Page 53 of Courting the Fae Captain (Romancing the Realms #4)
I blinked, unsure I was seeing things right.
The serpent dropped his sword and slammed his palms against Raithe’s blade on the flat.
The male’s finger twitched, then shadow daggers slowly formed in the air at Raithe’s back.
Black as onyx and sharp as hell, they seemed to soak in the darkness surrounding them.
Shadows of my own lashed out in response, ready to pluck them from the air or form a wall of impenetrable darkness, but the serpent wielded vines that sprang through the earth.
They grabbed my tendrils and squeezed, puffing out my magic like flames from a blown candle.
I ran, slashing at those vines with both sword and shadow as I bolted towards my mate.
But I wasn’t going to make it in time. No, no, no, no.
The daggers finished forming, their onyx tips glittering like stardust. Time seemed to slow as I extended my blade and sliced through three of the onyx daggers that I could reach, yet two remained.
“Raithe! Behind you!” I screamed both out loud and down the bond as my mate shoved the serpent back and turned towards me.
He wouldn’t block in time, so I did the only thing I could at that moment.
I willed all my magic to obey and shadow-walked into Raithe’s arms as he turned too late to see the daggers.
Before he could have known what was happening, the onyx blades embedded in my back.
The breath went out of me as I fell against his chest, warm and solid and safe.
Raithe set me down gently, then turned towards the serpent.
He unleashed a roar that ripped through the room as he stood protectively over me.
A hurricane of shadows lashed out in an explosion of fury, sending the serpent flying against the far end of the cave stone.
A wall of impenetrable black formed around us as Raithe’s shadows swarmed furiously now.
He turned and crouched before pulling me to him carefully, his eyes liquid pools of sapphire as they searched my own.
He ran a hand down my hair, his hand shaking and his gaze imploring. “Why would you do that, Lark?”
“Because I refused to lose you to a place I could not follow,” I breathed.
Blood blossomed over Raithe’s hand, which shook violently as he tried to hold me still.
“Silly little bird,” he said softly. “There is no ship I could captain without you by my side. No ocean I wouldn’t cross to reach you.
You are the one thing I will never give up on and never let go of. Even in death. Even beyond it.”
“That’s quite the send-off,” I said in a lame attempt at humour. Even smiling hurt, the muscles of my body barking with the slightest shift. Blood was beginning to pool over the ground, and my vision was wavering.
Distantly, I could hear the serpent’s shouts of frustration as his magic repeatedly lashed at Raithe’s shadow wall. But none of the blows broke through.
Raithe smiled grimly as he stroked a hand over my face.
“You’re not going anywhere, little lark.
This dagger hit nothing vital,” he said as he moved his fingers towards the one embedded to the left of my spine.
“And this one?” He moved his other hand slightly as he supported me.
“This one is an inch away from your heart. You are lucky, my love. And you are very much going to live.”
“Good. Then I’ll sit back and watch the rest of the show.”
Raithe kissed me, long and slow and passionately as his mouth crashed to mine and his tongue curled most sensually.
I could still hear the serpent trying to break through Raithe’s shield, to no avail, but when my captain pulled away, his grin was savage.
Oh, the serpent had it coming. Power rippled from Raithe in thunderous, vibrating waves as he rolled his neck and turned.
The shadows exploded in a shockwave that made the serpent stumble, and when Raithe stepped out and plunged a shadow tendril deep into the serpent’s stomach, I smiled.
Raithe grinned as well, impaling that shadow deeper, ready to end this once and for all.
“Wait! Remove his mask. I want to see the mastermind behind the Pentad before he dies,” I said down the bond.
The shadow halted. “Aeris, you need a healer. The longer we delay ? —”
“Please, Raithe.” It hurt to breathe, but I kept the pain locked down. “I need to know.”
“As you wish.”
Raithe ripped that golden mask from the male’s face in one swift movement. My heart sank—utterly plummeted. The world tilted on its axis, and I breathed in sharply as I looked upon the face of the male who’d long tormented me.
“You.” I laughed in disbelief as it became all too clear why the serpent had felt so familiar. Why Declan had been here despite already having a wife. “Of course. It all makes sense now.”
My father stared back at me with cold murder in his blue eyes. “Are you surprised?”
“No,” I admitted. “Just disappointed. All that power and wealth. All that status. None of it was ever enough for you. The only time you felt powerful was when you were hurting those you deemed beneath you. I may not have the physical scars to prove what you did to me, but I wear them on the inside proudly.” My vision dotted once more, but I blinked and refocused, determined to say my piece.
“Despite your best efforts, I am no longer your captive. I am free.”
“Free?” he said with a sneer. “You are chained to this male. You will never truly escape.”
“Aeris can do whatever she wishes with her life,” Raithe said darkly. “Even if that meant leaving me and never looking back. Unlike you, I do not keep my females bruised and chained. I am lucky to have her and damn proud to call her my mate.”
“Mate?” My father snorted, then groaned at the weapon firmly embedded in him. “You are both fools. War is coming for this court, and you will bring it to its knees in the face of our enemies.”
“I guess you’ll never know,” I said in disgust.
“I think we’re done now,” Raithe said with a hurried glance at my wounds. He shifted on his feet and moved to take the kill.
My father twisted, his pale face whitening even further. His eyes darted to mine. “No, you can’t do this. Will you not have mercy on your father?”
“You’re not my father. You never were in the ways that counted.
” I thought of my mother, Raithe's mother, and Portia’s family.
I thought of all the countless females he’d hurt by heading the Pentad and the Rite.
I thought of how he would often be gone for months at a time during my youth, which now made much more sense after learning he was head of the Pentad.
Finally, I thought of all the things I had learned in his absence and the female I had become because of it.
Then, an idea formed in my mind. I relayed it to Raithe, who paused, his face tilting to reveal a raised brow.
Utter delight flashed in those ocean eyes, but he asked aloud all the same. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. They need to see this.”
Raithe chuckled as he quickly dragged my father over to the table.
He then grabbed a dagger from his belt and impaled my father’s hand to the surface.
The shriek that followed made my ears ring.
It only worsened as Raithe grabbed another dagger and impaled the other hand in the same fashion.
To the lion, who was still huddled in the corner looking like he might piss himself, he simply commanded, “Stay.”
I snorted at the mocking command, then winced as the air rattled my chest. There was no chance that pitiful excuse for a Fae was going anywhere, but I gathered my shadows around me just in case.
Raithe’s eyes snapped to mine at the painful drag of air I took in, then he walked forward and kicked the unconscious male wearing the eagle mask. “My father,” he said simply. “In case you hadn’t guessed it already.”
I had been too caught up in fighting the others to think about it, but Akira, Sherai and I had always guessed Lord Windaire was among the Pentad.
We just thought he was its leader, not my own father’s lackey.
Raithe dragged him across the ground and said, “Perhaps you should bind him to the table with your shadows as well.”
I did just that. “What are you going to do with him?” I asked as he made for the door, this time using the conventional method by unbarring it from this side.
“First, I’m going to find a healer immediately. But after that? Probably nothing,” he said with a tilt of his head. “I’ll save that for someone else. Someone with even more reason to finish him off than me.”