Page 54 of Ties of Bargains

Instead of following the path, Val turned and headed out into the trackless sands of the desert, leaving Harm with no choice but to trot along at her side.

Val clenched her teeth,her veins burning as she pounded her feet against the sand. She set a relentless pace, needing to put as much distance between them and that smirking warlord as possible.

This was all so wrong. So much worse than what Harm realized.

He was looking at her now with those big blue eyes of his. So very trusting. So very good. And she was going to have to face him and tell him the truth. A truth she hadn’t known until that warlord had spoken the name of the Wild Hunt band.

The village and fort disappeared behind them as Val tromped farther into the desert. The gravel crunched satisfyingly beneath her boots while lizards scattered to hide in the rocks at her approach. The scrubby brush and cacti spread out in all directions, something almost like twisting paths winding between them. The occasional wash or canyon cut through the landscape.

It didn’t matter what direction she walked. They just needed to be away. Far away.

Harm sucked in a breath, opened his mouth, shut his mouth, and released the breath. After a moment, he straightened his shoulders and opened his mouth again. “Is this Wild Hunt Grimbrand at war with your band or something?”

“No.” Val flexed her fingers on the hilt of her dagger.

“Then…what’s wrong?” Harm strode a hurried step forward, pivoted, and halted in front of her, forcing her to stop. “We agreed we’d face whatever came together.”

Val couldn’t make herself meet his eyes. She hunched under the force of the tumult inside her.

He gripped her shoulders with gentle fingers. “Val? What is it? Is it that bad?”

“Worse.” Val forced her gaze up. She had to be stronger than this. “Wild Hunt Grimbrand isn’t at war with my band. Itismy band. Diego is the Wild Hunt leader you’ve been bargained to.”

“Then…did he see me at that faerie market and decide he wanted to bargain for me? Why?” Harm’s blue gaze still held far too much trust and confusion.

“No. Diego never does anything on a whim.” Val found herself leaning into his grip on her shoulders. He was so steady in this moment when she was falling apart. “If he bargained for you, it means he always intended to bargain for you. Seeing us in the faerie market? He wasn’t just picking up a weapons order. He was checking on us, finding out where he had to go to head us off.”

“But how would he have known…oh…” Harm’s eyes widened and went distant, thoughts flashing.

“Exactly. Diego is the mysterious fae who bargained with Queen Mab. He must be.” Val clenched her teeth around those words, the fury burning in her chest again. “He told Mab to send someone to bargain with your father. He named you as the price for that bargain. He even sent me there so that I would be conveniently available when Mab needed someone to retrieve you.”

“Then he poisoned my brother. Or bargained with the human who did.” Harm’s jaw worked, his blue eyesflashing sharper than she’d ever seen. “But why? Why does he want me?”

“I don’t know.” A partial lie. Val’s stomach churned. She didn’t know why Diego would target Harm so specifically. But in general? She had a pretty good idea.

“Why not just bargain with my father himself? Or stay in the Court of Dreams and snag me from Queen Mab?” Harm shook his head, as if more bewildered than afraid.

“Diego doesn’t speak your duchy’s language. He needed Mab to do the initial bargaining.” Val shuddered, and Harm rubbed her upper arms, as if he thought she needed warming. With the scorching sun beaming down on them, she was plenty warm. “Perhaps he planned to bargain with Queen Mab for you but was called away or delayed. I don’t know. But the result has worked in his favor. He used me. He’s been using me this entire time to gain your trust to set you up for an eventual betrayal.”

And that was the worst of it. All these years, she’d congratulated herself on being a part of the Wild Hunt where she was free and treated as a worthwhile member instead of a pawn to be used and discarded on a whim the way the fae monarchs treated their people.

But in the end, Diego had done just that to her, manipulating her in order to manipulate Harm.

“What do you mean?” Harm still didn’t seem to fully understand.

Of course he didn’t. When she’d told him about bindings, she’d skimmed over this part. She hadn’t thought he’d ever need to know.

Val swallowed and rested her hands on his chest over his heart. “There’s only one reason a courtless fae living in the Realm of Monsters would want a human. For forbidden blood rites.”

“Are blood rites as bloody as they sound?” Harm’s grip tightened on her shoulders, his heart beating harder beneath her hands.

“More bloody than you can possibly imagine.” Val fisted her hands in his leather jerkin. “There’s power in the blood of a human, especially when it’s shed in painful and bloody ways. The darkness that can be unleashed is even more potent when the human has recently experienced a deep betrayal or great terror.”

Harm remained silent, his expression going blank, as if he couldn’t quite comprehend what she was telling him.

She shook him slightly by her grip on his shirt, the heart she hadn’t even realized she had dying inside her. “He’s going to kill you, Harm. You’re going to die, and there’s nothing I can do but deliver you for slaughter.”

“Val…” Harm rested a hand over hers on his chest. “I’m bound by the bargain. I have to go, whether you deliver me or not. And if I have to go, I’d rather have you by my side.”

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