Pirates

Chapter 18

I was still in a daze when I dined with the Captain that night. The food was exquisite, but I couldn't bring myself to truly appreciate it. I really did not know love. How was it that I was so disturbingly uneducated that I thought I loved the man I was betrothed to? Had I been so blinded by the whims of my father that I had fooled myself into believing it so?
"I saw you talking to Coras today. What were you talking about? It looked rather intense from my angle." Said the Captain  placing some lamb into his mouth, then taking a sip from his chalice of wine.
"Nothing much." I replied still living inside my head of questions.
"Come on. Play fair, I saved your life, now you tell me what you were talking about. Was it me? I love it when people talk about me." He winked, but I barely even looked at him, only saw him enough to see the humour in his eyes falter a little.
Without thinking, I responded "We talked of love." The Captain choked a little and fell into a coughing fit, his face going red. After he quickly answered with
"Um, why would you be talking to Coras about love?" He asked looking at his food. "Was there anyone in particular mentioned?" He continued, not making eye contact.
"No there was not and I dare say that was the issue." I said smiling a little.
He looked up then and hesitated a little before saying "O-Oh right. Right." He nodded, looking into space before he carried on eating.
After ten minutes' silence he said "I think you should continue to sleep in my bed from now on."
I dropped my cutlery on the plate before shouting "I beg your pardon?!" I shot out of my chair.
He looked utterly confused at my outburst. "I think it would be better for the both of us if you slept in my bed from now on."
"It certainly would be better for you, but I'm terribly sorry, I am not that kind of a girl."
Realisation dawned on his face as he stood up suddenly and said "No. No, no, no, no, no! I wouldn't be in the bed! I would be elsewhere. You would be in the bed. Alone!"
I slowly sat down. "Alone?"
"Completely and utterly." He nodded and he sat down too. Then he began to chuckle. I couldn't help myself, and soon I, too, was laughing. Too hard. It really wasn't this funny. I couldn't stop. When I finally could, I looked back at him to find him looking at me, across his face was an emotion I couldn't identify, but it made my cheeks flush. He quickly checked himself and said "It's just that, you seem to have made some enemies aboard and I don't trust them not to hurt you."
I smiled. "Your precious bounty."
He rolled his eyes "Would you stop that?" He looked shocked as though he hadn't meant to say that outloud. Then he smiled a little. "Sorry. It's been a stressful few days."
I got an odd feeing knowing that the Captain had been so stressed about finding me.
"I recently found out that I have a spy in amongst my men." My heart dropped. He wasn't stressed about me. Why did my heart drop? What had the Captain's feelings to do with me?
"Oh?" I asked enthusiastically.
"It's nothing, it's fine. Look it's getting late, I'll just grab some stuff and go. Make yourself comfortable. I'll see you in the morning." He stood up and walked over to one of his drawers, grabbing small pieces of paper and charcoal. He carried that in one hand and with the other he took a single jumper.
"Where will you stay?" I asked, I didn't want him to be too uncomfortable, after all her had given me his room for a while.
"Your room. Look, no one can know about this, is that clear? It would completely dismantle the entire idea. Is there anyone who frequently," he coughed awkwardly. "Does anyone frequently come to your room?"
I thought for a second. "Coras does sometimes." He smiled as though saying 'Of course he does' sarcastically and I couldn't for the life of me work out what it meant.
"Good night, Dahlia."
"Wait." He turned inquisitively.
I paused, a little embarrassed. "I have a shirt I normally change into at night, it's in my room, under my pillow."
He smiled. "I'll be back in a minute."
I stood awkwardly alone in the room and awaited the Captain's return. Curiosity got the better of me and I looked around a little. Most shelves were bare. I accidentally knocked off one of the map scrolls and bent over to pick it up. As I did, I noticed a shape under the bed and reached for it. It was a book, worn and tatty, though some might say well loved. It was a book of old fairy tales, snow white, jack and the beanstalk, cinderella. I had always loved them, people had told me that I was to old for them now, so I had stopped reading them, but seeing those old titles again made my heart soar. I opened the front cover to find an inscription, but I closed it before I could read it, it was just too personal.
Soon enough he was back, but his hands were empty. His eyebrows were drawn close but it wasn't anger it was more determination.
"I could have sworn it was under the pillow." I explained hopelessly. Where was it?
"No, I found it." He corrected me.
"Then where is it?" I asked completely confused by the entire situation.
"Overboard. That wasn't a shirt it was a rag." By this point he was searching through his drawers. Then he pulled a white shirt out and the look of determination dissipated. He passed it to me.
"Thank you." I said in earnest. I could never have expected this -no that was a lie, I had to give him the credit which was due to him. He was proving to be a very kind man, despite all that had happened between us and I could almost swear that had we met under different pretenses, we could have got along very nicely. I looked into his eyes and there was warmth there.
He placed his hand on my shoulder smiling, before taking my hand and kissing the back of it. He then gave a curt bow, turned on his heel and left without another word.