Page 41 of Courting the Fae Captain (Romancing the Realms #4)

The first one sighed. “Nobody asked, Barnes, and nobody ever will. They don’t care about the females, and they don’t give a shit about the males guarding them either.

We’re stuck down here for the foreseeable future unless Windaire carks it.

They know where my family lives, Barnes.

I can’t talk or leave my post. It’s my prison too.

Best to just get on with it and look the other way. ”

“Fuck, I hate it here.”

Silence for a moment. “Yeah, me too, mate. Me, too. Better get back to our rounds before the overseer notices we’re missing, eh?

Shift’s almost over, at least. I still gotta finish up the cellblocks.

I always need a break after walking through one before moving on to the other.

Miserable fucking place. What about you? ”

“Transit and the guards’ ward,” the other said. “Bloody mole work, checking everyone’s junk for contraband. What do they think’ll happen if a female somehow gets her hands on a book? She’ll be mildly entertained? Gods forbid, eh?”

“Yeah … it’s suffocating alright. Just don’t wake Morren when you check his room, or he’ll be pissed.

The man’s been doing doubles since Allen fell off that fucking cliff.

” The guards continued chatting as they peeled back the way they’d come, going their separate ways at a junction.

I kept my eyes glued on the one set to patrol the cellblocks before he disappeared down the left walkway. Bingo .

A small part of me felt sorry for the guards. The Pentad weren’t picky about who they manipulated or forced into doing their dirty work, apparently. But then … if no one dared to take a stand, nothing would ever change. And I was done being someone else’s puppet.

“Let’s go,” I urged Raithe on, sneaking after the guard. He said nothing, but I felt his warmth at my back, never far from me. “Sounds like most of the guards are asleep. We should have a relatively clear path to the cellblocks.”

“Keep your guard up,” he whispered. “If anything happens, you take the first opportunity and you run, okay? They can’t do anything to me. But if they catch you…”

“I’m dead. I know.”

He grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I won’t allow that to happen.”

I squeezed his hand back, then we continued along the quiet tunnel for several minutes, careful to hang back far enough that the guard wouldn’t notice our presence, but close enough so we wouldn’t lose him.

My nerves fluttered in my stomach, anticipation and fear both vying for attention.

I was close to suggesting we turn back when the tunnel opened into a looming cavern with a small opening at the top.

A waterfall trickled in through the crack, dropping to a half-moon pool at the end of the cave.

And before it were rows upon rows of cells, all filled to the brim with hundreds of females in varying states of distress.

My blood ran cold at the sheer number of them, and this was just one cellblock. The guard had mentioned two.

We crept forward and ducked behind a rock to keep hidden as we took a better look.

The closer we got, the more my heart plummeted into my stomach.

The conditions of the cells were horrible.

Dirty, dishevelled cots and nothing but cold, hard stone beneath the females’ feet.

And their clothes … scant more than ripped nightgowns and moth-riddled shawls to keep warm.

There were braziers lit throughout the compound, but they would mean precious little in this colder weather.

With winter here, they might very well freeze to death, unless there were other, more protected blocks that they switched between or a magical barrier of some kind.

Some of the females I could see sported bruises and cuts visible even from afar as they held onto bars or paced their small living spaces.

Other, more elderly females were curled up in their beds, not moving an inch.

Tears pricked my eyes as I beheld them all.

“We have to get them out, Raithe,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “We have to.”

His white-knuckled fingers curled over the rock so hard I thought he might break it.

“We will. And it kills me, but we can’t act tonight, Aeris.

We need to know what we’re up against. As far as I can see, this is the only entrance and exit, and that’s a lot of females to sneak through a small tunnel.

There’s no way we’d get them all out. Most of them are too weak to swim and would likely drown trying to escape.

I don’t have enough equipment for everyone. ”

I swore under my breath. “We can’t leave them like this. We?—”

A scream drowned out my words, and we both jerked our heads toward the sound as a female was dragged by her honey blonde hair out towards the crescent moon pool.

The guard thrust her onto the ground, then backhanded her cheek.

I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but his lips were moving as he leaned in close.

Then he ripped her nightgown open to reveal a back lined with red, raw lines.

He raised a whip, ready to slash it against her skin.

Another guard appeared from the side, dragging a female who thrashed against her captor.

She was speaking, too, though it appeared her words were falling on deaf ears.

She pulled and kicked, trying to reach the first female about to be whipped.

Raithe stiffened, his muscles forming a wall of impenetrable steel. I swore I felt the wrath emanating from him in waves, even though his shadows were locked away behind the invisible veil blocking our power.

“Raithe?” I leaned towards him and placed a hand on his arm. His eyes were glued on the females, on the one off to the side. I followed his line of sight, studying her dark brown hair and blue eyes, ones I knew so well in the male beside me. “She’s your mother, isn’t she?”

He nodded, almost imperceptibly, his gaze unwavering.

I looked back at the females, right as the whip crashed down on the first one’s back.

Another scream rang out as a new line of blood snaked across her pale skin.

As she raised her head of golden hair, as she held out a hand to the other female frantically straining at the hands holding her back, I knew.

I knew before she turned her head to reveal the face of the female who sang to me, told me stories, looked at me with a love and devotion I’d never truly let go of.

The strength in my bones gave out as my body melted against my will.

Raithe caught me, his face the picture of concern as he held me close and tucked me to his side. He didn’t ask, he just waited patiently as I collected my thoughts and pawed at my eyes before the tears could fall.

“You’ve seen your mother,” I said quietly. “And now I’ve seen mine.”

His face paled, his grip on me tightening. “Aeris…”

I shook my head. “We need to leave. I need to get out of here, Raithe, because if we stay for one more minute, one more second, I’ll do something stupid and fuck this whole thing up.” I locked eyes with his and saw the fury burning bright. The same fury that burned through my blood.

“We will save them, Aeris.” He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as he said the words that were anything but gentle.

“We will tear this fucking place to the ground.” Then he lifted me in his arms, surrounding us in shadow, and retreated down the corridor toward the exit with determined speed.

I didn’t look back as my mother’s screams rang out once again.

Nor did Raithe, as his mother shouted and snarled at the guards while she was forced to watch her friend endure more pain.

Every time the whip cracked, I flinched, but I didn’t look back.