"You can break my soul, take my life away, beat me, hurt me, kill me, but for the love of God...don't touch her." -Harry
Harry's POV:
I was holding Bella to me, crying as I heard cannons go off and screaming in the background. I didn't care though. All I cared about was her.
"Harry!!"
Why did she think she had to get in the way? Why does she always put herself last, even when others should clearly get punished? Why does she always do this for me?
"Harry!!"
My head snapped up, feeling someone's hand on my shoulder and I reached with one of my hands, throwing the hand off of me. When my eyes found who's hand it was, I sniffled, too sad to fight.
"Harry you'll kill her like that!" Shayla says and my eyes widen. Shayla pushes me away from Bella, and I stay still from where I land, watching as Shayla immediately gets to work. All I could feel were tears falling down my face and the terrible heartache that was in my chest.
"She's alive?" I croak but Shayla doesn't answer me, a fierceness in her eyes as she bandages her best friend. "Shayla, is she-" "Shut up." she interrupts me and I listen to her, which surprised me. Swallowing hard, I look around me, seeing the ship that attacked us already drifting away.
"They escaped?" I ask incredulously, anger rising back up in me, but when I go to stand up, my body feels heavy. I drop back down to my knees, cursing.
Again. It happened again.
"Captain?" My head turns at the sound of the timid voice, seeing the helmsman looking at me, blood covering his arm but otherwise unscathed. "Do you want to head back? The wind will be in our favor, we could make it by nightfall." he says and I swallow hard.
There was no point being out here if Bella wasn't going to be with me.
"Head back." I whisper and he nods, saying nothing else before heading back up to the wheel, beginning to turn the ship around.
"We got lucky." Shayla says grimly and I look at her confused. "Lucky? How is this lucky?" I ask, gesturing to all of the damage and wreckage of the ship we were on, not to mention the bodies that were lying dead on the ground.
"It could've been worse. And besides..." she trails off, finally turning to look at me. "Bella's alive."
My heart seemed to stop beating as those words fell from her lips, my eyes widening in shock. "She's alive?" I whisper and she nods.
"At least for right now. She didn't get stabbed straight through the stomach, it was only her side. But she had another wound on her arm that she was already losing blood from, and she passed out. I'm not saying she's in good condition, but she has a good shot of recovering." she says and I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.
"Thank you." I whisper, on my knees as I looked at Shayla, who seemed baffled. "Thank you." I say again and she shakes her head. "I'd save Bella any time. You..." she stops herself, her eyes softening and she lets out a sigh, moving over to me and placing a hand on my shoulder, a small smile coming to her face.
"You're welcome." she says warmly and I reach my hand up, grasping hers firmly and she gives me a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry. We know Bella, she's a fighter. She fights through everything." Shayla points out and I feel a smile come to my face, which felt quite foreign to me.
"You're right." I whisper and Shayla gives me another squeeze before standing up. "Help me move Bella to the bedroom. She doesn't need to just stay on the ground." she says and I nod, finally standing to my feet, my body not feeling as heavy, like a weight of relief was lifted from my shoulders.
We both gently lifted Bella from the ground, her upper body in my arms as Shayla carried her legs. Together we safely moved her from the deck and into the Captain's Quarters, and then to the bedroom.
Very carefully we laid her down on the bed, her head resting on the pillow while she lay motionless on the mattress. Her eyes remained closed, her hands idly by her side and if I hadn't known better, I would've thought she was dead.
I reached my hand out, placing two fingers against the side of her neck, relief flooding me as I felt her pulse. It wasn't very strong, but it was there. With a loud sigh, I drew my fingers back, stroking her hair before pulling back completely, staring down at the woman in front of me with pain in my heart.
"I'll leave you two alone. Don't worry, I'll keep you updated on where we are and how soon we'll reach England." Shayla says and I numbly nod my head, not having enough strength to fight her on it.
Shayla left the room without another word and I fell to my knees as I head the door shut, crying again as I put my head on the bed, right next to her body. My arms covered my face as I wept, not knowing whether to feel happy she was alive or devastated because of her sacrifice to me.
The look on her face flashed in my mind as I saw her lifeless eyes, her words straining from her lips...and then her caring smile.
Still, even after all of that, even in that much pain, Bella smiled. How it was possible I had no idea. I would've never been able to do it. Then again...I don't think I would've even given myself a second chance if I were in her shoes.
One thing no one truly appreciates about this girl is her heart. How genuine and how much she truly cares for someone.
And I abused that heart to the maximum.
Yet she still gave me a chance.
The conversation we had from when I was in the jail cell flashes in my mind and I swallow hard, remembering the sad look on her face as she smiled at me, telling me I didn't have to stay if I didn't want to. Of course I wanted to stay. There was never a time that I really wanted to leave. Even six years ago, when I did leave, it was incredibly hard. Seeing her breaking like that was the worst feeling ever, but at that time I believed that she was the cause for my father's death, although now I know it not to be true. She was never the problem.
Sniffling, I lift my head slightly, wiping my eyes, cursing myself for crying like this. I haven't cried this much in over six years. It's absolutely ridiculous how much I'm crying lately. First in the jail cell, and now this.
Both times have been because of Bella. But not because of her cruelty, but because of her kindness.
"I can't lose you." I whisper, reaching out and gently grabbing her hand in mine, holding the fragile hand like it would break if I held it too hard. "Please stay with me. Please don't ever leave. I will never leave you again." I whisper, the promise unheard, but not unmeant. I was going to keep the promise I just uttered, no matter if she heard it or not.
I couldn't leave this woman who had so much love for me that she would die for me. And now I have Layla as well.
My eyes widened at the thought of Layla, terrified of her reaction when she saw her mother like this. Bella is basically all she's known in her life, so seeing her crippled like this might break Layla's heart. And I don't think I could honestly stand to see that six year old cry.
Lowering my gaze to our hands again, I find myself frowning.
Those damn rogues. This was all their fault. Someone tipped them off not only once, but twice now. Probably even more times, but these two were the big ones. The one to frame my father and kill my brother, and the attempted murder of my life.
What did that blondie have against my family? There was clear hatred in his eyes, but I had never seen that kid before. He was sure to have something against me, and he even admitted it. It was killing me inside to know why he was trying to destroy everyone I loved and cared about, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to find out that answer for a long time as of now.
My priority was Bella.
Although...it is very strange how he said the informant was inside the castle. It could easily be anyone, any guard, any worker...but who would have it out for my family? For the Royal Family? My father was an amazing King while he was there, and the same goes for my brother. Both of them were just absolutely adored by the people, and my mother was loved by them as well.
There have been no attempts on Queen Phillipa. Why was it specifically just my general family? What hatred does he carry for us so much that he would want to kill us all off, or have us kill each other off?
The thought bothered me greatly, and I was trying to think of people who had any grudges against the throne before Phillipa came into power, but I drew a blank. There was absolutely no one, as far as I knew.
Shaking my head, I try to clear my thoughts. There was no use getting pissed about it now. I couldn't do anything about it yet. When we docked in England, the first thing I was going to do was get Bella to the infirmary, and have them transfer her to the castle's doctor so she could be ensured safety. I didn't want her to die, or to suffer greatly like this.
"You get better first, Bella. You aren't going to die, you're going to live. After you get better, then..." I trail off, putting my head back down as I kept her hand in mine, feeling a sort of peace in my body, as well as a sureness of the future, for some reason.
"...we'll go get them."
EHH I UPDATED!!! I wasn't going to update as soon but I stayed up later just for y'all to squeeze in a chapter haha. It isn't as long but still, it got rid of that huge cliffhanger right? Please let me know what you think!!