Page 10 of Courting the Fae Captain
I’d shifted my focus so completely onto the females that I forgot about the very thing we’d each been running from. A massive shape leapt from the darkness. I saw it from the corner of my eye and frantically spun, shifting out of the way as it landed on the female behind me. She screamed, the sound immediately silenced as the creature found her throat and ripped the whole thing out.
In the light, I finally saw what it was we’d been trying to escape. It was a monstrosity. Patchy brown fur, milky eyes, and a maw full of rows upon rows of rotting brown fangs. It resembled something akin to a wolf, but twisted, somehow. As if even the gods couldn’t work out how to finish making it. The grizzly head turned, and even blind, those eyes met mine, as if seeing into my soul. There was a sound further back down the tunnel, and I knew it had to be the other two beasts on their way.
I glanced at Sherai, at the door looming just out of reach, then back to my opponent, silent and watchful. She grinned slowly as she caught my stare, and I knew there was no getting out of this. Not with a beast on both sides.
There was only one option. I looked at Sherai again, trying to convey my plan, and miraculously, she dipped her head almost imperceptibly back. This was it. The last mad dash. Without waiting, I threw the bone blade at the female’s feet, who hissed as the weapon clattered loudly in the silence. The beast roared, thundering past me as I squashed my body against the wall before launching back into a run.
Sherai bolted at the same time, and we grabbed for each other’s hands, sprinting as hard as our legs would carry us. Golden light spilled out from the cracks around the door frame. It groaned and clanked as we slid the bolts back and hefted the heavy thing with all our might.
Behind us, snarls and the female’s shouts broke out. I could only imagine how that struggle was going, but I couldn’t afford to turn back. Finally, the door widened enough for us to slip through, and then we were almost falling over ourselves in the rush to get in and get the door shut. We’d just about got the unbelievably heavy door closed again when a bloody hand grabbed the frame and shoved with surprising strength. I grunted, my shoulder too spent to put any more weight into the task, and a moment later, the female slipped through the crack, helping to close the door forever on the beast on the other side.
We slid the bolts home, and I had a momentary thought of whether we’d just sealed any other females left inside forever. But I was too afraid to risk leaving the door unbolted, even if it was ridiculously heavy.
The beautiful female who’d attacked us turned around and smiled with bloodied canines. “Welcome to the Rite, ladies. May the best female win.”
CHAPTER SIX
‘Sea Serpents, while majestic and mystical beasts, should be given a wide berth at all times. If you come across one, the chances are you’ll be dead within minutes. Steer clear and never underestimate their power. Alone, they are mighty, but in groups, they are unstoppable.
Hunters of Mithria: Volume I
Fifty females had originally participated in The Rite. Sherai and I had learned that after being escorted from the underground passage into what appeared to be an opulent sitting room. Having come from the dark and dingy dungeon we’d awoken in, the place seemed overly bright, with its merry fire crackling away and numerous velvet chaises dotting the room. But it wasn’t the furniture that piqued my interest, nor even the occasional female in mirrored disarray to my own ghastly appearance. It was the gilt-framed muralspanning the length of the room, nestled comfortably above the fireplace.
Fifty female portraits adorned the parchment, each detailed with names, bloodlines and titles. And of those 50, 12 portraits had violent red lines gauged through the middle. It didn’t take a mastermind to understand why. It was clear that fewer than 50 females stood in the room.
I glanced across the room at the female who’d tried her hand at killing Sherai and me. She watched me from her position by the window, her blue eyes shining with the promise of death. Despite the blood splattering her slim frame, she still seemed put together, with her glossy raven hair and perfect poise. I wondered what her father had promised should she win the Rite. Or if the ambition—the violent determination—was all her.
There were others dotted around the room who seemed cloaked in that same darkness, but mostly the other females looked shocked and utterly devastated. All were beautiful in their own way. And all were decidedly alive. Fighters. Survivors. If tonight had proved anything, it’s that we were all capable of brutality when our lives were at stake. I supposed that was part of the point.
Had the hosts of tonight’s delightful entertainment been watching us this whole time? Laughing as we fumbled in the dark or fell to teeth and claws? I bet they gambled on our lives, too. Like we were simply horses in a multi-round race to the finish. The thought sent white-hot rage roaring through me. I was a number to them. Not a name or an identity but a price tag. My life was meaningless to these people. And yet, there were females in this room who would still do whatever it took to gain the captain’s hand.
Was the male part of all this? Was he watching, too? So much of The Rite was steeped in mystery. I swallowed back the bile rising in my throat. It was sick.Vile.And if I ever madeit out of here and was forced to marry that bastard? I’d kill him the very same night. Such violent thinking, but it brought an idea to mind. A very dangerous, very reckless thought. The more I dwelled on it, the more room it took up until the roots of something bigger began to take place. So, as I sat against the wall beside a tired Sherai, her head drooping with every passing second, I began to plot. Her face eventually plopped onto my good shoulder. The closeness was uncomfortable at first—or rather, allowing my guard to drop so thoroughly was—but I let her sleep. She’d proven an ally tonight. For now, that was enough.
I shifted slightly, studying the female as I gently cradled her head down to rest on my leg. She snored lightly, a little bit of drool escaping her full lips. She was even prettier than I’d thought. Beneath the blood, her skin was smooth and brown, and her long hair was tawny and coiled. Her ancestors might have been among the first Fae who’d sailed centuries ago across the Strait of the Sea Serpent—a stretch of water named for the deadly scaled beasts that frequented those depths—and found themselves in the Shadow Court. I found my thoughts drifting, streaming through unconscious musings about such places.
Most Fae avoided those waters for obvious reasons. They’d claimed countless ships that now rested in pieces at the bottom of the ocean. Pirates and other unscrupulous sorts still tried their luck from time to time—a calculated, if rather stupid, attempt at ferrying black market goods or, worse, slaves, from port to port. No one would dare attempt such a thing around Domeratt, though. The city soldiers and the captain’s naval officers kept a close eye on all ships coming and going from their docks. The city had come a long way since olden times, of course, but the great passage from the Fae of old was still a feat continually respected and admired.
I recalled stories told of the battles waged between the Shadow Court Fae and those of the western lands. Numbers were lost on both sides, until a pact was eventually formed and the Yuranai tribes were given lands and titles worthy of their proud people. Now, the descendants of those Fae were seen all over Mithria, though many remained in the Shadow Court and populated the seafaring capital of Domeratt, where I now found myself.
My tentative ally snorted loudly, startling herself awake and cutting through my stream of consciousness. “What?” she asked, alarmed. She sat up straight. “What’s happening?”
I smiled. “You’re safe. We’re inside the castle.”
She sagged in relief and wiped her mouth, her cheeks reddening as she quickly shifted off me. When she was settled with her back against the wall beside me, her eyes moved around the room, falling on the female who’d tried to kill us underground. “I won’t feel truly safe until we’re long gone from this place.”
“Didn’t realise what you signed up for?”
“Didn’t sign up in the first place,” she corrected.
“Ah.” I ran a hand through my matted, bloodied hair and grimaced. “Let me guess, your father forced you into this mess against your will?”
She frowned. “Aunt, actually. My parents are dead.”
My heart panged a little. “I’m sorry.”
Sherai shrugged. “Don’t be. They died when I was young. My aunt is cruel and cold, but she’s looked after me all those years when she could have thrown me to the wolves.”
“So, she offered the bare minimum of common decency, then.” Sherai looked away, and I realised I’d struck a nerve. “Sorry,” I said. “I’m not very good at this. My father made it a habit to … remove anyone I ever got close to.”
