Marrion o Floinn Chronicles: Book One

“W-What?” I spluttered, staring wide-eyed at the red-head. I took a step back away from him and shook my head. “Of course I do not want you to rape me!” My eyes dipped down involuntarily from his face to his belt and o Floinn arched an eyebrow higher, his gaze following mine to the pistol.

His eyes raised and fixed on my flushed face. So that had been what I had felt pressing hard against my back. A chuckle made me look up and o Floinn walked towards me. He stopped a step in front of me and tipped up my chin. His hand was warm, not cold as I had expected from standing out on the deck and running after me. “Are you sure, Lady Adelaide?” he cooed, a smirk twinkled in his eyes and curved his mouth. “You're awfully bold to allow your gaze to stray – ” he paused, lips parted, and he glanced down slowly for a heartbeat. Then his gaze returned to my eyes and his smile widened, his mischievousness sparkling brighter “ – down to my nether-regions?”

My face heated up more and I closed my eyes against his blue-green gaze. “No,” I sad tightly, “I do not want you to rape me.”

“Pity,” o Floinn mocked a pout and dropped his hand from my chin. He waved towards the man gripping my chains as I opened my eyes. “Off,” he said and walked away as I was dragged down below decks.

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The bar door creaked as it was pulled open and the green eyed man from before stepped into my cell, pocketing the key. I curled up on myself and scrunched into the farthest corner on the filthy bench bolted to the ship's side.

The man sat beside me, setting a plate down between us on the bench. A husk of bread and a couple chunks of cheese.

I narrowed my eyes at the man and he laughed. “Why are you laughing at me?” I said coldly, arms wrapping tighter around my knees to keep the cold away.

“You don't trust me.”

“Of course I don't! You laced my dinner night before last and you said you hadn't.”

He shook his head and smiled broader, crossing his ankles as he leaned back against the ship's curved wall. “You feared `twas poisoned. It hadn't been. Also, I hadn't said what I had done to the dish after cutting it from the hog. It's all a lot of technicalities, little colleen.”

I looked down my nose at the bread and cheese, licking my lips. “Is it... laced with anything at all tonight?” I still wasn't sure I could trust him; I didn't even know his name.

He shook his head and pushed the plate towards me. “Best eat whilst you can. We won't make port for a while now. Few more days at best.”

I nibbled my lower lip as I shifted in my spot, kneeling on the bench and picking up the plate gingerly. Then a thought occurred to me. “Why're you doing this?” I said, looking up at the man. I still didn't trust him, but I was starved.

He looked back into my eyes and his fingers tapped on his knee nervously. Something flickered in his gaze and he shifted in his seat beside me before he cleared his throat and looked away. “I can't tell you, little colleen.”

I smiled slightly despite myself and touched his arm. “It's okay...” I said lowly, comfortingly, “not all pirates are as bad as they are made out to be it seems.”

His gaze slid to the corner of his eye and crinkled into a smile. “Aye,” he said and stood, scooping my plate up and dumping the bread and cheese onto a kerchief. He handed me the little package and stepped away, pushing the cell door open and locking it behind him.

I tip-toed over the mucky floor and pressed my face between the iron bars, gripping them tight in my hands. I watched him walk away up the stairs, whistling a merry tune.

'Blasted – ' I still didn't know his name.

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I was startled awake by a rattling of keys and I bolted upright. “Ow,” I hissed, squeezing my eyes shut and kneading my temples. There had been more than just water in that skin.

My upper arm was gripped tightly and I was wrenched to my feet. I nabbed the folded square of kerchief before I was forced through the cell door, a wool blanket slipped off the bench I had slept on and onto the floor. 'That man must have come back late last night.'

A warm feeling blossomed in my belly and heated up my face. Who could have known that such a kind person could also be a pirate?

I gasped as I was jerked faster, tripping over my skirt and almost falling on the stairs. “Come on, girlie,” the man barked, dragging me up another two stories to the main deck. The man banged open the door and I flinched at the dying sunlight, shielding my eyes as best I could.

