Page 39 of Courting the Fae Captain (Romancing the Realms #4)
‘The Pentad can eat a big, hairy [redacted] and shove it up their [redacted], [redacted], [redacted]. If I die at their hands, I’ll still smile knowing some good soul will one day make it so.’
Journal excerpt, Aeris Lockhart
W e couldn’t have asked for a better night.
Clouds shrouded the moon, giving us the perfect cover under a blanket of darkness as we dashed through the castle.
Raithe kept his shadows out, and I couldn’t have been happier to be able to add my own to the mix.
Wielding. It was becoming easier and easier, now barely requiring a thought to conjure them.
Ever since Raithe had been injured and his power had sought mine, it had been significantly easier to master the darkness.
Not that we needed much of it. This wing of the castle was dead, with most servants who slept here up and about still catering to the nobles visiting at the Pentad’s request. I hated to think what they were up to tonight after seeing them last night.
But I was thankful I wasn’t forced to attend another party full of drunk males high on power and their own egos a second time.
Tonight, it was just the captain and I, two spectres who could become one with the night.
Raithe led me to a hidden passage behind a statue in an alcove off the corridor, and then we began descending into the castle's bowels.I cringed as we headed deeper into the musty, poorly lit tunnel. “This isn’t the same area the first test took place in, is it?”
“Not quite,” Raithe said as he led the way underground.
“That was the crypt. It was built many centuries ago, before our kind began burning our own, lest necromancers disturb the resting dead. The bodies of my ancestors were burned some centuries ago. Now it’s a nest for those things you encountered.
My father keeps them for … special occasions. ”
“That’s horrible,” I whispered. “I suppose I don’t have to ask what happens to the bodies of females after they die down there.”
Raithe’s silence spoke volumes, but after a minute, he said, “Someday soon, when the Pentad is gone from this world, I will collapse those tunnels. None of those things will ever harm another living soul.”
“If tonight goes well, it could be sooner than you think.”
“We’re just scouting, remember?” He halted at the bottom of the stairs.
The flickering torch in his hand sent ripples of shadow over his face, highlighting the scar over his left brow.
“I get it. You want to set them free and to look for your mother, but we need to be cautious, Aeris. They will be well guarded.”
“I know.” I sighed. “I just…”
“I know,” he replied, taking me in his arms. I nestled against his chest, grateful, as his body heat staved off the cold.
Deep below the surface, the air here had a way of seeping into the bones.
Even Raithe’s warmth wasn’t enough to ward off the chill, though that might have had something to do with the ominous silence down here.
He ran a hand down my braid, sliding a thumb over the knot at the end, then tilted my chin and kissed me, long and slow.
I savoured the sensual exploration of his tongue wrapping around mine, the way his lips fit so perfectly to my own.
“We’re almost at the dock,” he said as he pulled away and looked into my eyes. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” I replied, though I made no effort to move from his embrace.
“No,” I admitted, looking up at his raised brow.
He wrapped his arms around me again and pressed a gentle kiss to my head before cradling me under his chin.
I allowed myself a few more quiet moments, then forced myself to peel away from his warmth.
A long, steady breath, then I nodded. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go.”
The tunnel opened to a cave mouth hidden within a cove.
Multiple small boats were moored to four rows of wooden docks, the salty spray of the sea splashing over the planking.
Further down, a large ship bobbed on the water, its dark wooden hull gleaming.
Accents of gold draped all over its impressive size, and a sea serpent figurehead snapped its jaws from where it curled up the beak.
The figurehead reminded me of the Pentad member who wore a sea serpent mask.
But this sea serpent was more detailed and somehow less intimidating.
“It’s beautiful,” I said of the wooden beast lurking beyond. “Yours?”
“My father gave it to me,” Raithe said as he gazed at it.
“He used to take me abroad on his journeys. They were some of the rare moments I had to bond with him in my youth. He was always away, always fighting a different war for territory and power. The fighting didn’t stop when he came home either.
Fighting is who my father is. My mother and I … we learnt that the hard way.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. My stomach curdled as the admission hit close to home.
