Slave's Love (Pirate!Spamano)

Capítulo 6 (seis)

Romano's PoV:

Air rushed into my lungs and my surroundings began to move again, going from the slowest into the fastest motions. With eyes wide open and lips slightly parted, I stared at the two running horses with both men alive on their backs.

"¡Vamos!" Javier's deep voice shook me, my legs moving on their own as they squeezed the poor horse's sides and it dashed alongside with its mates. We galloped into a near-by forest, twigs slapping my cheeks on the way to safety. Angry sounds from the city died down but we still carried on until a loud bang rang through the air.

No-one was shot, thank God, but Javier turned his horse away from us, surprising mainly Antonio. "Sorry, joven. You carry on from here alone," he shouted with a heart-piercing grin before disappearing into the woods. Thanks to him, we were able to shake off whoever ran after us and we stopped our runaway when the night fell, kilometres away from the city and away from Javier.

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Fire brightened the midnight air, flames dancing with the stars in my eyes. Crack went the wood and it filled me with unusual calmness though my thoughts were all but wild in my head. The parting with Javier had me upset but also a bit scared; he might've been killed because of us. And even if he wasn't and was "only" caught, he couldn't and wouldn't come to us ever again as the army might follow him and kill us all.

My insides curled up in sadness and a cold shiver ran down my spine. 'Why such melancholic thoughts, you weakling?' sank deep into me but slowly withdrew from my head as I realized it was practically pointless to see it like that; mainly because that was what a certain someone would've said.

Yes, I was feeling miserable about the whole thing but the one who has been struck by it the most was, obviously, Antonio. He's been sitting there, in the darkness away from us. His hair was lightened by the fire but his face was invisible for one's eye. Truly, it was rather pitiful scene for someone with such status as his but nobody spoke up, even the two other men looked a bit bitter.

Still, even when the two of them decided to get some rest and shushed down the campfire, our captain sat there motionlessly, his gaze being fixed on nothing in the distance. Wet grass folded under me as I sat down beside him, just sitting there silently next to him.

After some time, however, when we were both sure Carlos and Federico must've been already asleep, a small vibration rang through me as his head rested on my shoulder. A beat in and my own head fell onto his lightly, yet we still remained in dead silence. Hand snaked across the grassy ground to his but only my finger dared to slightly touch his.

"Antonio-" "Let's get some sleep, shall we?" he quickly interrupted me, no rush in his voice despite that. He didn't move since his statement as a forced smile hung over his face. Thick hair stopped tickling my skin when he lifted his head away from me, my eyes falling upon him in a fixed stare.

"Not talking to me won't make it better," I breathed out at last. I could feel the muscles under his shirt tense up but still, a small laugh bubbled from his mouth. "Why the sudden sympathy?" The teasing words lingered in me for a while, my cheeks heating up a little bit. However, with clear mind I dropped the reasonable point-out that seemed to slap him harshly; "Well, we can't have our bastard leader all sentimental and shit; it would only slow us down, don't you think?"

He let his head hang low as he breathed in the cold breeze rolling around us, then snorted quietly through his nose and gazed into the darkness once again, "Guess you're right."

I noticed something flickering in his eyes, something unknown for me but I dared to guess it were emotions caused by his memories. "You know, idiot, there's still a chance of him coming back," I pointed out after many heartbeats of silence. "Very small one, too," he scoffed but seemingly cringed inside at the disrespectful comment.