[Vereena]
I stared at my father's face, and even with the distance, I notice more strands of his hair replaces his dark brown mane. He had developed frown lines around his mouth and that he looked significantly older than the last time I have seen him. It feels like it was already been decades since my engagement banquet with Prince Tarquin. I could not believe that was has been months since I got captured. Even the prince, his beard grew thicker around his jaw, but his bright blue eyes remained the same.
Thousands of things ran through my mind about how I will be rescued, or if had to escape the captain's clutches and send words to my father where they could find me. Morinfail Port to say the least. I even entertained the idea of plunging headfirst into the water and swimming along the shoreline with the sharks, but never envisioned this scenario in my head.
We were too close. I am too close to coming home. To my freedom and to the man I am intended to marry. Yet they are too far for my reach.
The captain had me immobilized. His huge hands wrapped around my thin wrists, heedless about my searing wound, while his fingers tightly coiled into my hair. My tears seemed to have a mind of their own and flowed nonstop.
"Steele." My father spoke loudly, lowering his hand carefully as he strode into the front line of his soldier. Now I know why they were called bluecoats. I have seen my father's uniform whenever he comes home, but I have never seen a battalion of navy soldiers lined up so rigidly, ready to blow us in pieces, waiting for their admiral's command.
My father.
"I know we have animosities between us, but leave my daughter out of this. She's innocent." He orated diplomatically while his gaze riveted on my trembling frame, firmly pressed against the huge pirate.
Captain Steele told me the first time we talked that I am going to be the payment of my father's debt. I don't know what he meant, I thought it is going to be a considerable amount of gold, or perhaps a chest full of treasure, but my situation right now tells me that there is something more to it.
That I have yet to find out.
I could feel the captain's heartbeat thundering into my back and his hot breath blowing on top of my breath. The low rumble of rage in his chest vibrated through my body and his grip on me became even tighter.
He's angry. Not with me, but with my father.
"You should have considered that before you punch a hole into my brother's heart!" The captain roared, smoldering with resentment, but a little to it, I caught a gist of grieved in his voice.
His brother.
My father killed his brother?
As much as astounded as I am, I couldn't help but felt sympathy for him and for his loss. I didn't see a man that hold grudges, but a man that is mourning and taking me is one way of coping with his vengeance.
However, this is wrong. He shouldn't have taken me in the first place.
"Everyone has a price, name it in exchange for my betrothed's life."
I broke out of my trance soon as I heard Prince Tarquin speak as he stepped right next to my father. His voice was full of authority, trying to negotiate how he could pry me out from the pirate's clutches.
"In the name of your prince and king, Hanry George Lockhart II, I will ensure pardon for this act of abduction and lessen your amount of crimes."
His crimes will be lessened, it is quite fair, but they will not be completely eradicated. There is still the possibility that he will be prosecuted with more offenses that he committed..
It won't be enough.
"You are not my prince," Captain still sniggered, venom coating his voice as he spat. "And fuck with the king!"
"How dare you insult the king in front of me!"
Even with our distance, I could clearly see Prince Tarquin's face reddened with anger. The manner in which the captain degraded the king's name in the presence of royalty warrants a severe sentence of death that is appropriate for the gallows or hanging. Yet, Captain Steele seemed not to be fazed by those punishments as his voice did not waver.
"We are in the sea, pretty prince, and I make my own rules and law." The captain blustered gravely, my head bouncing against his chest as he pressed me even closer to him. "Go back to your lavish land of rubble!"
My wrist seared with pain, and so is my scalp. My neck hurts from getting bend outwardly for too long and the tip of my boots barely touching the wooden floor.
"Captain, please. You're hurting me." A tremor rolled through my lips, my chest heaving with exertion as I struggled to adjust my wrists from his grip.
He was too consumed by his rage that he almost forgot that I am wounded and my ankle hurts from getting twisted a while ago when I ensnared myself in the veins. His grip on my wrists suddenly relaxes, but only a little bit—not nearly enough for me to be able to wriggle them free. He also let go of my hair, only to grip my jaw and keep me in place, leaving no room to move. Nonetheless, the pain lessens.
