Page 5 of Courting the Fae Captain (Romancing the Realms #4)

‘There is no public record pertaining to any Rites, past or present, nor to the names of those who participated in them. The identities and fates of all but the winning females remain unknown.’

The Trials and Traditions of a Mithrian Fae

T here was no polite way to put it. Travelling by cart was a bitch.

The pace was slow, and the carriage they’d stuffed me in was windowless and dreadfully boring.

A small candlelit sconce lit up the interior, but I would have much preferred to see the world as it passed me by.

Instead, I was stuck, chained, no less, to a fucking nanny.

Roslin was my attendant, actually, but she may as well have been a babysitter. She hadn’t even minded when they’d stuck a chain around her wrist linking me to her. At her ripe old age, I supposed she wasn’t spared any indignities.

“You’re going to love the castle,” she prattled on, her withered hands tucked into her lap.

Her wavy grey hair was tucked back in a neat bun, her gown a simple shift.

The tight bun and sombre grey of her dress did little to hide the paleness of her white, leathery skin.

“It overlooks the sea, with a view of all the grand ships docked in the Soul Court’s base. ”

Unsurprisingly, Roslin was excited about my admission into the Rite.

I would never understand her acceptance of the way females were treated in this world.

My father had looked after her, though—even given her some semblance of finery—and it was perhaps for those reasons that she remained so loyal to him.

She had never protected me from his wrath and had even punished me herself multiple times when I was a child.

She often seemed to enjoy it. Perhaps she thrived on fleeting dominance.

But as far as I was concerned, she enjoyed being oppressed.

“Any view is better than my current one,” I said, looking at the four walls.

“It’s for your own good,” she admonished. “We can’t be too careful with you.” Roslin clicked her tongue. “Climbing the castle walls and such. No wonder your father, Lord Lockhart, kept you under such a tight leash all these years! Not tight enough, if you ask me.”

There was no point trying to explain why I would have done anything to escape. She had never understood and wasn’t about to now. “Can I ask you a question, Roslin? Do you think my father respects you?”

“An impertinent question,” she said. “But if you must know, yes. I have looked after you and your father for many years now. He trusts me. We’re like family.”

I sighed. That couldn’t be further from the truth. “If only you knew how one-sided that loyalty is. Roslin, please. You could help me before it’s too late. Before my father throws me to the wolves.” My voice rose in desperation. “I might die in there!”

She was silent for a moment, her eyes searching my face as she considered. But then she levelled me with a look that made my heart fall. “Participating in the Rite is an honour. One you don’t deserve.”

Gods, she was evil. Always had been. And maybe it was the pain and suffering I’d felt from her hands all these years or the frustration of my current predicament but I couldn’t help it as I said, “You want to know why my father will never give two shits about you? He doesn’t respect you because: A) you have the indecency to have different genitalia to him, therefore making you the lesser sex, and B) you are a peasant living in a world of pompous asses.

He considers you the help, Roslin, not part of the family. ”

Her cheeks blazed, her sharp nose turning up. The slightest hint of dark magic flared black at her fingertips, gone as quickly as it came as she composed herself. “Rude girl. You won’t gain the captain’s heart with that kind of behaviour.”

I rested my unbound hand on my cheek. “Oh? And what do you know about the captain?” I didn’t know much about him, but then again, I was never one for castle gossip and had never cared to ask.

At this question, Roslin brightened, shifting her bony ass on the cushion-lined seat beneath her.

“ Well. I have heard he is quite handsome. Not even you will be able to deny that, Aeris. He’s also an excellent swordsman and has a knack for strategy and warfare, as his position requires. He is, of course, a skilled mariner.”

“So he’s an overachiever, then,” I stated. “And did his dear old daddy pave the way with bribery and coin, or did the captain earn his position himself?”

Roslin pursed her lips. “The captain went through his training like every other soldier. He’s very regimented.” She scooted closer and folded her hands primly in her lap once more. “Apparently, he’s rather fond of reading and sketching. I’ve heard he loves animals, too. Especially his hounds.”

Okay, gossip or not, I could work with this. It wouldn’t hurt to learn all I could about the captain. Information was like bargaining chips. Still, every other female would be angling for the same thing. I was hoping for more personal interests, but what did I expect, really?

“What next? He loves long walks on the beach? This isn’t going to help me win any favour, Roslin.”

“Oh, ungrateful girl! But I suppose you will need every advantage if you’re going to win, and winning helps your father.

” She pursed her lips again, which aged her at least a decade, but her frown lines quickly relaxed back into excitement.

“Okay, keep those ears open because this one’s a goodie.

