realm beyond this one. The Realm of Monsters.”

Something called the Realm of Monsters didn’t sound very habitable. No wonder she walked with violence wrapped around her like a cloak.

“The Realm of Monsters doesn’t seem like a pleasant place to live.” Harm spoke carefully, not sure if prying into this part of her life was a question too far.

“It isn’t.” She kept marching forward, not looking at him, her tone quelling. But at least she answered his question. That was more than she had been willing to do the evening before.

Perhaps it had something to do with the look that had bordered on respect that she’d given him after he’d bargained with Queen Mab. Or a good night’s—well, morning’s—sleep had vastly improved her mood.

“Then why live there?” Harm tromped around oneof the trunks of the ferns and adjusted the straps of his pack where they were cutting into his shoulder muscles.

“Most of us don’t have a choice.” That growl was back in her voice, her shoulders stiffening. “We’re banished from the Fae Realm or cast out for various reasons. Some of us chose to live there rather than swear allegiance to a manipulative ruler. To survive, we join the scattered bands of the Wild Hunt. As a part of the Wild Hunt, sometimes we ride in force to raid the Fae Realm or Human Realm. Sometimes we hire ourselves out as mercenaries. But we’re free, and that’s enough.”

He had the sense that was all she would say on the matter. It had already been more than he expected, though he hadn’t missed the fact that she’d never clarified her particular reason for living in the Realm of Monsters.

As she was so fond of saying, it wasn’t his business. Time to switch the subject back to something less personal.

“Last night you claimed the Law of Hospitality because you’re on a mission for the Court of Revels. Wouldn’t working for a court and gaining the rights of that court also transfer to the Anywhere Doors?” Harm needed to understand how the complicated laws of this realm worked. It could be the key to his eventual escape.

---