Page 29 of Courting the Fae Captain
Relief flooded through me as I recognised Sherai’s soft tone. I slid back over to the edge of my platform and grinned down at them. “You’re alive. Thank the gods,” I said.
“Thankme,” Akira said with a huff. “I found this one crashing through the forest practicallybeggingto be found.” She looked at Sherai and frowned. “We really need to work on your survival skills.”
“For your information,” Sherai said haughtily, “I’ve read several books about island survival and would do perfectly fine if left to my own devices. I was just a little panicked, that’s all.”
“You were about to fall into a pit lined with spikes,” Akira said drily. “What did your books have to say about those?”
Sherai winced. “Don’t fall in?”
Akira snorted and shook her head before turning her ire on me. “And you.Youleft a lovely little trail that led right up to the ledge you’re sitting on. This area stinks of your blood, and if I found you so easily, others will too.”
I cringed. “Yeah, well, it’s not every day you get sliced up by a sword.”
“Lucky I came prepared,” she said with a sigh. “Get your ass down here. Sherai might have been willing to but I’m not bloody climbing that thing like a mountain goat.”
Sherai assaulted me with a hug the moment my feet hit the ground. I flinched and stumbled back from the force of it, too surprised to say anything. But she was warm and her touch was cosy. Like a ball of sunshine in Fae form. My arms slowly lifted, then tightened around her frame as I hugged her back.It was nice. Comforting, if utterly alien to me.
“Let’s get you patched up,” she said gently as she pulled away. She took some strips of material from Akira’s outstretched hand. “We need to clean the wound, but this will help stop the bleeding. Our bodies are designed to repair quicker than most other beings, you know. The perks of being Fae.”
“Right now, I’d rather be a human safe and sound on another continent than having to fight off other females,” I replied as I scrubbed my face. “Calendula and chamomile will help if we can find them. Hartsbreath, too, but the conditions aren’t favourable this time of year.”
Sherai smiled. “You know your herbs.”
“I dabble,” I said with a grin. “And you?”
She began wrapping my torso with the torn fabric. “I have studied herbology, but rarely applied my learnings.”
I looked at Akira. “Do I want to know where you got this fabric?”
Her small nose pinched. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to. Now come on, we need to find another place to camp out.”
“Akira, wait.” I placed a hand on her shoulder and took a breath. “Thank you. I’m in your debt.”
She cocked her head, then smiled. “You get one freebie. The next time I have to save your ass I’m writing a cheque to daddy dearest.”
I scoffed. “Good luck getting him to pay up.”
“Not even if I kidnapped you and held you for ransom?” Akira teased. Her light attempt at humour faded instantly as I tried and failed to smile.
“You’re forgetting who sold me off to the Rite in the first place.”
Sherai sighed. “Ah. Just another male trading for power. I bet the Pentad has them all drooling at the sight of their heavy purses.”
“He doesn’t even need the money,” I said with an angry swipe at a palm frond blocking my way. “It’s nothing more than a power play amongst the most elite males. A way to assert his dominance over key players in the Shadow Court.”
Sherai and I followed Akira’s steps as she led the way through the forest with her sword in hand. “But you are his only heir, no? He risks a lot by having you compete in the Rite.”
“My father was cursed with a daughter when he wanted a son. I am worth precious little to him unless I marry a male of good stock and title. Marrying the captain, who also happens to be next in line as lord of one of the wealthiest estates in the Court … Well, my father’s lineage would continue so long as I produced an heir. His position as Merchant Mariner would remain secure, and any son I had would gain both estates, making his descendants even more powerful.”
Akira stopped walking, and I halted a breath behind her. “Every male condoning this monstrosity is going to die. I am going to kill them all.” She turned to face us. “We all are.”
“What?” Sherai squeaked. “You want us to riot against the Pentad? We’d be signing our own death warrants.”
I shrugged. “What’s the difference between dying out here and dying at the castle?”
Akira grinned. “I knew you, of all females, would be on board.”
Sherai’s mouth dropped as she stared between us. “You can’t be serious. Our chances of survival are slim to none. Beyond the Pentad, there are guards and other males of the court who would answer any call to arms to snuff out female insubordination. We’d be hunted down and killed for such a crime.”
