Page 2 of The Court the Fae Forgot
It wasn’t the first time, either.
Rayner’s latest wife wasn’t cold in her grave before his wandering gaze had turned to me. I’d been too young to fear him then. Even parents like my own wouldn’t have stooped so low as to let him touch me.
But that was then.
My stubbornness could only buy me so much time.
But now, just weeks away from my eighteenth birthday, I was overly aware of the fact that I was already older than most girls in my province were before they were given away in marriage. My mother was just sixteen when she had me. Fifteen when she wed.
As long as I could remember, I’d never been under any illusion that my mother loved me. But this, at least, she did grant me. In a way, I guess, that was love.
Or at least the closest thing to it that I’d ever know from her.
Or from anyone else, if the stablemaster still eying me back eventually had his way.
Even Ada cast him a wary eye as she wriggled out of my hands, her feet stomping into the mud that had already splashed up far past the bottom hem of my dress. If she hadn’t knocked the wind out of me by accidentally elbowing me in the ribs in the process, I would have let out a sigh.
The only person who was anything other than disgusted by the sight of the stablemaster practically undressing me with those beady little eyes of his was, of course, my father.
“Ah, Clarence!” he called out, using the stablemaster’s first name. One that I’d tried desperately to forget over the years. His voice was overly jovial, his crooked—and not in the endearing way—smile broadening as it always did when he greeted the man I more than suspected he hoped would be my future husband.
I’d overheard enough whispered conversations between my parents to know that the only thing truly standing between me and the stablemaster was the few gold coins his previous offers had fallen short of.
Thankfully, at least, the stablemaster was as stingy as he was seedy—and apparently, as much as he wanted me, I wasn’t worth a single coin more.
My father clapped Rayner on the back as soon as the man was close enough to reach, and as much as I tried not to, the sound of it made me flinch, my body shrinking slightly back into the dress already a size too big for me. If it was any looser, I might actually attempt to hide in it. I was jealous of Ada’s size, sometimes. She actually could disappear—and was, currently.
Thankfully, my father was too engrossed in whatever he and Rayner were whispering about to notice. I was already anticipating the earful I’d get for making a scene jumping off the carriage earlier, any more trouble today and I’d be nearing far more dangerous territory.
There was a flash of cards passing between the two men’s hands before the whispering stopped, and I felt another involuntary cringe draw my shoulders inwards. That could only mean one thing.
It didn’t matter what else I did today, I was destined for the end of his belt … because when he lost at cards, and healwayslost at cards, it was the only thing that seemed to console him.
“Come,” my father barked out, giving Rayner another all-too friendly clap on the shoulder as he tucked the marked set of cards into his jacket pocket. “Give the old wagon a good spot, right there, under the trees.”
The moment he was able to turn away from my father, Rayner’s eyes flitted back to me with a hunger that he could barely conceal. His dark-ringed eyeballs practically bulged at the sight of me trying to wrangle Ada into standing still at my side, as though the image of a teenage girl with a child in her arms was the epitome of seduction. Never mind that Ada is nearly eleven and I look more homeless than homely—and even that wouldn’t be a compliment.
His eyes stayed trained on me, his tongue wetting his lips several times before he answered my father, almost absentmindedly. “You sure about that? Most people don’t like having to scrub away the bird shite.”
Yes well, most people don’t just make their daughter do it.
Rayner took the reins from my father and motioned for one of his workers to start unhitching the horses. I thought that was the end of it, but then the stablemaster stopped and turned back to my father before he could stomp off toward the tavern.
“How old’s the girl now?”
It took me a second, still, to realize what he was asking. But then his brazen question, spoken aloud in the middle of the day instead of hunched over a card game when we’d come to fetch my drunk of a father at the end of the night, chilled me to my core. It was even more disgusting hearing him speak about me like another piece of cattle to be bought and sold in the sober light of day.
Though I’d have liked to wait around and hear what my father had to say, Ada had finally wriggled herself free and, at the very first opportunity, was already bounding off into the crowd gathering for market day.
Before I could follow after her, my mother shoved a massive sack of flour into my arms. Her nails, long and sharp, dug into my forearms. When I tried to pull away, she only clutched me tighter. Her wrinkled eyes bore into mine.
“Be good. Be wary of strangers.”
“Mother …” I groaned, but she didn’t let go right away. “I’m fine. It’s just market day.”
“I mean it,” she snapped, fingernails digging even deeper. She glanced back at Rayner, a barely disguised look of disgust on her own face. “You can never be too careful. Soon, you won’t be a child anymore. I won’t be able to protect you forever.”
CHAPTERTWO