“My father used to beat my mother,” I said softly.
The confession seemed eerily loud in the vast chamber.
“When she disappeared, he turned to me. When I tried to escape him—escape the Rite—he shot me in the leg. Fired on his own daughter with a crossbow.”
Raithe’s face darkened, his eyes flashing like an unforgiving storm. “He will never touch you again. Not him, not the Pentad. No one. They will have me to answer to. I swear it, Aeris.”
I smiled. “I believe you. But if you think you’re going to have all the fun, you’re sadly mistaken, Captain.”
He grinned. “That’s my girl. Now get the line on one of those rowboats, wench. We’ve got some scouting to do.”
I laughed and saluted him before I moved to untie the rope from the mooring point.
“Aye, aye, Captain, but you’re doing the heavy lifting when we’re at sea.
” I stepped into the boat and raised my hood as he jumped in and pushed off with a burst of power from his shadows.
“Show off,” I grumbled as we began speeding along without him even lifting a finger.
“Why work harder when you can work smarter?” he said cockily. “It gives me time to spend on other more important, more fascinating things.”
“Oh?” I raised a brow as his eyes travelled my body from head to toe. “Like?” I drew the word out playfully.
“Like little larks dressed to kill. Did I mention you look good in leathers?”
“You might have said so once before.” My lips curved as he stepped over the bench toward me, but I held a black boot to his chest, preventing him from moving further. “Uh-uh.” I pushed him away, then leaned back and opened my legs. His eyes turned molten. “You want to touch me?”
“Yes,” he breathed.
“You want to taste what’s between these legs?”
“Gods, yes,” he said huskily.
I closed them and grinned. “The captain gets to plunder the goods after he’s destroyed his enemies. Not a moment before.”
A low growl rumbled from his chest, then he sucked in a sharp breath. “Fuck, Aeris. The things you do to me.”
“Oh, I will do plenty of things,” I promised. “After. Now increase the speed, wench, I want my dessert before it gets too late.”
His answering laugh rivalled even the stars in its brightness and joy. I stared at him, a little bewildered by the rarity of such unrestrained amusement, and I thought the smile on his face was the most beautiful sight I’d ever looked upon.
“Yes, Captain,” he said once his laugh quietened. But as I continued staring, he cocked his head, that grin still firmly on his lips. “What?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged, my cheeks heating a little. “Just … just you.”
“What about me?” he asked as he sat and planted his palms on the sides of the boat.
“It’s just nice to see you so … free.”
He looked at me for a long moment, the muscles in his arms rippling as he clasped the edge of the boat tightly. “It’s easy to forget it all when I’m with you,” he admitted. “Easy to imagine.”
I rubbed my arms, fending off the chill of the salty spray combined with the cool night air. “Imagine what?”
His eyes were bright as he answered, “A better world.”
My heart beat a little faster in my chest. “I know the feeling. But I don’t have to imagine, Raithe. Not when I’m with you.”
His stare intensified, and he leaned over, his face turning serious, almost imploring. “Aeris, there’s something I need to tell you.”
A tall, dark shadow appeared ahead of us, getting closer and closer with alarming speed.
“The shipyard,” I exclaimed, realising it was one of the masts jutting above the water.
Beyond them, broken hulls and scraps of rotting wood littered the beach in the distance between us and the island. “We’re here.”
He withdrew quickly and rose, putting a boot on the bench as he inspected the water. The boat slowed as we approached, his shadows decreasing to a gentle trickle. “So we are. I trust you’re a good swimmer, given our destination?”
I grinned. “I grew up by the beach and did anything I could to avoid my father as a child. I’m a decent swimmer.”
“Good. I brought us some dry clothes and these.” He reached into his pack and handed me some plain black pants and a long-sleeve black top in a stretchy, silky material.
He also supplied a small chain with an orb pendant that glowed in the moonless night, followed by a mask.
“They’re lightweight and quieter than those pants, sexy as they are on you.
The mask has a breather built in and will allow night-vision so you can see underwater.
The pendant will provide extra light. These were all created by magic, so don’t be afraid they’ll fail. ”