"That's nice…good girl," he muttered. "Now, if you want to stay in my good books, you wait here and have a nice talk with me while my men search your ship. Understood?"
Not capable of forming a coherent answer after hearing so much about her lips, she just nodded.
"So, make yourself comfortable. I apologize for not bringing cushions for the sweet captain, but the stone floor will have to do." He gestured towards the pirate holding her that the man was free to let her sit down.
She tried to fold her legs in a way that would not reveal any skin. It was the least she could do to maintain the air of a proper lady.
"You have been working hard to get my head as a hunting trophy." The pirate king chuckled. "I guess I should not be surprised as much as I should be flattered."
An unlikely sight, a man in a simple, gray robe, appeared into the temple, carrying a bowl full of candles. He simply passed through the space. Neither of the pirates paid any attention to him, and Mariana began to wonder if the proximity of that cube had made her hallucinate.
In theory, that was possible.
"Do you remember the hydra?" she asked. She wanted to have a normal conversation that would not end up in either of them bleeding or kissing anyone. She tried to get eye contact with him, in a subtle way, none of that burning, blazing, hot stuff.
The pirate king groaned. "How could I forget that beast…cost me a mast and thirteen good men."
"We killed one on the way up north," Mariana said, trying to sound as brave as humanly possible while captured by a maybe-demonic former pirate lover.
"Really? What did it look like?"
Success! Now they were just having a chit-chat about nautical tales.
What Mariana failed to think about was that something, that little thing Daniel had said about wanting the exact same outcome from this interaction, but after a moment it hit her.
She was playing into his expectations. Was that really so bad, though?
"Exactly the same as the one we encountered," she confessed. "I don't even remember how many heads it had. Not anymore, at least."
Daniel clicked his tongue. "You'd think that we'd remember all the juicy details, but instead we remember how good the rum tasted after the kill or that Hamster John wore a funny hat during the celebration. It's crazy."
Mariana saw it as the best course of action to lean towards him, as if they were both in a secret pirate conspiracy that they had to cherish with elaborate social rituals and a promise of intimacy.
"Is it bad that we remember those things, though?" she asked him. "For me, it may not have been the clearest moment of clarity, but I do think that there is a reason why I have such a vivid image of that party in my head."
"We didn't even participate properly."
"That was for the best. It was awful to watch them get so mad at each other. And we…"
Yes, they had very nearly seen each other in states of varying undress. It had not been half as awkward as it sounded like when they talked about the chance encounter years after the event. In reality, though, nothing that shocking had happened, except for the time they had…nearly kissed, yes, Mariana recalled being all flustered and flattered by his advances.
"You were so sweet back then," Daniel said with a hint of sorrow in his voice. "I should have refrained from making any plans with you."
"Why?"
"Every relationship goes sour as soon as there is talk of a future or something like that."
Mariana remembered her engagement with Sam, so devoid of any meaning that he surely had called the whole thing off after seeing that his valuable items had been stolen. Well, they had not been his own items, but that made her theft even worse. No, surely that man did not want to think about it, let alone marry her. Her company would have been a punishment to the honored cor.
Still, Mariana chose to tell the tale to Daniel. She didn't know whether she wanted to make him jealous, amused, or both, but she succeeded in making him laugh.
The pirate king thought that it was a great achievement to steal a whole piece of furniture without having to carry it away with one's own arms and hands.
"Yes, I really took a carriage!" Mariana was nearly choking on her giggle. "I only wish I would have seen his face…"
"Must have been priceless! What kind of a sour curmudgeon talks like that during a PROPOSAL?! Did he honestly want to bore you to death?"
"I think he expected me to let him use a bag of paw and talk to him until HIS death…"
"And then Sam would have told you to shut up about your whole piracy career, leaving you with nothing but the same tale about…"
They talked and talked, entertaining each other and completely forgetting that there was a reality where they had an obligation or at least a very good reason to kill each other. It was shocking, really, just how well she got along with him, but her mind did not even register his words as normal speech anymore. It was like they communicated directly with pure thoughts and energy. Finally, when they started to mirror each other's movements like lovers or good friends, they made eye contact and stopped right there, laughter drying up on their lips and becoming something even better.
They breathed in, in unison, perfectly matching the depth and the sound of the other, and somehow they were one for a moment. Again.
"It's good to have you as my prisoner," Daniel said with a roughness in his voice.
"It's not horrible being here with you. I mean…"
"Aye, aye, I know what you mean. Shut up and let me look at you. Mariana…"