Page 5 of Courting the Fae Captain
“Incredible,” I whispered. “You could change the world with a gift like that.”
“Someday, I mean to,” she said matter-of-factly. The brightness of her brown eyes showed she was confident of that, too. “Look, I know I’m a stranger, but I’m no stranger to the kind of treatment you receive here. I’ve met many girls in similar positions.”
“Have you met any that came out of the Rite alive?”
The light in her eyes darkened at that. I knew before she even spoke that her answer would be no. Instead, she surprised me. “A barbaric tradition,” she hissed. “One that should have been abolished long ago. One day, someone will bring about the dawn of a new age. One where the impoverished and downtrodden have the strength to stand up to their oppressors.” She inspected my leg one final time before pulling the covers back over me. Then she pinned me with a fierce look. “I hope to see the day when our world will learn what equality can be, where wisdom is power and death no longer rules as the rhyme or rhythm of our existence. We may be dark wielders or necromancers, but we are so much more than that.”
I stared at her a little dumbly—this confident, beautiful young female. “Wow. You should be a motivational speaker.” Ishook my head. “Honestly, if what you say is true, we could all use a little more of that hope.”
She laughed. “We all have a voice. We just need the means to use it.”
“Let’s hope we get the opportunity to.”
Her brow rose. “You’re competing in the Rite, I take it. Why not be that person?”
I frowned. “How do you mean?”
“I mean, win that bloody competition and show those bastards that you are more than what rests between your legs. I’ve heard the captain is a good male. A fair one. If you marry the captain, you’ll have more power than most in this province, hells, even in all Mithria. So use it.”
“That’s…” It was brilliant, that's what it was. And also highly improbable. “That would require winning in the first place. You’re a smart female. I know I’m not the only one who noticed none of the losing Fae are ever heard from again. You can’t tell me every noble house just tucks them away, never to be seen again, out of sheer embarrassment.”
She pursed her lips. “No, I wouldn’t presume to. There’s absolutely nothing normal about what happens in the Rite or to the losing females. Which is why you’re going to find out and stop it from ever happening again.”
I cocked my head. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
She smiled a little evilly. “Deadly.”
I leaned back and contemplated. My father might have stolen my freedom of choice, but once I was in the Rite, he had no jurisdiction or say in my actions or schemes. I didn’t give a shit about marrying the captain, nor what such a position would provide, but maybe I hadn’t been looking at it the right way before. Still…
“Even if I won and did marry the captain, who’s to say he would listen to any of my ideas? He’s still male, and ultimately, they seem to be the only ones in power in this court.”
“Can I give you some advice?” The healer crossed her legs and leaned in. “I have been posted among all the courts at one point or another. There are power-hungry males in all of them. But that’s why we females need to stick together. That’s why we need to make a stand. Why do you think I’m so comfortable being so open with you? Why I’m not afraid of any consequences? Theyneedus. Males could never survive without the fairer sex. The damn fools would tear each other apart without a voice of reason. It’s my skills as a healer that make me indispensable. It’s what gives mepowerover them. Find something that gives you leverage in the Rite and use it. Use them.”
The healer was right. I wasn’t without some skills. If I played my cards right, if I won … The cogs were already turning in my mind. These males had bartered with our lives for far too long. I refused to become another victim, lost and forgotten. There was a good chance I was never leaving the Rite … or leaving it alive, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t cause a little chaos along the way. And if I did? Father had only ordered me to win. He said nothing about how or what to do when I did.
I held out a hand. “I didn’t catch your name, healer.”
She smiled deviously. “A wiser female might not give it. My name is Dreena.”
“It’s a good thing, then, Dreena,” I said as she shook my hand, “that we’re only as wise as the company we keep.”
Her laughter tinkled like a bell. “You remind me of someone, you know. A good friend of mine. Someone I believe will do great, terrible things.”
I tipped my head, pleased with the comparison. “To changing the world, Dreena.”
She swiped a finger over my jaw, healing the bruise there in an instant. “To great and terrible things.”
CHAPTER FOUR
‘There is no public record pertaining to any Rites, past or present, nor to the names of those who participated in them. The identities and fates of all but the winning females remain unknown.’
The Trials and Traditions of a Mithrian Fae
There was no polite way to put it. Travelling by cart was a bitch. The pace was slow, and the carriage they’d stuffed me in was windowless and dreadfully boring. A small candlelit sconce lit up the interior, but I would have much preferred to see the world as it passed me by. Instead, I was stuck, chained, no less, to a fucking nanny.
Roslin was my attendant, actually, but she may as well have been a babysitter. She hadn’t even minded when they’d stuck a chain around her wrist linking me to her. At her ripe old age, I supposed she wasn’t spared any indignities.
“You’re going to love the castle,” she prattled on, her withered hands tucked into her lap. Her wavy grey hair was tucked back in a neat bun, her gown a simple shift. The tight bun and sombre grey of her dress did little to hide the paleness of her white, leathery skin. “It overlooks the sea, with a view of all the grand ships docked in the Soul Court’s base.”
