When a maid of honor to the Queen is rescued by a handsome and contentious pirate, she has to spend three days aboard his ship before returning to court. But is three days time long enough to truly get to know someone? And is English court as diffic...
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It was midday and the servants had just brought Celia and Harry their meals when a guard walked silently over to Harry's cell door. He shoved a key into the lock and twisted it until it clicked.
Celia stood from her bed and walked over to the bars. "What's going on?"
Harry stood up from his bed and walked to the door. His eyebrows furrowed as the guard pulled the door open.
"What's going on?" Celia repeated, her voice stern and loud.
The guard ignored her question and grabbed Harry by the bicep, jerking his body out of the cell.
Harry sent Celia a wary, close-lipped smile as he was swept down the hallway. "I will see you again, my dear," he called. "I promise!"
Their shared gaze was broken by the heavy door clicking shut behind him. Celia inhaled a shaky breath and closed her eyes as she exhaled. When she opened them, she shuffled across the room to the window and peered down, her eyes landing upon Harry. The guard ushered him towards the palace, the grip on his arm stiff. She plopped down on her rigid bed and sighed into her frail pillow, submitting to hopelessness and knowing that it would be a long time before she saw his beautiful face again.
♛
The hours following Harry's release felt like years to Celia. She stared up at the ceiling from her sorry excuse of a bed and imagined a million different scenarios of how her life would have turned out had the Spanish not attacked her ship. None of them were outcomes that she would ever wish for, none of them included Harry.
She heard the door at the end of the hallway creak open, but an emptiness in her heart knew that it was not Harry. She knew that Sir Walter had succeeded in gaining his release and he was not coming back. As far as she knew, Harry was already setting sail for the Spanish ships that threatened England.
Light footsteps treaded across the stone floor, echoing against the lofty walls. Suddenly, they stopped.
"Celia?"
She shot up at the sound of Beatrice's voice. Her heart lurched at the sight of her best friend and her feet carried her body across the cell to the door in a matter of seconds. She curled her fingers around the bars, Beatrice resting her hands on top of Celia's. "Bea," she whispered.
Beatrice smiled sadly. "I come with good news." Celia's eyes widened, begging her to continue. "Elizabeth has agreed to release your husband to join the other pirates on an expedition against the Spanish."
Her features fell. "Sir Walter promised Harry that he would make that happen."
