Aboard the Jackdaw: Under Edward Kenway And The Black Flag

32: Beyond Belief

He had planned it from the beginning. His heart was never his to have.

With a scream of rage, Anna grabbed the letter and threw it on the ground. She dug the short sword out of the door and relentlessly plunged it into Edward's note again and again. Eventually the sword went through the wood of the porch, and the letter was reduced to bits of paper.

Anna panted as she fell back down against the door. Uncontrollable heaves possessed her body as she grabbed handfulls of her knotted hair on top of her head. She nearly squeezed the tassels out of her roots as she rocked back and forth and her whole body shook with her loud sobs.

From the porch steps, someone called her name very softly, but she couldn't hear it over the emotions that held her brain hostage. She felt a strong, gentle hand grip each of her arms, and gently lower her hands from the roots of her hair.
Anna's tear-blinded vision made out a figure kneeling before her. Her blue eyes blinked furiously until she made out the man's grey-blue eyes that could only belong to one person. One of his eye sockets was purple and swollen.

"Russell.." Anna chocked in embarrassment.

She threw her arms around him desperately. She fought of the tears that tried to force their way out of her eyes. She never cried in front of people, and she felt humiliated that he caught her in the most vunerable state of her life.

Russell gently slid his arms around her back and whispered into her ear,

"It's all going to by fine, lass. It's going to be fine. It's all going to be randy-dandy I promise."
He whispered gently.

Anna squeezed her eyes shut and tried to listen to the soothing sound of his voice. It was the most reassuring sound that she had ever heard, but his words seemed like lies. He gently began to rock her and caressed her head as she buried her face in his shoulder.
Sobs began to overtake her again at the overwhelming comfort in his voice.
Russell stopped talking to place a small, tender kiss on her forehead.

Anna sniffled,
"He's gone, Russell. He's gone and he's never coming back."

She could feel her heart tearing more with ever word she said and she squeezed her eyes as tears poured down her face like blood from her heart.
Russell gently shushed her while he wiped the hot tears off of her cheeks,

"I know. He left at sunrise."
Russell admitted quietly.

Anna's blood-shot eyes shot up to him. Edward had already betrayed her.
Did her uncle betray her as well?
Was there no one in the world she could trust?

Sudden rage threatened to boil over her top,

"You knew this was happening?"
She growled.

Russell shook his head,
"No. Not until this morning when Kenway woke us and told us that we were leaving. I told him I wasn't leaving without you."

Anna released a breath of relief. She suddenly looked into his face and saw his left eye was purple and swollen. Also, his lip was cut, and stained with blood.

She asked,

"What happened to your face?"
She already knew the answer.

Russ sighed and set his swollen lip in a tight line,
"After the captain said that we were leaving you behind me and him had a little.. disagreement."

The last of Anna's tears stopped at Russell's confession. She nodded at the ground. She silently loved the fact that Russell and Edward fought over her. At least one of them really cared enough to stay..

Russell stood up and offered her a hand to help her,
"Come on, now. We can't stay here all day. Let's go drink at the Jamacian Prince just like we planned."
He encouraged.