Page 37 of Courting the Fae Captain
“To friendship,” Sherai added.
I smiled as we clinked cups. “To a future worth fighting for.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
‘Some of Mithria’s greatest scholars and inventors hail from the Soul Court. There is much to be said for Soul Speakers—those wise seers and mediums. Though it is unfortunate so many have gone mad whilst searching for answers in the unknown.’
The Trials and Traditions of a Mithrian Fae
Not for the first time, I took my mother’s journal from its hiding place between the bedframe and the wall and set it down to read. I stared out the window at the thrashing sea. It was surreal, in a way, to meet her again through this book. To get an insight into the female she was, and the one she might have been if circumstances had been different.
The scrawls on these pages were evidence of a clever mind with a tendency towards kindness. Even as she faced the evils within these halls and beyond them, she’d always remained steadfast in her duty of care to others. Not just as an herbalist, but a healer. I felt closest to her through the annotations in the columns and footnotes of her entries and the random thoughtsjotted down throughout her day. Notes on potion-mixing techniques or recipes that had been amended multiple times, the harsh crosses and violent exclamation marks speaking of her frustration or excitement.
And then there were the odd sentences where she expressed her fear and her sorrows. The further I read, the more I realised this place had begun to strip away that kindness and turn her into something harder. Stronger, maybe, but a harder shell of the female she’d once been.She had been a giver, but when others took and took until the bowl was fully empty, what more could a person give but their very soul? I didn’t blame her for leaving the monster that was her husband. My father. And yet, the more I read, the more it sparked a stupid and pathetic notion.Did she ever really leave?Not mentally. Not on her own terms, at least. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense that my father had imprisoned her with the other females. He’d always hated her for never bearing a son. And I knew the things he had done to her behind closed doors. The beatings and the scrapes that chipped away at her piece by piece. I wondered if she left her true self behind all those years ago. If it was really here in these pages.
I sighed as I closed the book and set it gently on my lap. Against my better wishes, my mind drifted to Raithe. It had been over a week since I’d returned from the island, yet I hadn’t seen or heard a peep from him. “Out at sea,” one of the maids had said in the cleaning rooms a few days ago. “Fending off a flotilla of pirates in the Serpent Strait,” a male servant had whispered in the kitchens not long after.
My pulse had quickened at the latter. I was afraid for him. Something I had tried very hard not to analyse in the three days since hearing it. Raithe was nothing to me. Nothing beyond a means of protection and a shared interest in the imprisoned females. But if that were true, why then, in the quiet hours of thenight, did I think of the way his lips curved when he smirked? Or how that sheer power he exuded frightened me, but excited me all at once. Despite myself, there was more to my feelings than just an alliance, and I was genuinely afraid something might happen to him on that ship.
Someone knocked softly at my door, and my head snapped toward it. Reality lifted me out of my ruminations, and I swiped my cheek quickly, realising tears had slowly trickled free and dried there. I shoved the book hastily down my pants, then rested an ear against the door.
“It’s just me,” Sherai said softly.
“Oh, thank the gods,” I said as I unbolted and opened the door. I could use the distraction. “Come in.”
“Hi,” she said with a smile as she noted the fire crackling in the grate. “This is cosy. And ocean views, too. I could almost forget we were staying in a castle where everyone wants to kill me.”
“Not everyone.” I smiled as she moved to settle before the fire. I sat opposite her, grateful to see her. “How are you doing?”
She sucked in a breath. “You want the short answer or the long one?”
The firelight gleamed off her dark skin and hair, making it look like her coils were dusted with gold. She was so stunning, but the island had hardened her somewhat. She wasn’t the scared and incapable female she’d thought she was upon arriving here. She was clever, kind, and strong. And so fiercely loyal. But I thought about the way the Rite had changed my mother, and felt more determined than ever not to let the same happen to Sherai. To not let that brightness in her go out.
“I want the truth,” I asked with a smile. “Always.”
She drew her knees up and hugged them to her chest. Her eyes drifted, seeing something I could not. “I’m terrified. All I can think about are those things. Or the feeling of my blade as itsank into that creature’s skin.” Her brown eyes flickered to mine. “I don’t want to die here, Aeris.” It sounded like she’d already resigned herself to that fact.
“We’re going to get through this,” I said. “You’re going to get to the Palantai Palace where you’ll be the most field-experienced scholar they’ve ever damn well had.”
She laughed. “I suppose it’s unlikely many of the academics there would have faced off a Waifling or one of the island creatures before.” Her nose scrunched as she tilted her head. “I’ll have to write a paper on them someday. Little is known about them, you know. It would be quite handy for the everyday traveller.”
I grinned. “Or it might scare people off from hiking the countryside altogether. But I’ll support you either way.”
“We should capture one and set it loose on the Pentad. See how they like fighting for their lives.” She frowned. “Gods, this place has turned me into a schemer. Or maybe that’s you. You’re a bad influence.”
I stretched, yawning as I did. “And yet here you are, plotting the downfall of our masters as casually as if we were discussing the weather.”
“Overcast,” Sherai said without looking out the window. “And promising gale force winds.”
Unlike her, I did glance out at the angry swells. Thoughts of Raithe battling on a ship somewhere out in those churning waters assailed me once more. The oily feeling of trepidation slid through my gut, which I quashed with equal fervour to the ocean beyond.
“You’re thinking of the captain,” Sherai said with pursed lips.
My eyes widened as I turned back to her. “How did you know?”
“You always look to the sea whenever you think of him, in whichever direction it’s in. And you have a habit of stroking your forearm, right where his anchor tattoo is.”
I blinked, having not even realised this myself. “You need another hobby because that’s bordering on creepy. How do you know about his tattoo?”
