Peter's Flame

Part 46

He explained. He explained long and good.

We talked well throughout the night and till dawn we spoke of nothing more than our past. Both of ours.

He told me of my mother. A beautiful woman who had a fiery temper and challenged him at every turn.

Emilee.

Emilee Guard.

His personal temptress.

She was witty and could command an army with a single glare. With fiery hair and grey eyes that pierced everything that came in her way. He said that I was the spire image of her. I argued that my temper was worse.

He only laughed. Then he cried. They met as she infiltrated his ship as a man before holding a sword on his chest. She never once did manage to kill him.

I finally had a name.

Alina Jones.

I was my father's daughter. Except for that I wasn't. I told him about my past. All of it. He cried. He wept for his daughter.

He hated himself. He hated his brother in law. He hated that he left me.

But he mostly hated that I grew up without either parent. Not with a mother. And not with a father. I had asked to meet my mother but that was my mistake. My mother had died. She was killed with me in her arms.

A ship had ambushed them and only had eyes for the Queen of the Sea. He had snuck into the room, in the dead of night, and stabbed her while she held me in her arms.

He had left me on that doorstep because he couldn't handle himself or me at the same time. Scared that he might do something rash. To me. Or to himself.

I had understood his fear of hurting others but not himself.

I had isolated myself in hopes of protecting others from an outburst of uncontrollable power.

I had gone from so many different stages during the night that I realized how long we had been talking. It was already dawn and it dawned on me that even though he was my father, I still hadn't told him about my abilities.

Maybe it was because somewhere in the back of my mind, I was still that scared, hopeless, little girl who refused to believe that someone cared. That someone loved me. That someone... was my own.

I knew I wasn't going to tell him but also that, one day he was going to find out.

But when the time came, I would know. And I would show everyone what I could do.

Now wasn't the time.

He was watching me, a look of curiosity on his face as I suddenly became very quiet.

I stood up, giving my thoughts time to calm down as I took a deep breath. This gave me time for the crew to wake up.

They bolted awake, still tied up and struggling to catch their breath as they saw me.

I walked out the door as they began to quickly untie themselves and shut the door behind me, leaving Hook inside with them.

I walked up the stairs, taking in the fresh cold air that whipped at my face. I tore off my mask, not needing it anymore now that they knew of my identity.

The air whisked against my face and I flinch at the contact before slowly getting used to it.

I let out a shaky laugh that I had been holding in as my brain caught up with my ears.

I had done the one thing I had promised not to do again.

I had let someone in.

This was wrong. They would die. They would leave. They would ditch me the second they have the chance.