Dizgaia ~ The Dreamfinder's Daughter

Chapter 42 ~ Apparitions

Hook entered the cabin, carrying a tray of food. Mia sat on the bed with her knees drawn to her chest. The length of chain which extended from the base of the bed to the fetter around her ankle was a stark reminder of just what she'd become.

His prisoner.

It had pained Hook to do it, but he didn't have a choice. As of late, Mia had become wild and unpredictable, like a frightened animal in the crosshairs of a hunter's rifle. Sometimes she cried in his arms. Other times, she lashed out at him. He often feared she'd inadvertently hurt herself in her struggles. She had to be restrained, and he refused to throw her in the brig. She didn't deserve that.

She doesn't deserve any of this, he admonished himself.

But what else could he do? He was bound to do Maleficent's bidding. The Dark Mistress would know if he turned against her, and the punishment would be brutal. Not just for him, but for everyone associated with him. Setting the tray on the table, he approached the bed.

"Miandra... would you care to eat?"

She said nothing, merely turned her gaze away from him.

Hook took a seat on the edge of the bed. "You haven't eaten in two days. You need to keep up your strength."

Finally, she looked at him. Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion, but she was not too tired to glare at him, it seemed. "What's the point?" she asked.

"The point of eating?" he said with a frown. "To stay alive. You'll get ill and waste away to your death bed if you don't."

"Maybe that's what I want."

"Mia, don't be stubborn."

"I'll be however I want!"

"You'll starve to death."

"Then so be it!" she snapped. "I'd rather die than be taken to Maleficent!"

Tears welled in her eyes. She was frightened again. With a sob, she turned her face away from him. His heart ached for her as he took her into his arms.

"Mia..."

She shoved him away, but he would not be denied. If he could not be her hero, her savior, the man to deliver her from the evil that awaited her, at the very least he would be her consoler. But clearly this wasn't one of those times she wanted consoling. For as he placed his hand against her cheek and tilted his face towards hers, she slapped him for his audacity. Hard.

The strike across his face reignited the rage inside of him. His furious glare, the one he'd directed at her only once before, returned. He lunged at her, pinning her down upon the bed. The girl cried out. Whatever he might feel for her, his anger was notorious. She should have known that to strike Captain James Hook was a foolish move.

Mia struggled beneath him, bucking, kicking and clawing as she tried desperately to fight a man against whom she knew she could not win. "Get off!" she shouted. "You can't expect me to... when you're taking me to Maleficent!" She writhed helplessly, but no less violently beneath him.

Hook seized one of her arms and pinned it on the bed above her head. Her other arm soon joined it, her slender wrist trapped in the curve of his hook. "You insolent girl! You fight me tooth and nail and dare to strike me!? I tried to tell you that I don't have a choice in this matter! I tried to make you understand that I didn't want to hurt you! But you leave me with little to no choice!"

His eyes were aflame with anger once more. Although his anger truly lay with another, he was helpless to direct it anywhere but at Mia. In the back of his mind, he knew it was childish behavior, but he'd always had difficulty controlling his temper. And she knew the stories! She should remember that he was a man who, in his past, had attempted to kill children and island natives, and who didn't think twice about killing his own crewmen for insubordination.