Page 75 of Ties of Bargains

Harm swayed, then sat on the edge of the desk, bracing himself against it.

Val gritted her teeth, resting her hand on her dagger again. After everything Harm had gone through to protect his little brother, Gijs had been held captive as surely as Harm had been. Worse, his captivity had been for five whole years instead of the mere weeks Harm had been in the Fae Realm.

She pushed out of the shadows. “We’ll rescue him, Harm.”

Duke Johannes leapt out of the chair again with such force that the chair tipped over and fell to the floor with a sharp crack. He fumbled to draw the thin rapiersheathed at his waist even as he whirled. The sword’s sheath whacked into the desk, jerking the sword’s hilt out of his hand before he even got it partway out.

Well, that explained a lot about Harm’s lack of sword skills. She could see where he got it from.

Harm snagged his father’s wrist before he could reach for his sword again. “Father, I’d like to introduce you to my wife, Valeria of the Fae Realm.”

“Your…but isn’t she…” Harm’s father swayed, as if to collapse into his chair again. He must have realized at the last moment that his chair lay on its back on the floor because he stumbled back a step to lean against the desk beside Harm.

“Yes, she’s thefeewho took me away. But everything’s fine now. We fell in love and decided to get married.” Harm straightened, that more confident edge he’d gained in the Fae Realm returning. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell it to you later. Right now, we need to leave to rescue Gijs.”

“We?” Duke Johannes sounded even more overwhelmed.

As if taking that as their cue, Abelardo, Chela, Ignatius, and Jesenia peered around the doorframe. Daisy and Acurru squiggled between their legs while Grutte loomed over their heads.

Duke Johannes gave a wheeze as he collapsed even more fully against the desk.

“My wife brought a few friends along. These are her Wild Hunt. They’re harmless, except to her enemies, and thus my enemies.” Harm met Val’s gaze and something of his grin returned to his face, though moresharp-edged and dangerous than anything she’d yet seen. “Are you up for another adventure?”

“Always. Especially one with a high probability of stabbing.” Val grinned back and drummed her fingers on the hilt of her dagger. “And you promised me a quiet, boring life here in Tulpenland.”

“Are you disappointed?”

“Not in the least.” Val’s grin hurt her face, her muscles unused to holding such an expression. But it felt strangely right, as if here in the Human Realm she was finally free to once again experience a full range of emotions.

Ignatius shouldered his way past the others. “Just point us in the direction of King Hendrik’s castle, and we’ll have your brother rescued before that dastardly king knows what hit him.”

“Don’t you meanwhohit him?” Chela pointed over her shoulder at Grutte.

“I am Grutte.” Grutte grinned and gave a small, friendly wave to Harm’s father.

The wave did nothing to ease the white, about-to-pass-out look. Duke Johannes braced himself on the desk as if about to collapse.

“I’ll commandeer one of the ships in the harbor. I’m assuming King Hendrik hasn’t forced you to disband our navy yet?” Harm rested a hand on his father’s shoulder.

“No…” Duke Johannes spoke as if in a trance. “But most of them have been recalled to port.”

“Even better. I’ll have my pick of ships.” Harm patted his leather jerkin over his magical pocket. “As soon as Ileave, you can kick out King Hendrik’s men and take back Tulpenland. With a fast ship, we’ll have Gijs rescued and be on our way home before word can reach King Hendrik.”

Duke Johannes blinked yet again and shook himself, as if finally sloughing off the paralysis of the shocks he’d faced that night. His shoulders straightened as the weariness disappeared behind a hardness that was mirrored on Harm’s face. “Yes, I can do it tonight. I’ve been preparing for this for years, gathering those still loyal to me. We’ll have Tulpenland free by morning.”

“Good. Then we’ll be on our way. Hopefully the tide is in our favor so we can sneak a ship out under the cover of darkness.” Harm started to cross the room.

Duke Johannes caught his arm. “You should know, I just received word that Gijs will soon marry King Hendrik’s daughter. The wedding is less than two weeks away. I suspect that he plans to kill me as soon as my heir is safely married to his, effectively joining our lands under his control.”

“With plans to kill off Gijs as soon as an heir is born, no doubt.” Harm ground the words between his teeth. “Don’t worry. We’ll get there long before this planned wedding.”

Val retrieved Daisy’s leash from Jesenia, strolled across the room, and held it out to Harm’s father. “Could you look after Daisy while we’re gone? She’s better for fighting monsters than sneaking, and she takes to ships even worse than she does to dragon flights.”

Harm grimaced and motioned from his father toDaisy. “Yes, Daisy can definitely stay here. Don’t be alarmed, Father, if she occasionally has three heads. Just set her loose in the cellars, and she’ll have the rodent problem cleared out in no time.”

“Three heads…” Duke Johannes had that faint look to him again as he took the leash.

Val focused on Daisy and pointed at Harm’s father. “Daisy, guard.”

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