The sun was setting. I tried to recall how many days I had spent in my cell, but it was difficult to tell not being able to see the sun or moon. I referred to whatever meal I was brought as what I thought it was and the green eyed man never corrected me. And from what I could tell, he never brought my meals in a timely manner – just whenever he could without being caught.

There was a firm smack and I turned around. My “guide” rubbed the back of his head and narrowed his eyes, muttering curses on to whomever had thumped him. “Cap'ten wants her in his quarters.” My eyes widened at the green eyed man leaning over the railing above us, elbows resting on top of the open door.

“You didn't have to bloody hit me, Archet,” my guide hissed, still rubbing his head, and he pulled me back through the door and around the top of the stairs leading down into the belly of the ship. He rapped his knuckles against a door and straightened his spine.

“What is it?”

“I've brought the girl, Captain.”

There was a long pause before the door was jerked open and o Floinn filled the doorway. He looked down at me and tilted his head gently, his trademark smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth. “Right.” His gaze returned to the man behind me. “Thank you, Hedric,” o Floinn dismissed. Cool air pressed on my back as the man left.

O Floinn stepped back, leaving the door open. “Come,” he said, walking into the room.

I was a little shocked as I leaned in through the doorway. Red velvet upholstery and crème silk pillows adorned the furniture, cushions soft and thick. I arched my eyebrows a little higher, leaning in further. Not a spot of white. Deep mahogany panels were nailed in place of the ship's pale wood and the open windows in the back allowed the sunset into the room, the sound of the sea lapping at the ship was clear and warm – a seagull called not far off. We were close to land.

The chain of my cuffs were yanked on and I stumbled forward. “I said come,” o Floinn barked, pulling me passed a clawed-foot sofa, “not gawk. You should do as you're told.”

I dug my heels into the floor and jerked my hands. The red-head stopped in his tracks and sighed, keeping his back on me. “Wha – ”

“You're a bloody pirate!” I said, “Of course I won't take commands from the likes of you! You're a dirty scoundrel that deserves to have his throat slit!”

O Floinn whirled around and yanked down on my cuffs, the iron bit into my wrists as I stumbled a step into him. His eyes narrowed and his face hovered a hairsbreadth from my own. My cheeks flushed. No man had ever been that close to me (none other than family). “I should have you keelhauled for that,” he hissed.

I blanched. That would be a slow and painful death.

His gaze caught on something and o Floinn leaned down. “What's this?” a smile blossomed in his voice and he straightened. A white kerchief unfolded in his hand and the blush returned to my cheeks. Green eye – Archet's handkerchief! O Floinn's eyebrows arched curiously at my reaction. “Nurturing some affectionate feelings for Archet, are you Lady Addy?”

“Of course not!” I wrinkled my brow in protest and made to turn my back on the red-head, but the chain of my cuffs were firmly caught in his hand still. So, I looked away. He chuckled lowly and I saw him watching my face out the corner of my eye. “He's a kind man,” I said sternly, angling my chin up and away from o Floinn's prying gaze. “Unlike someone I know,” I huffed under my breath.

The red-head's expression hardened and I closed my eyes, regretting my words. Of course he would have heard me. He's barely an arm's length away. “You don't know me at all, Lady Adelaide.”

I snorted before I could stop myself and my mouth opened: “Please! You're a cruel person with a black heart. You've done nothing but keep me prisoner and feed me nothing. You should have released me days ago! You have no reason to hold me captive anymore; you have your bloody map and your safety.”

O Floinn's eyes slid shut and his jaw tensed, Archet's handkerchief balling into the red-head's fist. He growled and turned his back on me as he opened his eyes, yanking harder on my cuffs and dragging me towards another door. He threw it open and tossed me inside.

I fell on the cold floor in a heap and his eyes narrowed, boring into my own as I cowered against the wall. “I apologize,” he spat from the doorway, “but your bathwater is now cold. Clothes are in the trunk beside you.” He slammed the door on me and a key slid through the gap underneath the door and touched my foot.