Page 16 of Ties of Bargains

At least until she opened her mouth, her hand on her knife. “Until he’s yours, no touching the merchandise.”

This was no rescue but a mere reprieve. As soon as Queen Titania said the proper words and the cord around their wrists released, Val would happily turn him over to this queen and walk away without so much as a backward glance.

Harm gripped his coat in front of him, barely stopping himself from reaching for the iron knife. Not yet. As soon as Val was gone, he’d have to draw the knife and attempt his escape. He didn’t have a plan. He had no idea how to get back to the Human Realm. But he couldn’t risk staying here a moment once he was free of the cord and the bargain. If he waited, Queen Titania would have him drugged on faerie wine and doing whatever she wished, and then he’d never escape.

“Can’t I at least have a little fun?” Queen Titania’s wheedling whine grated along Harm’s spine.

Daisy eased between them, all three of her heads out and her hackles raised. She even appeared bigger than she’d been a few moments ago.

Val’s scowl deepened. “No. Claim him first. Unless he isn’t yours?”

Queen Titania’s blue eyes shifted away from Val, herwhole stance changing in a way that fluttered the first bit of hope in Harm’s chest.

With an elaborate sigh, Queen Titania draped herself on her moss-covered rock once again. “Most tragically, he is not. There was this gem I just had to have, so I traded him sight unseen to Golbet of Flight Talonstorm.”

Her fingers dropped—involuntarily drawing Harm’s gaze—to an obnoxiously large white diamond nestled in her bosom. He hadn’t noticed it before, given that he had been decidedly not looking in that direction. He quickly snapped his gaze back up to the crown in her golden hair.

He didn’t belong to Queen Titania. The relief of that pounded through his skull.

Sure, this Golbet of Flight Talonstorm might be even worse—hard as that was to imagine—but that reckoning would wait for another day. Today, it was the reprieve he needed.

Val backed up a step, one hand gripping all the slack in the cord between them so that Harm was on a mere foot of tether. “If he isn’t yours, then—”

“Titania!” The enraged baritone voice boomed off the cliffs with such force that Harm ducked behind Val again before he’d even realized what he’d done.

Queen Titania bolted partially upright, her eyes going as wide as they could in her strangely stiff face, before she seemed to gather herself to return to her languid sprawl. “Oberon, darling.”

Harm turned to get a look over his shoulder while not fully putting his back to Queen Titania.

Afeeënman stalked down the promenade between the trees, his face twisted in such a state of fury that his eyes were nearly invisible. His brown curls were so waxy that they didn’t even move with the force of his march, and even his golden crown seemed to be glued to his head with whatever he used on his hair. Beneath the thin, decorative chest plate he wore, his pectorals puffed out almost grotesquely above his jiggling paunch. Besides the chest plate, the only other bit of clothing he wore was a leather belt with a little bit of chain mail hanging down in the front and back. A short sword hung from his belt, and it banged against his bare leg with each step he took.

“Who is that?” Harm leaned closer as he whispered to Val. At their feet, Daisy had turned to face thefeeënman, her growl growing louder.

Val’s hand was now gripping her knife’s hilt, though she didn’t draw it. She, too, spoke at a whisper. “King Oberon. Queen Titania’s husband.”

“She has ahusband?” Harm glanced back at the approaching wrathfulfeeënking. This was not good. “Their marriage isn’t…happy, is it?”

“Not at all.” Val’s mouth barely moved as she tugged on the cord, easing the two of them toward the edge of the outdoor hall. “It’s the unhappiest relationship in the entire Fae Realm.”

Really not good. Was this the moment Harm should pull out that iron knife to defend himself?

“Titania! What is the meaning of this?” King Oberon halted and jabbed his hand at Val and Harm.

A green-skinnedfee—boy? Man? Harm couldn’t tell—halted just behind King Oberon, dressed in a similar chain mail loincloth, though he didn’t have the chest plate.

“We need to get out of here.” Val hurried them faster toward the trees. Daisy planted herself between them and thefeeënroyal couple, her snarl flashing lots of white teeth.

“Right behind you.” Harm plunged into the trees at Val’s heels, not needing the tugging on the cord around his wrist to hurry him along. The rising shouts of the fightingfeeëncouple chased him as he and Val disappeared into the surrounding forest.

Chapter Six

Val stirred the pot of stew bubbling over the fire, trying to ignore the pinching feeling in her chest. At her feet, Daisy gobbled down the shredded dried meat and veggies Val had prepared for her.

Across the way, Harm sat on a raised root that was as tall as a fallen log, his elbows braced on his knees as he stared listlessly into the fire. The picture of a puppy who had endured his first kick and wasn’t sure how to handle it.

She shouldn’t feel this squiggling sourness in her chest. She’d escorted many a package over the years as a mercenary, and she’d always managed to squash the niggling thoughts before.

But there was just something about this particular puppy that brought out…regrets. He should have treated her as his enemy. Lashed out at her at least once or twice.

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