Page 22 of Courting the Fae Captain
“Another time. Her days are numbered; that’s all that matters. Merchant daughter or not, she’s dead. Let’s get out of here before anyone smells the body and comes looking,” Portia said as they strode away.
We waited until they’d passed, then I toed Raithe’s boot. “You can release me now.”
He shifted, giving me a full view of Christine’s body. I did my best to ignore the way her lips were parted in shock, her eyes frozen.“Keep moving, little lark. There was nothing you could do.”
“We could have killed them,” I suggested.
“Is that what you want?” his voice was deep as he took the lead once again.
Yes. No.Maybe?I didn’t have an answer to that, so I stayed silent as we pressed on until we’d descended several stairs and were now underground. The air was cool and dry down here, which was the perfect condition to store priceless and aged books.
“Ahead,” Raithe said with a nod.
Two guards stood at the archive entrance, as he’d promised. “And how were you planning to take out the guards?” I asked. We halted and stood behind a large stone statue.
He shrugged. “A knock to the head should sort them out.”
“Don’t you think they’ll remember who did that when they wake?” I shook my head. “Why not use your shadows?”
Raithe shook his head. “The entrance is well lit. While my shadows can hide us, they would notice the imperfection of light.”
I blew out a breath. “Okay. I have a better idea.”
“What are you—Aeris!” he hissed as I walked confidently towards the guards, whose body language instantly shifted from half asleep to alert.
“A little late for a leisurely stroll, don’t you think, miss?” one guard asked.
“The archives are off limits to female participants,” the other sneered. He licked his lips and smoothed a hand over his bald head. “But I could be persuaded if you’d like to have a little fun.”
Ew. Pass.I slid my hand into my back pocket and palmed the vial I’d stuffed there earlier, then shifted on my feet as I smiledcoquettishly. The stopper flicked off easily from my thumb. “I’m always up for a little fun.”
The guard placed a hand on my waist, pulling me close. I leaned in, then blew the dust from my palm into his face, quickly doing the same to the other.
Both pawed at their eyes and noses, then collapsed over each other within seconds. I turned and beamed at a bewildered Raithe as he approached. “Slumbercap mixed with Fennigal Root in powdered form induces immediate sleep and will erase the last few hours from the user’s memory.”
“I’m impressed. But won’t the healer notice such valuable ingredient stock missing?”
I grinned. “Just a pinch of this and that. There are new supplies coming in every week. She won’t notice a few trimmed leaves, and vials get broken in transit all the time. I made this handy little concoction earlier today on a whim. Never know when it might come in handy, especially with a certain someone hellbent on my death.”
“On a whim,” he said with a chuckle. “The clever fox is always one step ahead.”
“Even a clever fox can be caught in a trap,” I replied as I wiped my hands on my slacks.
After pulling the guards behind a stack of crates away from view, we entered the archive, which immediately lit up with warm Fae light. I blew out a breath as we faced row upon endless row of towering bookshelves. It would have taken years to sort this place, not to mention a team of scholars and librarians to keep records up to date.
“There must be a catalogue somewhere,” I said.
“Already on it.” He ushered me over to a desk with a ledger that kept record of all the borrowed books, just like he’d said. A quick search revealed a catalogue on the shelf below it.
“Look for ‘H’ then ‘R’,” I suggested.
He flipped the pages of the giant tome with surprising care as he searched.
I stopped him at the page I’d had in mind. “Herbs and remedies, aisle 28, section 24. I’ll start there. You look for anything on the Rites.”
“Meet back here in 30,” Raithe said. “I don’t want to push our luck, especially with two unconscious guards out there.”
I nodded. We split up, heading to separate parts of the archives. My strides were purposeful as I counted the rows, almost stopping more than once as a section caught my eye. Alas, reading for pleasure was not on the cards tonight. We had a job to do.