"Captain," I breathe out, tilting my towards his direction, though I wasn't expecting his face to be too close to mine. His nose touched the side of my cheeks. My heart skipped a bit, and my stomach flipped with unknown feelings. But I ignored it and cleared my head, sorting the words I wanted to say.
"I know deep inside you're a good person. You kept your words with our bargain, feed the stray children and…" I took a deep trembling breath, hoping that he wouldn't lash me out as I continued. "About your brother, I am sorry for what happened."
My voice cracked at the last part as my throat suddenly constricted with a sob. I lost my mother as well, but I was only a baby at that time when she died. I don't completely grasp the concept of losing someone, but there are times that I was blaming myself for her death. If it wasn't because of me, she would have been alive until now. Yet, my father never let me feel that it was my fault she was gone now.
I am not saying that Captain Steele and I were the same. His brother was killed by my father, but I deeply shared his sentiments on this and I am not about to extoll what my father did. Taking one's life is a sin, but he was doing his duty to the kingdom as an admiral. He swore an oath before the king to protect the sea from pirates.
From people like Captain Steele. He should have known the repercussions of the means of their living.
"Are you really going to talk me out about this, caileag?" He groused gutturally, his grip on my jaw softening as he tipped my head and run his nose on the curve of my cheeks.
This hasn't been the first time that we were this close. I remember the time when I was fighting back in his quarters while I am only wrapped in a blanket, but his effect on me never changed. My body felt traitorous, waging war against my mind as I wanted to resent the way his touch grazed my skin, I couldn't help but noticed that a little part of me liked it.
This is pure madness. This adulterous sensation thrummed on my body.
I shouldn't be feeling this way. Not when my betrothed and my father are watching us.
"I want to go home, I'm begging you…Let me go." I beseeched, my voice no louder than a whisper as I closed my eyes, tears falling as my heart continued to bludgeon my chest.
The silence encapsulating us stretched with thick tension hanging in the atmosphere. Canons draw on both sides, swords unsheathed and everyone waiting in sheer suspense. The gentle waves crashing against the hull and the strong gust of wind billowing the sail suddenly became too loud.
That until Captain Steele burst into a harrowing laugh that made the tiny hairs on my body spiked up in trepidation as he completely ignored my plead.
"No, lass. You're staying here with me," he muttered gruffly and then shifted his attention across the other ship where my father and Prince Tarquin waited for his decision.
"A life for a life, admiral. If you don't want anything bad will happen to your daughter, let us pass and forget all about her."
If my father had a heart ailment, he could have died on the spot. He faltered on his feet and if not for the soldier next to him, he might have fallen over right where he was standing.
"What? No! Free my daughter!" He cried, losing all his composure as a respectable officer, pushing the soldier next to him and leaning his waist dangerously on the edge of the railings, and I fear for a moment he would fall. "Take me instead! It is I that killed your brother. My life for my daughter!"
I have never seen my father this distressed, so devastated and my heart broke witnessing him being like this. He had lost my mother, and now he's losing me too. The pain in his eyes were too raw from me to bear. He couldn't launch an attack without risking my life, and I never felt this helpless in my entire life.
Captain Steele hauled me away from the railings into the middle of the deck, turning deaf with my father's plea.
Then, without a warning, let go of his hold on me all at once as he barked out his command to his crew. "Men! Let her sail!"
"Aye Cap'n!"
The wind immediately picked up the sails soon as they dropped and the captain left me in complete abandon as the ship suddenly jolted forward. I stumbled to my feet, rolling into the deck and the uproar of laughter reverberated around me.
"Lady Vereena!"
Prince Tarquin's voice echoed, and I ignored the pain blasting on my body as I forced myself to stand up and hobbled all the way to the bow of the ship. I watched helplessly as the gap between my father and my betrothed burgeoned. I glanced down into the bubbling water, a fleeting thought drilled into my head, screaming at me to leap. But, I became too afraid, my knees wobbled from the height, and before I got the chance, my courage had already retreated.
"Prince Tarquin!" I cried out, leaning further into the rails, screaming as I saw him running into the rear part of their ship. My vision blurred with tears as his image shrunk and my hair whipped across my face.
"I will come for you, my lady. I promise you that!"