” She looked around like some lurking gossipmonger might spread the news any second …

like someone was going to jump out from the blankets in a neat pile in the corner.

“Waiting with bated breath,” I said with a poor attempt at cheer.

“He lost his mother recently. It’s said she died of the sudden onset of sickness, but no one really knows what happened to her. And that’s not even the interesting part.”

I must admit, she had my attention. I leaned closer. “Go on.”

Roslin grinned. “I’m friends with the castle cook at Domeratt, whose family has been cooking for the Windaire family for generations now.

He says Lady Windaire was taken in the night and whisked away to an asylum, and says only Lord Windaire and his trusted advisors know where it is.

The servants are all getting excitable trying to guess how mad she is.

What rubbish.” She rasped a low laugh and shook her head.

“Incredible, the kind of stories these bored old servants will concoct. If Lord Windaire says she died, then the poor female died, and that’s the end of it. ”

Indeed. Only, this wasn’t the first time I’d heard a story like this.

The first part, anyway. My own mother disappeared rather suddenly when I was little.

There one day and gone the next. The difference being that I was told she left my father of her own will.

Not that she died or was mysteriously whisked away in the night, but that she had simply chosen to escape that pitiful excuse of a male she called husband and abandoned her daughter in the process.

Interesting … and certainly worth noting. “Do you know of any asylums Lady Windaire might have been taken to?”

Roslin’s eyes crinkled in thought. “There are some facilities throughout the court, but if someone of noble blood was staying in one, you can be sure the news would have spread. No, it’s just a silly rumour, girl. Nothing more.”

Rumour or not, I tucked that little kernel away for later. Perhaps it would come in handy down the line. “You’ve been most helpful, Roslin. Thank you.” I meant it, too. Which must have come as a shock because the old girl was giving me a suspicious once-over.

“I know that look. What are you plotting, Aeris?”

I winked and made a show of looking around the carriage.

“Oh, just the usual. Escape and freedom.” It wasn’t entirely a lie.

I was always hunting for ways to escape, and being at the Rite would be no different.

Only this time, I was also looking for answers.

Answers that the captain may very well be seeking, too, given the disappearance of his mother.

Roslin gave me a disapproving look before shaking her head. “Honestly, child, how your father has put up with you all these years is beyond me.”

“I could say the same thing,” I grumbled.

She released a long, world-weary sigh and lay her head against the wall.

“Oh, lighten up, Ros, we’ve a long way to go and this carriage is awfully small.” I lay against the cushions and closed my eyes, still smiling. I might not be getting out of this box anytime soon, but when I did, I wouldn’t miss the nanny. Not for a second.

A jolt of the carriage had me lurching awake with a start.

I grumbled, wiping the drool off my face with the back of my sleeve, before glancing at Roslin.

Fast asleep and snoring her head off as the carriage trundled to a stop.

Well, it seemed tomorrow was already here.

Fuck . I wasn’t the slightest bit ready for what lay in wait … which was gods only knew what.

Would they throw me into an actual vipers’ nest?

Would the females in this dreadful contest be forced to fight in a pit, swords and shields and bloody murder?

Or would this be more of a beauty pageant with bitchy gossiping and a handful of nails to the eye?

I wasn’t sure which was worse. Actually, yes, I was.

The bitchy nobles, definitely. I’d take the swords or vipers any day.

Better yet, the vipers could fend off the bitchy nobles. Now that would be a sight to see.

With that comforting notion in mind, I smoothed out my dress, rolled my neck, and took a deep breath. The carriage came to a stop, followed by the voices of various males floating back to me through my cubic prison.

“This is it. The beginning of the end,” I whispered.

The door swung open, revealing a male dressed in crisp, cream slacks and a white shirt with an insignia of a sea serpent wrapping around a sword embroidered on the chest. He was handsome, in an altogether too clean kind of way, with a shaved face, slicked-back blond hair, and green eyes.

But it was his smile that captured my attention. Too big, too … trying.

“My Lady,” he said with a bow. “Welcome to Castle Windaire. I trust your journey here has been a comfortable one?”

I raised the wrist, still tethered by chains to Roslin’s resting arm, which dangled rather comically from the movement. “Exceptionally. A freeing experience.”

The servant didn’t bat an eye. “I’m so glad to hear it. And I’m so very sorry.”

My nose crinkled. “Whatever for?”

“For what comes next.” He stepped to the side, and I hardly had time to let out a pitiful squeak when two large goons rushed forward and shoved a pungent bag over my head, causing me to fall backward into the carriage where Roslin startled awake.

There was no air for screaming. No thought for escaping.

As the smelling salts filled my nose and mouth, there was only oblivion, which took me gently in her arms.