Page 70 of Ties of Bargains

“You don’t know what monsters Diego has been killing lately.” Val poked at his arm as she inspected the sword slice. “Even clean, his sword wouldn’t have been sanitized.”

Right. Harm shuddered, thinking of the rotting desert and slavering monsters. He popped the cork out of the vial and downed the potion.

Val retrieved the now boiling pot, set it on the floor next to the bed, and took her seat beside him again. “I really need to get my hands on more healing potions. Now hold still.”

Harm gripped the edge of the mattress and resisted the urge to lean away from her. “Can we go back to kissing? I liked that a lot more.”

“No.” Val dipped a rag into the water by their feet, wrung it out, and set to work scrubbing his wound. “Do you want to get an infection? Lose the arm? Die a horrible death thanks to some disease you picked up from contaminated monster blood? We’ve already delayed far too long on properly tending this.”

“Uh, no.” Harm sighed and submitted to her ministrations.

Earlier that morning…

Harm perched on the boulder beside the fire and faced Val, trying to pretend his stomach wasn’t churning, his chest tight. This had been his idea, after all. He shouldn’t be the one getting cold feet, if that was what this was.

Tulpenland marriages were particularly binding. As, it seemed, were fae marriages. This wasn’t something to be done on a whim, even if it was the best plan. They’d have to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives.

But this was Val. He couldn’t imagine returning to the Human Realm without her at his side. She forced him to change and grow in a way no one else ever had.

He cleared his throat and pasted on a smile. “How does this whole fae marriage thing work?”

Val paced back and forth across what was left of their camp, as if triple-checking that they hadn’t left anything behind. With a sigh, she whirled and marched toward him, her face far too expressionless for someone about to get married. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Was he sure? He took a moment to turn the thought over in his mind, thinking through the results, the alternatives, the future he could have with her versus the one without her.

That decided it. “Yes, I am. Are you?”

Val’s expression cracked, letting through just a hintof something warmer, as she sat next to him and took his hand.

As soon as her fingers touched his, both of their hands glowed with a golden light.

Harm stared at the sight. He’d nearly jumped out of his skin when their hands had brushed for the first time after they’d gotten the cord off the night before. “Still not used to that.”

Val held their hands up. “We have the start of a binding. Completing the marriage binding would be the wisest course. It’s never a good idea to leave unfinished bindings hanging.”

Harm lifted his other hand and brushed her cheek. “I didn’t ask if it was wise.” They both knew it probably wasn’t, but wisdom had jumped out of the canal barge the moment he’d turned himself over to her in that tulip field. “I asked if you’re sure. If you want this. We can come up with another plan.”

“And miss my chance to secure every mercenary’s dream and become immune to iron? Not a chance.” Now a smirk fully banished the blank expression, her hand not holding his dropping to her dagger.

“Ah, yes. Marrying me for my immunity. I see how it is.” Harm brushed his thumb over her cheek as he cradled her face. “So much more scope for stabbing in the future.”

“Exactly, assuming Tulpenland doesn’t turn out to be as dead boring as you make it out to be.” Val fished in her magic pocket a moment before she produced a long leather string. “Ready to tie the knot?”

If it meant getting to adventure the rest of his life at this warrior woman’s side, then absolutely.

Harm grinned and dropped his hand from her face to take one end of the string from her. “Ready to spend the rest of your life keeping me from getting assassinated?”

“What am I getting myself into?” Val rolled her eyes, but her smile remained soft.

She positioned the middle of the string between their clasped palms, then wrapped their clasped hands with her end of the string while he did the same with his. They each repeated the fae vow of pledging themselves to each other, then they tied the ends of the string in a knot above their clasped hands.

As soon as the knot tightened, the string gave a brilliant flash so bright that Harm closed his eyes. When he blinked them open, the string had vanished. Instead, a golden line glinted around each of their wrists.

He scrubbed at the golden line with his free hand. It didn’t so much as smudge, nor did his skin feel any different. “Does this fade? Go away?”

“I’m afraid not.” Val frowned at her hand. “I’d forgotten about that part. Mercenaries so rarely marry.”

“I doubt Diego has forgotten. He’s going to know exactly what this means.” Harm tugged at the end of his sleeve. Perhaps he could hide the line under his shirt cuff—as long as he remembered not to let his wrist show—but Val’s sleeves ended on her upper arms.

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