Love On Deck

19. Under His Protection

He didn't know how he got there, wasn't sure why he spoke. It felt like he is experiencing the unconscious mind, a part where no one seems to know about or define, but maybe he could. Hook believes that that part of the mind is what controls your body without you consult. 

Adella looked up. Her delicate features covered with shock while the child's eyes sparkled with fear as he dodged behind the now standing woman. "You saved him, why?" Her hand smoothly tapped her hip in rhythm with her right foot. 

"Love, not all pirates are good, and I'm certainly not a monk but I do commit some good deeds." His foot steps were as silent as that of a cat as he approached the desk that's pushed next to the entrance. "The child was raped by a man whom is a part of my crew. Our reputation might be ruthless and cunning as pirates, but we are not all cold heart-ed especially towards a child. " He leaned back onto the desk with his arms crossed across his chest. She fought the urge to stop staring at his muscles, that the leather jacket hugged and defined artistically. 

Eyebrows furrowed as her head turned towards the child. "Is it true?" She whispered uncertain to believe or not. 

The green eyes were trained at Hook and though he hid, the boy is not afraid from the man but afraid from the memories he brought. "Yes, he saved me by throwing him off the plank." His voice is barely a whisper, yet audible. 

Adella's lip twitched, but she didn't dare to smile. No affection. She kept telling herself. All men need something in the end, don't you ever learn?

Her face is as blank as newly made paper. "Thank you."

He gave her a curt nod. "Now, why don't you tell me where the treasure is?"

"Why should I?" Adella mimicked his posture, arms crossed with an air of utter calmness. 

"You want to keep the boy, raise him, mother him, do you now?" He took a step forward then another. 

"Yes, bu-" 

"Then I'll give you that privilege and my protection to the both of you. Just take us to the treasure." 

The mermaid princess found herself in a maze like situation, every hall lead somewhere and most were blocked. She isn't sure if she could make it out and somehow it felt like the walls were closing in on her, she found herself trapped. The only way out is to agree. 

"Alright, but you need to make an oath." The space between them could merely be referred to as space. "The oath of the sea." 

Hook grinned in triumphant. "I, Killian Jones, Captain of the Jolly Roger do swear on my life and ship to protect thee Lady Adella and the boy, until the end of my time." 

With lips covered in salt they sealed the oath with a kiss.