Page 15 of Ties of Bargains

With a leggy bound, Daisy burst into the tent. She trampled over first Harm’s, then Val’s legs, nearly getting herself tangled in the dividing curtain.

“No.” Val kept her voice stern, even as she shoved Daisy back. “Stay at the end of the bed.”

Finally, Daisy settled down and curled up at the end of Val’s bedroll. Val wouldn’t be able to stretch out all the way, but she was willing to give up space for Daisy. After all, the dog was their best defense if a monster came sniffing around during the night.

Harm triedto keep his mouth shut as he all but gawked at the forest surrounding them. His coat hung over his arm, leaving him in just his shirtsleeves.

Partway through the day before, they had crossed a stone bridge over a gurgling creek—after Val had bargained with the troll who guarded the bridge. The fern forest had given way to towering deciduous trees, though the mossy ground remained the same. Across the distinct line, the forest was noticeably warmer, as if they’d stepped from a balmy spring day to a glorious summer one.

He’d kept his coat on for a while, but when sweat had slicked down his back and beaded at his hairline, he’d finally given in and taken it off.

There was no one here to care if he dispensed with the proper layers of clothing. He would still have more clothing on than many of thefeeënhe had seen two nights ago.

The only way he was going to survive was if he adapted rather than clung to things that would hinder him. No, he wouldn’t discard his virtues. But ditching his coat to go around in his shirtsleeves was hardly the start of a slippery slope into immorality.

Now dusk settled around them, but even then the air remained so warm that he wasn’t even tempted to put his coat back on. Lights danced in the distance among the trees while the ever-present floral scent on the air grew even heavier.

A music so lilting and chaotic that it was almost savage sawed on the breeze, ringing louder with each step they took.

A pair offeeën—a male and a female dressed in so little that Harm quickly averted his eyes—stumbled through the forest, holding goblets that sloshed something red. The twofeeënclung to each other, so wrapped up in their drunken tryst that they didn’t even glance at Val and Harm.

The breeze drifted past the two, carrying with it a scent so strong and sweet that Harm stumbled, his mouth instantly watering, his eyes going blurry for a moment.

Val gave a tug on the rope, as if to hurry him away. “Wine made from faerie fruit. It’s the only thing that makes fae intoxicated. For humans, it makes you lose control of yourself and become fully susceptible to commands.”

Harm swallowed, not sure how to brace himself against the shudder coursing through him. Just a whiff of the faerie fruit wine had been enough to mess with his senses. What would happen if he ate or drank some of it? “I appreciate the warning.”

“That wasn’t a warning.” Val faced the lights in the forest ahead of them, the gleam reflecting in her dark eyes. “I was stating your reality. A warning won’t do you any good. If Queen Titania wishes to make a plaything of you, you’ll be forced to consume faerie fruit whether or not you wish to do so.”

That knot in the pit of his stomach tightened. This Queen Titania sounded far worse than Mab.

Harm forced himself to take a deep breath and straighten his shoulders. He didn’t regret the fact thathe was here. After all, this was the price of his brother’s life.

A price somefeehad set for an unknown reason. Once Harm was turned over to Queen Titania, he could finally escape and warn his father and brother about the danger they were still in.

Val strode forward with the same iron-edged determination she’d shown before when trying to hand him over to Queen Mab. Apparently she was just as eager to hand him over and complete her mission as he was to finally escape this place.

They stepped into a broad space formed of trees arching overhead like the beams of a castle’s hall. At the far end, a jagged cliff rose toward the starry sky, its ledges dripping with vines and moss.

As Val and Harm strode down the promenade, Daisy trotting at Val’s side, they passed figures sprawled among the foliage, emitting giggles and whispers and other sounds Harm didn’t want to dwell on. Thefeeënhe could see wore everything from draping folds of silk to dresses formed of flowers to some outfits that could barely be termed clothing as they were nothing but a strategically placed leaf or two.

He’d thought Queen Mab’s court was underdressed, but this court made them appear downright modest. The back of his neck burned with the utter embarrassment of standing in such a debauched place. He’d never so much as wandered the dock district of Tulpenwerf after dark.

At the far end near the cliff, afeeënwoman with a glittering, gem-studded crown resting in her goldenhair lounged on what appeared to be some kind of moss-covered rock doubling as a bed or a couch. Her pink lips pursed almost too full while her cheekbones were too sharply defined.

Her clothes—a generous word for what she was wearing—were a bizarre seductive armor. Her well-endowed bosom was barely contained in a scanty covering of what seemed to be chain mail while another little bit of chain mail draped over her white loincloth. Two golden pauldrons rested artfully on her shoulders, but other than that her arms were bare. Perhaps she wanted to appear the warrior queen, but she paled compared to the true warrior woman marching at Harm’s side.

Now Harm’s whole face flushed with embarrassment, and he kept his eyes firmly locked well above the queen’s head. He was going to die of mortification before he managed to escape this tawdry court.

Val halted, a hand on her knife as she faced thefeeënqueen. “Queen Titania, I have brought the human that Queen Mab gave you to pay her debt.”

Queen Titania slunk to her feet, her overly plump lips twisting into something that might have been a salacious smirk, if her cheeks could have moved that much. She stalked toward Harm, and he barely managed to stand his ground when everything in his mind was blaring with the instinct to run.

“Queen Mab knows exactly what I like.” Queen Titania purred the words in a husky voice as she slinked closer. “I don’t know how she let a handsome delicacy like this go.”

Harm stumbled back as a chill swept through him. He understood all too much. About what it meant to be Queen Titania’s plaything. About what his father’s bargain would cost. About his chances of escape.

Then Val was there, tugging him behind her. A wall of prickly, reluctant safety between him and thefeeënqueen.

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