He sent the man out to make the measurements before sitting at his desk. He left her on the bed, carrying on with his papers and maps as if she wasn't there. She might have been interested in what he was doing if she didn't feel so sick. She refused to drink anymore of the water, even though she was dying to. Instead, she pulled herself completely into the sail, tucking her head down to hide how red her face had become. She was horrified, practically shivering with shame. Tears burned in her eyes, quietly streaking down her cheeks. She remained sitting on the bed for what seemed an endless amount of time, shivering and streaking down tears until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She stayed still, but he grabbed a fist full of hair and pealed her stubborn head back.
"Me father may be an addled old white shark, but I know better than to go against any wish or command he may give." His expression had soft desperation in it. "I will keep ya comfortable as best I can, but I will also keep you on me ship by any means need be. I would sooner burn than risk the wrath of my father, aye?" He took a deep breath, wiping her wet eyes with his hard rough fingers. "Abide by the rules, you won't have to be the front-most passenger o'er the bow."
"And what rules might they be?" she spat.
"Do as yer told." She bit her tongue nervously. "A hammock will be hung for you to sleep, an' you'll wear the anklet at all times but night. We will be locked in my quarters by night, Ackley with the key. If they find me body cold in the morning, so will the sea yours."
"Is that so?" Her voice quivered, by any account an act of treason.
"Won't be found otherwise," he said, standing.
"Does it matter so much? Bleeding your fingers on something you don't even want-" She only heard the crack, then the hot sting of her cheek. She looked up at him, shocked, but he turned and left the room. He stood outside the door a moment, cursing under his breath before locking the door. He walked out to see the backside of Ackley, the stubbed man digging through the wagon.
"Well, that woman cost us a pretty penny." Ackley looked through their wagon of goods, fingering a dark navy blue dress bordered with laced pearls. "The wench wanted half a fortune an' another full in advance. To buy a brush is one thing, but perfume cost more than me bloody lifeless body."
"And a shame that would be." He smiled and looked through the supplies, passing few glances at her supplies. "It was good of ye to leave it, dare say the girl wouldn't the bloodiest id'a how to use the blasted stuff." Ackley smiled, watching him inspect and sort through the cart.
"And the woman, where 's she now?"
"M' cabin." Ackley gave him a funny look, but said nothing. "No tub?"
"Tub Cap'n? Have we not one?"
"Aye, but not one fit for a woman, least of all mine."
"S'pose you were to pick it Cap'n, rather than me pick'n the wrong." Ginger nodded, thinking this over, then picked up the navy dress.
"Take this to me woman and have her come to me, she will pick her own tub." Ackley slowly took the dress and turned to the cabin. "Ackley, the key!" He turned and snatched it out of the air and pressed it in the lock.
"Miss?" He stepped slowly into the room. She sat quietly against the wall on the bed, clutching the sailcloth as her sharp eyes pierced him. 'Bloody Siren,' he thought, shivering slightly. "By order of the Cap'n, you will accompany him to the city in this."
"City?"
"Aye." She had heard of cities, or rather men whispering or screaming bits about one such or another as they drowned. She stood, forcing her back straight and tall. She began to walk to the door, but he held his hand up and shook his head. "No, miss, in this," he handed her the dress. She looked at it questioningly and dropped the sail as she held up the dress, trying to figure out how it was she was to put it on. Ackley, who had at first stood shocked, now stood smiling.
"Do you know how to put on this?" she asked. She wanted to rip it, there was no way to fit inside such a thing.
"I wouldn't know miss?"
"Oh, I see.." She walked around him to Ginger, who had heard and turned from the wagon, his eyes bulging out of his head
"Are you mad woman? Coming out like a common whore?" He looked around the shipyard where many had stopped to stare. "Bloody hell woman!" he grabbed her and threw her back in behind the door.
"I- I only wished to. . . ." she stumbled into a cold silence and held up the dress. "I don't know how. . . . how to. . . ." she fought back tears, throwing the dress at him. "I don't know that." He looked the dress over, there was more to the dressing of a woman, as he had seen in the cart, but he hadn't the knowledge. Ackley was no help either, but that came as no surprise. So she would not be properly dressed, but she would not be naked. He loosened the lace in the front as much as he could without the laces completely coming out, lifting the bottom drapes for her body.
"Come, in." She gave him a puzzled look and looked up the skirt. "Put your arms through here and into the sleeves there," he pointed, "and head there." She did as she was told, and watched him pull the dress down. He laced the dress uptight until he came to her chest. It did not sit right in the dress to tighten, and yet adjusting.
'She has already been naked before me, this is little more.' Gingerly, he reached down the dress, propping her breasts up before quickly lacing the rest up. He had laced the dress proper, now what to do with the extra lace. He bit back a curse and stuffed it down her now bulging chest. She looked down at the dress, unsure what to think of it, least of all if there was a thing to say.
"There," he said, "Very near looking a proper woman." He smiled, taking her hand in his and walked off the ship.
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