"What is your purpose here."
I stare back at him. I am here because he kidnapped me. What other purpose could I possibly have. I raise an eyebrow at him in response.
"I said," he moves the blade towards my throat "What is your purpose here." He leaves a little space between each word.
I give him a little shrug.
"Speak." He shouts.
"What do you mean what I am to doing here! You are the ones that kidnapped me." I cover my mouth. I should not have spoken again. I do not need any more bad luck.
"You see. Right there is why you look suspicious, little siren. If you had nothing to hide, than why would you cover your mouth." A couple of tears start to run down my face.
"It is because of the curse!" I shout. He removes the sword from my throat and the tears are now like a waterfall running down my face. He seems shocked by my reaction.
"You are quite the actress lass. But you are not fooling me. I know for a fact that you are not cursed." I interrupt him while he is in the middle of whatever explanation he is trying to give me.
"No, no it's true. I was cursed by a witch when I was a baby. If someone hears me speak or if I go into the ocean, I bring terrible luck to the whoever hears or sees me." I can not stop all of this from coming out. I just keep talking. It is like the lifetime of frustration has finally reached its max.
"That's why I am here now! I spoke to Aiden and I got kidnapped by pirates. Then I fell into the water and I turn into some weird fish! I am just an ugly monster." I bury my face into my hands.
The captain kneels in front of me and rubs the tears from my eyes with his thumb. He caressed both my my cheeks with his hand and speaks to me in a soft tone.
"I don't know who told that to you but I promise you are not cursed."
My crying eases up a little with the sound of his comforting voice.
"You meet my mage Arianna" he continues to stroke his thumb across my cheek. I give him a little nod.
"Well, she reported to me after your checkup and there were no traces of dark magic. So, it is not possible that you are cursed." There is no way. He must be mistaken. There is no way that I would have been lied to for all these years.
"Is it possible that she is mistaken?" I ask.
"Highly unlikely. Arianna's speciality is dealing with curses and dark magic. If anyone were to recognize a curse it would be her."
"How would that explain the fish tail then? Normal not cursed humans don't grow tails."
The captain's eyes scan across my face, then he looks at me directly in the eyes for several seconds.
"Do you really." He begins to whisper quietly to himself and gives a little a little sigh.
"You are not a regular human." He says slowly as though he is explaining something to a toddler. "I believe you are a siren."
I have never heard of such a thing. Grandmother prevented the talk of magical creatures in the household. She said that it allowed bad energy to enter the premises. Though I am sure it was probably also made up like the curse.
"What sort of sick game were they playing with you." He runs the back of his hand along the edge of my face. "No wonder you looked so decrypted when you first came in here. They were keeping a fish out of water." He chuckles a bit to himself at his own joke.
"What do you mean? What do I look like now?" If I looked decrypted before, that must mean that something has changed.
"Why don't you just see for yourself." He states. Then he goes across the room and opens up the bottom right drawer. He scrummages around a bit before pulling out a hand mirror. It is a vibrant aquamarine color with a variety of pearls on it swirling in a delicate design. He hands the mirror over to me.
I grab the mirror and I hardly recognize myself. My olive skin is so smooth. It is like a porcelain doll. I touch it with my other hand and it feels so soft like a newborn baby. It is not dry or crumbly at all. My lips are so full and plump. I bite down on my lower lip and there is not a stingy sensation from all of the cracks. Then I notice my hair. It looks so smooth and wavy. It actually has some volume and it is so shiny. I run my fingers through it and it feel like silk. This is amazing. It is hard to believe that this is really me.
"I have made my decision!" The captain announces. I looks back up at him and he is back sitting in his chair.
"Those folks don't deserve a...treasure such as you." He says, carefully picking his words. He is using his hands a bit more when he is speaking.
"I am just going to keep you for myself. I'll just tell everyone that I decided to make you my concubine. " he smirks and nods his head in agreement with his own plan. I will not ever sleep with a disgusting pirate. Not in this lifetime.
"Now you don't have to look so disgusted. It is for appearances only. I am not foolish enough to actually have sex with a siren. Don't want someone to catch on and sell you for magical ingredients do we?"
"Maybe that is what I prefer." I retort back, "Better than being stuck here with you lot."
"Or maybe. You would prefer if I locked you up and threw away the key. I am sure that is preferable to being my consort." Crap. A consort or a prisoner. Not much of a choice there, at least as a consort I might have a chance of escaping.
"I am going to take your silence as an agreement. Come with me then. I will be showing you where you will be staying." I stand up and follow him a little bit down the hall.
We enter a room and he lights a candle. He places it on the bedside table next to a big four poster bed. There is a shelf full of liquor on the one side of the room. Next to it is a small table and chair. The other side of the room there is a display cabinet of various expensive looking treasures. There are two chests one on each wall next to the cabinets. He goes over to the chest that is by the liquor cabinet. He digs through it for a while then pulls out some rope.
"Give me your hands."
I recoil and pull my hands away from him.
"No way."
"I will not be having you murdering me in my sleep. So you will either corporate, or I will tie them together by force."
I back away a little more towards the door. Maybe it is not too late to just make a break for it.
He stomps over to me and hold me against the door.
"I am not in the mood to play games. You woke everyone up with your antics earlier and I just want to get some shut eye. Now give me your hands."
"What about my clothes? I will catch a cold if I go to sleep in wet clothes." He grunts and steps back towards the chest.
"Don't move" he glared at me. He pulls out two white shirts and a pair of pants. He throws one of the white shirts to me.
"Are you not going to change your gloves?" I comment.
"Mind your own business and get changed." He starts to take his own clothes off and he is staring at me the whole time.
"Are you not going to turn around?" I ask feeling a little self conscious.
"And have you run away. I think not. Now, Stop asking so many questions" He takes off his shirt and I find myself staring at his muscular chest for a second before turning away. I will not give him the satisfaction of my looking. I switch out of my wet dress and into his billowy white shirt as quickly as I can. After I am done changing, I feel his arms wrap around me and he grabs my hands. He pulls them behind me and ties the rope around them.
"There. Now that we got that settled. Time to finally get some sleep. I will let you know my plans for you in the morning ." He picks me up and throws me onto the left side of the bed. He puts the blanket on top of me before climbing in himself on the other side. He blows out the candle and I am left in complete darkness.
I begin to hear a light snore and I am left alone with my thoughts. I just don't know what to do. Even if I try to escape, where would I go? My grandmother has never told me the truth about my past. I don't know if I even want to go back with them. To be a bride to a man that a barely know and I would have to keep this new found knowledge a secret. Maybe I can start over. Move to a town far away from here and be a governess to some rich family. I do have the education for it.
Or maybe I do go back. I pressure my grandparents and find out what they actually know. But, what if they turn me in for being a siren and I actually get sold for magical parts. But, wouldn't they have done that by now if they were planning on it?
There is one thing that I know for sure. I need to find a way out of here.