Page 45 of Ties of Bargains

Val shoved off him, rising to her feet and out of Daisy’s reach. She swiped one arm across her dog-slobbered cheek before she sheathed her dagger. Her gaze landed on the knife beside him. “You dropped my knife. Again.”

“Sorry—trying—Daisy—” Harm sputtered as he tried to push all three heads away from his face.

“That’s no excuse.” For a moment, Val remained stern as she glared down at him. Then the smile broke through as she held out a hand to him.

He took it and leveraged himself to his feet and away from Daisy’s wet tongues.

Still riled up, Daisy burst into zooming circles, running crazily around the hollow where they’d camped.

For a moment, he and Val stood there, his hand still gripping hers.

Then she tugged her hand free and turned away. “We should get some sleep. We have another long day of walking tomorrow.”

Harm swallowed. He needed to get a hold of himself. This spark between him and Val needed to be squashed.

He cleared his throat. “Right. Good. Yes.”

He was supposed to be hurrying back to his family as quickly as possible. So why did a part of him want to keep lingering here with her?

Chapter Fifteen

Val stood next to Harm at the very edge of the boundary line between the Goblin Court and the Court of Stone, a stark line where colorful leaves turned into bare trees and a blanket of snow. A stream wound beside them, gurgling merrily on the Goblin Court side while it was frozen solid in the Court of Stone.

Harm was gawking first at the Winter Court ahead of them, then at the Fall Court behind them. “This is just so strange. No matter how many times we do it, I’ll still never get used to stepping over a border.”

Far less strange than the edgy, wrong feeling still plaguing Val. Perhaps it had been Harm’s courage facing the grain sprites. Maybe it was falling into his arms during their training session the evening before. But it was as if Val didn’t fit in her own skin anymore, and she wasn’t sure what to do about it.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her thick, fur-lined coat. “Bundle up.”

If her words came out a little short, well, it was Harm’s own fault for being just so annoyingly nice and good that it did things to her insides.

Harm dug into his own magical pocket, pulling out a winter coat, gloves, scarf, and hat. He pulled the things on quickly, not fazed by her grumpiness.

Val busied herself pulling on her gloves, then adjusting her hat. “Ready?”

With a grin, Harm plunged into the Court of Stone ahead of her, his boots sinking into snow that was nearly knee-deep on him.

Daisy plowed into the snow, bounding through it before she plunged her face into a snowbank.

“She doesn’t seem bothered by the cold.” Harm waved to the frolicking dog.

“No.” Val trundled into the Court of Stone. A wall of cold slapped her face, stealing her breath for a moment. Daisy might not be bothered by the cold, but Val couldn’t wait until they could leave this court.

No, notthey. She would be turning Harm over to his new dragon master and leaving this court alone. Except for Daisy, of course.

Why did that ache so much? As if she didn’t want to do it? This was her job. Her mission. Between the cord and the bargain, neither of them had much of a choice.

She trudged through the snow, headed for the mountains. This was going to be one cold, long walk. Worse, she didn’t even know which mountain in the Court of Stone belonged to Golbet. She’d have to find the nearest dragon and ask for directions.

Walking briskly at her side, Harm was digging intohis magical pocket again. When he pulled his hands out, a grin spread across his face. “Yes! Looks like that mouse woman must have really liked the Tulpenland cheese. She included ice skates in my pocket.”

“Ice skates?” Val took in the two sets of what looked like silver blades attached to leather soles, just with straps instead of the boot part.

“Yes. We have these in Tulpenland. I grew up skating on the canals.” Harm’s grin was that wide, enthusiastic one that used to itch at her and now…

Now it was far too endearing.

“This will be so much faster and more fun than walking.” Harm hurried a few feet away to the edge of the frozen stream and sat on a rock. Setting the skates aside, he held one ice skate to the bottom of his boot and buckled it in place.

---