I see the moon in her eyes ✦ Maria and Robin ✦ The Secret of Moonacre

Along appointed sands.

The brig of the ship was woefully unpleasant. Maria was once again going green and this time there was no horizon to watch. She was still sitting in her night clothes, shivering. And she could only tell if it was night when The Magpie came down to give her dinner.

"You are the captain aren't you?" Maria asked. It was only the third day of being imprisoned. Both the first and second were uneventful. A man who did not introduce himself played solitaire just outside her cell before The Magpie came back to deliver her dinner and relieve the man.

"Of course," answered The Magpie, sliding the plate of food through to Maria. He sat down on the small stool perched right next to the cell door. He made sure that Maria would eat all of her food. "I wouldn't want my prisoner to starve."

"Then why are you the one to deliver my food and watch me?" Maria took a bite out of the stale bread. She had become accustomed to it in the past three days and didn't much mind the small amount of effort that went into eating it. It wasn't like she had any real entertainment to amuse herself with.

The Magpie licked his lips and took off his hat, scratching the top of his head. He looked around, his feathers jostling around his collar. Maria was afforded the view of his neck—of the way his skin stretched so perfectly across his muscles and Adam's apple as she continued to chew on her bread. It was a forbidden fruit she would not mind taking a bite out of. She threw her bread down back onto the plate at that thought.

"Something wrong with your food, princess?" The Magpie asked, turning back to face her.

"You haven't answered my question." Maria was distracting herself from her thoughts; she knew it too.

"Ah, I haven't," The Magpie answered. He smiled "I don't have to tell you though."

Maria rolled her eyes. And The Magpie laughed.

"Alright, I'll tell," he relented. "I don't have much of a ship to run. I'm really just a glorified first mate to my father."

"The Couer DeNoir?" The Magpie nodded.

"I do as he says. And I've done as he's asked. So now we wait."

"Until what?"

"Until my father tells me what to do with you."

Maria froze. "Are you going to...kill me?"

"If that's what he asks."

Maria was disgusted. She didn't try to hide it, she gaped at him and chills ran through her body, giving an involuntary twitch. She wasn't expecting any gentlemanly behavior (her lack of proper clothes had been enough), but she had expected that she would return to the side of her uncle. She didn't want to think about what her last moments would be or if she'd ever see her uncle again.

The Magpie grinned wickedly at her. "Are you not used to murder, princess?" His arms were crossed, but he was quite relaxed, unlike Maria's own crossed arms that kept her somewhat modest.

"You are? Do you murder many people?" Her hair fell in her face as she stood up, looking down at the captain sitting on his stool. The Magpie's face creased into one of anger. He stood slowly, his brows furrowed.

"I have only killed when I had to," he said darkly. "Not everyone has the luxury of morals."

Maria ground her teeth and clenched her fist. He was right and she hated it. "I like to think that there is a difference between murder and killing," she said. She wouldn't back away from this argument just because The Magpie pulled a pity card.

"I do have to agree with you on that count, princess." The Magpie had relaxed from his tensed shoulders. Maria let out a small breath. "But then again, I've been told that it is merely a way of assuaging the mind when faced with horrible deeds. A cheap morality if you will"