Page 44 of Courting the Fae Captain
I moved through the small crowd of privileged nobles, uninterested in calling attention to myself. A group of tipsy males seemed more animated than the rest, and I did my best to circle them without their notice. However, I was not so lucky as one of them lashed out and clasped my arm.
“What’s the rush, love? Stay. Take a seat.”
He yanked my arm, forcing me to fall rather ungracefully into his lap and knock several glasses over on my tray. The bubbly alcohol spilled onto the floor and one male’s shoes, but he didn’t seem to notice. I covered my nervousness with a small laugh and tried to bat him off with a polite smile, but his grip only tightened as he placed a firm hand on my knee.
“No touching the merchandise,” I said with strained politeness. “Pentad rules.”
“Fuck the rules,” he said with a barked laugh. His friends snickered around him. “Rules are meant to be broken.”
I shifted as his hand skated beneath my gown and higher up my leg. “We will both get in trouble for this,” I insisted. “The captain?—”
“The captain doesn’t attend these events,” he answered. “And I find myself wanting some company. Come,” he said, forcing me to my feet and dragging me towards a dark alcove shrouded with curtains. “This will do nicely.”
I looked around for Sherai or Jaren but saw neither of them among the rest of the party guests. My instincts screamed to escape—to find a way out of his grasp and back onto the floor. My head pounded as magic snaked through my veins, pulsing in time to the erratic thumping of my heart. “Keep your hands off me.”
“Aw, what’s the matter?” he said with a slur, pulling me through to the other side of the curtains, away from the view of the others. “Am I not good enough for you? Not as handsome or rich as the esteemed captain?”
I didn’t bother to point out that I had no idea what he looked like beneath the mask, nor that I agreed the captain was ten times the male he could ever be. The roaring in my head was too loud to ignore, the blood pumping beneath my skin filled with the promise of shadows and death. But I didn’t let them cometo the surface. Didn’t let them strangle the male holding me or shroud him in a nightmare of my own making. To do so would be looping a noose around my own neck.
He sat down heavily onto a couch, then pulled me onto his lap once more. A cold hand brushed my golden hair back, then strayed down my arm to my leg again. “You are here to entertain me. You are here to please me. That’s all you’re good for. You are mine,” the male sneered into my ear as that hand rose ever higher.
I’d had enough. I couldn’t take this leech of a male touching me anymore. Only a few weeks ago, I might have grinned and borne it. But something had changed in me since arriving. Something had changed in me since my shadows bonded with Raithe’s. I wasnothis.
“I said, don’t fucking touch me!” I elbowed the male in the gut before attempting to run, but his hand lashed out once again, grabbing my long hair. I almost used my magic—almost let it tear out of me to rip the male apart, but that would cause a scene and surely result in my death.
“You’re going to regret that,” he hissed. “Come here. I want to see your face before I paint it purple.”
I flung an arm up, but he was lightning fast as he grabbed the edge of my mask and ripped it from my face. I gasped at the speed and force of his hand, as his eyes widened in what seemed like recognition. “You…” It was an accusation as much as a threat. Who was this male, and what the hells had I ever done to him?He raised his hand, pulling it back to strike when a shadow reached out and halted it mid-air.
“I believe the lady made it clear she doesn’t wish to be touched,” Raithe said, deadly quiet.
The alcove darkened, the room growing colder with each second. The sheer power that rippled from Raithe was like amaelstrom—impossible to escape and promising certain death. I welcomed it with a smile as I backed away toward him.
“And who the fuck are you to stand in my way?” the male snapped. Raithe removed his mask slowly, calmly, and turned eyes like black velvet onto the noble. The surface of his eyes rippled as his power seemed tobecomehim. The male swore, then raised his hands. “Captain. Forgive me, I didn’t realise?—”
“That you were breaking the rules?” Raithe raised a brow. “Or that you were touching something that doesn’t belong to you?”
The male gritted his teeth, then lowered his head in a mockery of a proper bow. “I meant no harm.”
“Oh, but you did. Grievous harm, I believe. But I quite like her face the way it is.” One second, both males were standing; the next, Raithe had the guy pinned to the couch with a weapon at his throat. “I also quite like the idea of sticking my blade down your throat and making you choke on it.” He stepped back, and just as quickly as it had appeared, the blade slid home in its sheath. “Alas, I’m not as impulsive as you. Even though I don’t like people touching what’s mine. And make no mistake, she ismine.”
“It won’t happen again,” the male said as he rubbed a hand over his throat. The skin had been nicked, and a small drop of blood trailed down the sensitive flesh.
“See that it doesn’t with any females here, or next time we meet, the outcome will be much, much worse for you. But before I go, I’d like to mark the face of an abuser.”
Raithe’s shadows surged, plucking the mask straight off the male’s face. I stiffened as recognition struck. Staring back at me, not Raithe, with eyes as cold as ice and hair of the whitest blond in all the court was my father’s very own Bloodhound, Declan James.
“Are you okay?” Raithe asked once we were back in his rooms. After finding Jaren and asking him to escort Sherai back to her rooms, Raithe had all but whisked me away in a veil of shadows as we’d left the party. Only the Pentad’s Lion had intervened, demanding to know where he was taking me. Raithe wore the lark mask instead of his usual kraken mask, so the Lion thought he was just another noble. Raithe used that to his advantage and said he’d paid handsomely for the night alone with one of the females, discreetly, of course. The Lion was all too willing to allow it, making a side comment about still making up his mind about which he wanted to indulge. I wanted to be sick, or claw his mask off, or both. But Raithe held me tight, and we were soon on our way undeterred.
It was only once we were in the privacy of Raithe’s quarters that I realised I was shaking. His room was warm and surprisingly comforting, yet still, I couldn’t stop shaking. “Do you know who that was?” I breathed.
“I know,” Raithe said darkly. “I’ve heard many stories of the Bloodhound, even while at sea. He does not scare me.”
“He should.” I rested my back against the door. “Before my father had me brought here in chains, I tried to escape. On the way out, I saw something I wasn’t meant to see. Something he tried to kill me for and likely still wants to. His wife is from a very powerful bloodline, from a highly regarded family. So, when I saw Declan with his mistress … If she found out about his affair, if her family knew?—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Raithe said from his position perched on the side of the bed. “None of it matters. He cannot hurt you. I will not allow it.”
My heart tightened, like someone had pulled all the strings taut. “You can’t promise that. The Rite is dangerous by nature. You can’t protect me from all harm.”
