Page 58 of Courting the Fae Captain
My friends’ screams clanged about in my head as I did the only thing I could and dropped, not away from, but towards the Waifling as it leapt. My boots slid over the cold, wet ground as the creature swiped where my head had just been.Its stench overwhelmed my senses as I lifted my sword, rending its stomach open, allowing its own weight and momentum to carve through its flesh. Guts and gore dripped over me, hot and heavy as it splattered over my face, my clothes … everything. It already reeked of death and the rot of an unkempt creature. Now I did too. My ears rang as it howled, longand mournful, while the Waifling’s body slumped to the ground behind me.
I wiped the blood from my face and blinked at my friends, then turned to see the lump of the Waifling I’d just killed. It was even uglier in natural light, with dark, patchy, shaggy fur and welts leaking pus all over it. Most likely from frequent fighting with its kin and poor hygiene conditions. The milky eyes were wide, and its mouth full of razor teeth, yawned open.
Sherai cocked her head at the fallen creature, then at the chaos still surrounding us. “Our chances of survival just increased by 25 per cent. Care to repeat that three more times?”
I grimaced. “Not particularly. We need to stop fighting each other and start fighting back. We needher.”
Akira looked at the female in question, then scowled. “That was when we had time and circumstance on our side. The end is near, and the only thing she wants more than victory is your head on a spike.”
“She’s all we’ve got,” I said. “Watch my back.”
I refocused my attention, then pushed on with Sherai and Akira at my back. We moved in formation, a deadly three-pointed shield as we guarded each other from every threat. Then I saw an opening, and I broke rank.
“Aeris!” Sherai cried, but I was already running, already halfway to my target as she roared her fury at the sky.
“Portia,” I called through the din.
Her blue eyes swivelled to me, narrowing in contempt the moment they spotted me. She was a sight to behold, with her navy blue attire covered in blood and her long black braid snaking down her back. She stalked towards me slowly, not even phased as a chained beast snapped sharp teeth in her direction, stopping short only due to the limit of its restraints. She dodged a spear without even looking, then continued toward me.
“So, you’ve finally come to die.” The sword in her hand gleamed under the moonlit sky, covered in fresh, dripping scarlet.
“I have a better solution,” I offered with a hand up. “What if we both got out of here alive?”
Her perfectly manicured brow arched as she began to circle me. “I have no plans of letting you go. Nothing you say could change the way this ends.”
Anger whirled like a tornado inside me. “What have I done to make you hate me so? I didn’t choose this. I didn’t want to be here.”
“You think I did?” She lashed out with her sword. I parried, our blades shrieking as steel met steel. Surprise washed over me at the pure anger in her voice—in her eyes.She whirled away, then charged again, striking several times. I met her blow for blow, the weight of her sword clanging against mine. The jolt of the weapons clashing reverberated down my arm. “Ihadto enter the Rite.”
“Am I meant to feel sorry for you?” I said in disbelief. “I was brought here in chains against my will. I didn’t get a choice either. But you chose to murder those females when they were unarmed and vulnerable. Youchoseto remove anyone who stood in your way of the captain. Christine. That girl at the ball. Who knows who else? For what? Power? Position? The captain?”
Portia laughed, softly at first, then louder. “You really have no idea, do you? I couldn’t care less about your precious captain, nor the Rite. I’m not here for a stupid love match. I’m here foryou.”
She launched, slicing down in one mighty blow as our swords once again met in the middle. The blades slipped, the metal scraping until we were pommel to pommel, head to head. She snarled on the other side of our weapons, her face a mask of rage. “Your father ordered the execution of my mother andsister. He sent a raiding party to my home in Diever Downs. His men raped them, one after another, then strung their naked bodies up until the breath left their lungs. My ancestral home was burnt to the ground; my friends and neighbours were forced to flee the city or die. I watched it all as I hid. I was just a child. An innocent. He took everything that mattered from me, so I vowed to take everything from him.”
Horror sluiced through me, my stomach plummeting at the thought of such monstrosity. My father gave that order. Had stood by as those males did such dark and terrible things. Tears pricked my eyes as my heart bled for her. I didn’t understand before, but I did now. She was probably the only Fae in the world who might hate my father more than me.
Her rage slipped as she took in my face. “You didn’t know.”
I took that moment to shove her away and stand with my sword in a guarded position. “That my father is a monster? Yes. But I didn’t think he was capable of … I never thought…” I shook my head.
What Portia had just told me was the tip of a giant, fixed iceberg. I’d already moved past the thought of ever forgiving my father for his wrongs, but this level of horror was unacceptable. There was no redeeming him in my eyes or the gods’. I looked at Portia and shook my head again, as if that might somehow erase what I’d learned.
“You can kill me, Portia, but he wouldn’t care.” I lowered my sword as she stared uncertainly at me. The females surrounding us, still fighting for their lives, were just a blur. Even Sherai and Akira, who I sensed standing stoically behind me, fending off any threats when they approached, said nothing. “Who do you think forced me to be here? Who shot me with a crossbow and chained me within the carriage that brought me here? I am not a beloved daughter. Just property with a hefty price tag, one that requires beatings and imprisonment when out of line. He doesnot love me. But I’m so sorry for what he did to you, to your family. No one deserves that.”
I watched as her face crumpled with confusion, warring between anger, pain, and uncertainty. “You’re just trying to get in my head,” she insisted, raising her weapon once more. “It won’t work.”
“Portia, please,” I said gently, softly. I threw my sword on the ground, the metal clanging, to show I wasn’t going to fight her. Then I thudded to my knees and bared my throat.
“Aeris, no,” Akira hissed. I flung out a hand, warning my friends not to interfere.
“You can rip my throat out if you don’t believe me,” I continued, “but trust me when I say we’re more alike than you think. We’re in this together. I will happily hold him still while you plunge your blade into his heart after we’re out of this. But the only way to survive is to do so together. All of us.”
“Stop,” Portia snapped. “Stop trying to appeal to my soft side. I discarded that long ago.”
“You didn’t,” I said confidently. “We’re females, we are both unbreakable and soft. It’s our greatest strength. No matter what, you could never lose that side of you. Or else you wouldn’t be listening to me now. Wouldn’t be seeing the logic in joining forces and fighting the people who truly deserve it.” I let that sink in before adding quietly, “He took my mother too.” Her eyes snapped to mine, and I nodded. “He took all of them—all the surviving females from Rites’ past. They’re alive, and they’re trapped under that island. The captain is helping us. We can win this, Portia, and we can free them. We can end these Rites and the males’ dominance over us. Together.”
She was silent for a moment, her eyes flitting over the females surrounding us. Several had stopped to watch and listen to our conversation, their own swords lowering ever so slightly as they exchanged glances.
