Saving The Pirate (Book Two)

56. Men

The next couple of days had been rough. The air around Captain and me has grown stiff and even more intensive than it had already seemed. We didn't talk to each other and hardly even acknowledged one another. Tristan picked up on this and asked if it was alright. I told him that it was and there was nothing to worry about, but he didn't believe me but decided not to say anything more, shifting the conversation about Jack.

"Jack said that he likes Gata. G-at-a love a man that likes cats," he smiled one day when we were taking a walk outside.

"You like this Jack fellow, huh?" I commented, smiling back, glad the conversation had changed. "Does he-"

"We shagged last night."

Everything went still. I stopped walking and looked at Tristan. "Y-you what?"

"Shagged. Last night. After all of ye fell asleep, Jack an' I were talkin' 'bout things, and he leaned in for a kiss and...we took things from there."

I was at a loss for words. I even think my mouth was hanging open. Dear God, Tristan had intercourse with not just our tour guide, but the right-hand man to the bloody king!

When I was finally able to speak, I said, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, Annie, I'm in love!" Tristan threw his hands in the air dramatically. "G-a-t-a love this island!"

I rolled my eyes. "I hardly think bedding him counts of love."

"One, he bedded me. And two, I told him I loved him this morning, and he said so back, so ha! Love!"

Words. Help. Me.

"Uh, so...now what?"

Tristan shrugged. "I don't know. Marriage, I guess."

"You just met, you...he bedded you, and now you want to get married? That's moving a bit fast, don't you think?"

"Not as fast as Chrissy smoked those cigars."

"Yeah..."

***
Along with the tension between Captain and I, came a growing relationship between Cora and me. It had turned out that Cora had been raised in the castle her whole life. Her mother was a maid, and her father was a stable hand, both retired in the village somewhere.

Cora said that she had learned many things about working in a castle. One, that there were times when she had to do more than what was being asked. An example of that was when Cora was supposed to deliver towels to the queen's room to have her bath. The maids supposed to give the queen her bath was not in the room yet. It was just her and the queen.

And then the queen went into labor.

Scared and not knowing what to do, little Cora who was barely fifteen led the queen to the bed and helped her lay down, screaming at the top of her lungs for help. It wasn't until five minutes later did anyone hear her and come rushing in to help. There, Cora was in a crazed rush to gather supplies. Things such as more towels (apparently not enough for a baby) and a pair of scissors to cut the ambilocal cord. She said she never been more scared in her life!

Then, after many hours, Princess Sura was born, who Cora had the most wonderful and disgusting pleasure of witnessing.

The second thing that she learned while working in the castle was that at times, it was the most wonderful thing in the world. For gowns that the queen no longer wanted or was torn and ruined, she and the other maids were allowed to make with it at will. Sometimes they tore it for fabric, sometimes it was sold for quick cash.

"You know what's also great?" Cora had said, brushing my hair one night, "sometimes I assist Hect-. I mean the prince."

I looked at her in the mirror. "Assist him how?"

She smiled from ear to ear. "I bring him towels, clean his room, sometimes I even wait on him."

"I don't see how that's different than what you already do."

She shrugged. "Waiting on a handsome prince? It improves my day a whole lot!"

***

Maybe it was because she had other things to do, or maybe it was because she wanted to be respectful, but Cora never stuck around when I came back from dinner. She wasn't in the room when I came back, and I didn't see her until she woke me up every morning. I didn't ask her why because I thought it was a stupid thing to ask and pretty awkward at that, so I left it alone. It was only when she was there one night when I came back to find her teary-eyed did I know something was wrong.

"Cora, is something the matter?" I asked, concerned, just coming into the room. Cora was trying to wipe her tears in the mirror.

"I'm fine," she said. "Go away, would you?"

"Cora, I-"

"Go away!"

I left the room and closed the door. I didn't want to upset her any more than she already was, but not three minutes later, she opened the door.

Cora's tears had been wiped away, but her brown eyes were red. She told me to come in. I did. She asked me how was dinner. I told her it was fine. She asked if I wanted to get ready for bed, I said that I was and she proceeded to hand me a nightgown to wear. I changed in the bathroom and came out to find Cora sitting at the edge of the bed, her fists balled up. She looked more angry than she did sad a moment ago.

"Is everything alright, Cora?" I tried, just glad she calmed down. She turned to me like she forgot I was there.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She snapped.

It wasn't a response that I was expecting and quickly apologized. Cora looked away from me. Instead, she looked herself over in the mirror, her eyes sharp.

"Don't you ever hate your pretty boy captain? Doesn't he ever do something that just got on your nerves?"

I thinned my lips and considered the question. I wasn't sure I wanted to answer it, but I felt that it was something Cora needed to hear. I climbed into bed and drew my knees to my chest, looking at Cora's face in the mirror. She didn't look back.

"Well, yes, actually." Cora still didn't look at me, only herself. I paused to really think about what I was going to say. If it was worth it. I decided that it was. "Cora, I didn't tell you the whole truth about Captain and me."

I pulled at a loose string on my nightgown. "Captain and I-. Christopher and I courted, but then I-"

"It was a woman, wasn't it?"

I looked up at her, feeling the prickle of tears in my eyes. I finally met her eyes and nodded. "It was his former fiancee from before I met him. It's a long story, really, but when I found them, he was drunk and she was on his lap." The first tear came, and I looked back down, trying to cover it up.

"I-, and then I asked him for a job, and he let me. I get paid. I'm working for myself. I've always wanted to, to work that is, to see the world, and be free, and working for Christopher is the only way I can accomplish both dreams." More tears came, falling on the sheets. "It's just...I thought I loved him. I really thought I did."

I sniffled, wiping my face. There was no response from Cora, and I don't think I wanted her to respond. "I just can't forgive him. He was drunk when he was with her, and he says that it was just the liquor talking and that he was sorry. The thing is that I can't forgive him. It was his fault he was drunk, and maybe that makes me a bad person for not forgiving him for something so small, but it plays something bigger, and he thinks he could fix it, that it could all go back to the way it was, but it can't. It just can't. Maybe it's for the best."

"It was your mistake, you know."

I looked up. Cora's face was still and looked angry. "You shouldn't have gotten involved with such a man. They'll break your heart. They always do."