Tides of deception ✺ Outlander/Stephen Bonnet Fanfic

♤20. Forging an alliance

The early morning air was thick with tension as they lay next to each other in silence, the weight of the previous night's confrontation still fresh between them. Stephen was awake. The cabin felt small, charged even, but he could only listen to her steady breathing.

Maria stirred in her sleep, caught in a dream of her old life-a small apartment, the view from her window, tea in hand, the world outside distant and safe. For a brief moment, there was peace, a sense of normalcy. But it slipped away as she began to wake, her body heavy with the unfamiliarity of the world she was in now.

When her eyes opened, she found Stephen already awake, lying beside her, staring at the ceiling. His expression was unreadable, though the weight of the letter still hung heavily in the air. She shifted slightly, drawing his attention.

"You're awake," he muttered, his voice low and rough with exhaustion.

Maria sat up slowly, her body tense as she searched for the words to begin a conversation she wasn't sure she wanted to have. But Stephen spoke first.

"I've been thinking," he began quietly, still looking upward. "About... everything." His tone was strained, as if it pained him to dredge up his own thoughts.

Maria glanced over at him, remaining silent, waiting for him to continue.

Stephen inhaled sharply, as if steeling himself. "You think I took you just for control. For power. But it wasn't like that." He sat up now, shifting his weight, facing her with a serious, almost haunted look in his eyes. "When I found you by the stones... when you tried to run..." He shook his head slightly, as if reliving the memory. "I was hardened by the life I'd lived, Maria. Growing up the way I did, fending for myself since I was a boy, it changes you. You learn not to care too much about feelings-yours or anyone else's."

His gaze fell to the floor for a moment before he continued. "I've done things I'm not proud of, and I've been around men-like Blackbeard-who do far worse. I saw what happened to women caught by pirates...I chased you, for the fun of it, but I knew what would happen to you if I didn't take you then. And you... you were different. You intrigued me."

Maria's heart pounded in her chest, memories of that terrifying moment by the stones flooding back-his hand on her dress, the way he'd pulled her back as she tried to escape, the mocking way he'd spoken to her, and the sheer panic that had surged through her.

Stephen's voice softened, almost as if he were speaking to himself. "At first, I thought you'd be useful, someone I could keep close for my own reasons. But I was never going to lay hands on you, Maria. That was never my plan."

Maria scoffed, crossing her arms defensively. "And I was supposed to trust that?"

Stephen met her gaze, his expression hardening slightly. "I didn't care if you trusted me then. I didn't care about anything but keeping control of my own world. It's what I knew. It's how I survived."

He turned towards her, his face intense. "But you... you changed things. At first, you were just another part of my life, something to figure out and deal with. But over time..." He paused, the words hanging heavy in the air. "My feelings for you, they grew into something I hadn't felt before. I wasn't used to it, didn't know what to do with it. And when I offered you a way out, you left"

Maria stood from the bed, the anger she'd been trying to hold back bubbling to the surface. "You're still making excuses, Stephen. You took me. From my life, my world. You didn't give me a choice!"

"I know," he said, standing up to face her, his voice laced with frustration. "But that's what I knew! That's how I was raised, how I lived. I didn't know any other way."