When Wren, a lowly servant of a wealthy family, is kidnapped by pirates and brought before the notorious Captain Harry Styles, she's certain that her life will consist of misery. She's used to serving the snobbish Hadley Aubigné and her family, but...
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I woke up slowly, stretching and yawning, wondering why Hadley hadn't awakened me yet. It was usually her shrill voice demanding some menial task that jolted me from my precious few hours of sleep.
Then I remembered. I opened my eyes, hoping the past two days had been a dream. But I was greeted by the sight of Captain Styles' bed, empty and put into order as if he'd never been in it. Then I also remembered he had indeed slept there the previous night, and he'd done some other things there as well. Things that made my stomach feel funny when I thought about them. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant funny feeling, but something I'd never felt before in the pit of my gut. I found that I wanted to close my eyes and replay the entire scene, Captain Styles so wantonly gratifying himself while thinking he was carrying out a completely private act. The look on his face was so-
"Ah, little bird," Captain Styles bellowed as he burst through the door. "You're awake."
My face flushed deeply upon his entrance, the thoughts of his hands on his man parts still fresh in my mind.
While his greeting had seemed almost friendly, the next words out of his mouth were harsh. "Are you ready to eat? You can't waste the day sleeping around here."
"Yes, sir," I replied meekly.
Captain Styles had already left by the time I threw the covers off and turned myself so my legs were hanging over the edge of the bed. I was still in the same clothing from the day before, with the exception of underclothes. I only briefly wondered what would happen at the time of my monthly flow. At least the Aubigné, whom I had served before being taken captive by pirates, family would supply the servants with proper rags so that we could go about our duties and not be confined to our quarters for a week.
I hurriedly donned my stockings and shoes, not wanting to anger the captain as he seemed so impatient. I made my bed as best I could, running my fingers over the fine wool of the blanket that had mysteriously appeared over me in the night. It was a lovely work of art, but I had little time to ponder from where it came since the captain came bursting back through the door, followed by a tiny young girl who was carrying a tray of food. She set it on the captain's table and left quickly.
I was stunned to see a girl so young; she couldn't have been more than twelve. I cringed at the idea of such a young child being taken a slave by such a filthy band of men.
I sat pondering the awful circumstances that may have led her here, but I was soon interrupted by Captain Styles bellowing, "Get over here, woman! Damn, why must you test my patience?"
I stumbled over to the table and I was completely shocked to see him plop into the seat across from me. Was he going to watch me eat? I sat there stupefied for a moment, until he huffed, "I'm not going to serve you."
I nodded in understanding as I politely took a small piece of bread from the platter and put a dainty amount of butter on it. I poured some tea into the tin cup and noticed it was rather black. "Tea?" I questioned.
