I Made A Deal..

Unexpected

As soon as I saw him a mix of emotions hit me, I wasn't sure if I was happy to see him, or angry because of the confusing history that he and I share. Before I can stop myself, flashbacks of when this man, my ex-fiancé broke my heart-

Looking around my bedroom I realize just how much I have to get accomplished today. Studying the dress that has carefully been hung on the back of my door, a smile breaks across my face.

Today was the day that I was going to marry my best friend.

A girlish squeal is all that I can muster, throwing my head back against the pillow. My moment is interrupted when one of the family servers knocks softly, announcing their entrance.

"Your Highness, I was sent to help you prepare for the royal brunch." I notice the voice immediately and sit up, laughing at her formal nature. This was not just any server, she was truly a friend. We had known each other forever, and I had always envied her gorgeous blonde hair. Mine much darker, bland in my own opinion.

"Well hello Mary!" The tone of my voice and the look on my face must have told her that I was not feeling very formal. She smiles back at me and jumps onto the end of my bed.

"Kierra, you do realize that you get married today? You are going to be a changed woman, a new form of royal"- she mimics a posh voice- "A higher class of lady, unlike me...a lowly server girl who can only hope to marry a cook or something." Her tone changes slightly towards the end, but it is not an unhappy nature, just accepting. We cannot help the world that we are born into.

Mary quickly helps me pull on my corset, followed by the pastel pink dress that my father purchased just for this breakfast. She helps me pull my hair back into a half up half down style before saying she must go get my place set of for breakfast. After I apply mascara to my already dark eyelashes, I study myself in the mirror. The few loose curls frame my face nicely, almost adding to the innocence that the dress exudes.

"I look so young..." I mutter to myself, picking every flaw of my face out in my mind.

"You look gorgeous", the voice that I cherish most calls from the entrance of my room. With a startled jump I turn to face him, "You are not supposed to be here!" I chastise him, all the while standing and practically running towards him, happily wrapping my arms around his neck. The way that his body stiffens under my touch immediately alerts me that something is wrong.

"Kierra, we have to talk..."

Coming back to the present my fist tightly clench, my breathing starting to slow in an effort to calm myself down.

His words from that day, "I love you, but I must go to my true love, the sea."

"Why do you need to stow away? I thought that you had your own ship, for the great sea." I throw those last words with as much venom as I can muster. Moving back to my captains chair I casually sit, grabbing a dusty bottle of rum from under my desk, not bothering to grab a glass. Putting the bottle to my lips I silently wait for an answer from the man I once loved. The man that I still find myself loving from time to time.

"I may have gotten myself in some trouble. Nothing too damning, but enough to where I need to get the hell out of England for a while."

He steps further into my private quarters and shuts the door behind him. Running a hand through his curly mop of hair- longer than I had ever seen it-he sighs and shakes his head at my, no doubt trying to make me feel pity.

"I see you have not lost your love of rum. Mind if I join you, my dear Captain?"

He says it as a question but I could tell from his tone that it was more of a statement of what he was about to do. Placing the bottle back under the ledge of my desk, I confidently rises once more, grabbing the dagger that lay before me. Studying the metallic blade I search my mind, trying to decide how I could make this worth my wild. There was no way in hell that I would simply let this man, the man who broke me, stay on my ship without some sort of pay for myself.