Chapter 19
W e walk to the front of the top deck and lean up against the side. Both of us were staring up at the night sky. The moon is full and stars shine so bright.
“Look, Abigail. There really is no easy way to go through this. When the world went to shit, your parents didn’t know what the people were going to do to them if they got a hold of them. It was still mass chaos. When your mother gave birth to you, your parents were in hiding. All The Royals were. They were in the process of taking over the Island, Regium Sanguinem and there was a very slim chance of them winning that battle. They thought it was safer for you to be gone, out of sight out of mind. That way if they had failed, you still had a chance of survival.” He stops and looks down at his boots.
Everything he’s saying makes sense, I get that they wanted my safety. I just don’t understand why it took so long for me to find this all out. It seems like everyone knows my family's story and who I am, but shouldn’t it have been I who knew it first? ??Caspian is still looking down, I know he’s got more to say. He almost looks Ashamed of what he has yet spoken. ??
“Abigail, the man who hired me is the exact example of who they didn’t want to get a hold of you. This man has no kind intentions on that Island, he has always been a deeply disturbed, dark, and cruel man. You will endure constant torture and will likely be forced to breed his children.”
I take a deep breath and gulp down the true meaning of what Caspian is saying. “You mean, he will rape me,” I state.
Caspian’s head turned to face me as quickly as he could. My hands start shaking and the word starts to settle in. My eyes fill with tears. “Why? Why wouldn’t he just kill me?”
Caspian studies my face and lifts his hand up to my cheekbone and wipes away the one tear that left my eye. “Keegan’s legacy was stolen from him in the battle to take over the island. With his son, went his morals. He blames your parents and wants the power of the five islands. To get that, he will need you to birth his child.”
My body trembles and a sudden spark of rage lights inside of me. “Why would you take me to him, knowing all of this? How could you put someone in that position?!” I yell out. Now my tears are pouring out, racing down my face. “Why are you telling me this? You think preparing me for it will make it less painful? You think it’s cleaning your conscience? You are just as much of a villain here!” I shout at him. I’m enraged but mostly, I’m terrified. ??
I grab out my dagger and point it right under his neck.
What am I going to do? Kill him? Then what?
I look over the edge of the boat to see the long way down to get into the water and continue to point the dagger at him. He doesn’t move, only watches me while holding his hands up.
“Abigail, I don’t want to take you to him. That is why I am telling you. But there’s more to the story. Please, I beg you to listen.” He says calmly. He shows no fear that I’m pointing a dagger at him, instead it seems like he is more worried for me. ??
“The plan was never to take you to him, Abigail. But we desperately need your help. He has a man held captive on Symbodia Island, his name is Russell.”
The conversation I heard earlier starts to play in my mind. I continue holding up the dagger but after hearing Caspains conversation with Arielle, I need to know more.
“Russell is Arielle’s husband. Last time we saw him he was tied up to a chair with a bag over his head. There was blood all over him along with bruises, cuts, and scratches. They’re torturing him in there and unless we bring you in, he will be tortured to death. We need your help to get him out alive.” He responds. The poor guy is in there getting beaten because of me. This explains why Arielle treats me as she does, I wouldn’t be a fan of the reason my husband was being torn to pieces either. ??
“You guys could have told me! I would have helped. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that someone was being harmed because of me.” I responded. I can’t imagine how much hurt Arielle has, her husband is dying and it’s for someone she doesn’t even know.
I would hate me too.
“We were, Abigail. We hopped on your ship the night you left. We had followed it closely on the fishing boat with intentions of talking to Charles. But we saw the men gathering on that ship, those were not good men and I knew if I didn’t act fast, someone else would get to you first. I worked for your real father for many years. He was a good man, Abigail. Arielle and I promised him at his death bed that we would find you and bring you home safely but then Keegan kidnapped Russell and things got messy.” I put my arm down, placing the dagger back in place.
You’d think after the last couple of days, the information would get easier to process. Instead I’m overwhelmed and unsure Of my next move. Caspian hasn’t moved, still standing there watching me try and consume all of this. All I can think is that I need Ace’s help, his guidance.
“I will help you, but we need to go back to MY ship. We will need Ace’s help and I can't do this without him.” I say this lightly but with a serious enough tone that I know he understands. He is in no position to argue but I’m not quite in the position to demand.
Caspian takes a couple steps closer to me. He gently grabs a piece of my hair and intertwines it with his fingers. Here I am again, too close to him and my heart pounding desire out of my chest. He continues to distract me, to make my mind go completely blank. I suck in a deep breath to calm my thoughts,continuing to look at his fingers. He looks as if he is contemplating his options, deciding if my life is worth going back to this ship. My nerves tingle in my fingertips as I try to hold my ground as confident as when I spoke my demand but it’s so hard to hold my position with him so close to me. Finally, his left hand lifts up to my face. His thumb placed under the chin raising it up so that our eyes met.
“As you wish, Abigail.” He whispers and turns to walk back inside to the dinner hall. “We will arrive to your Ace by daylight, you should rest up.” I watch as he continues forward to the door, walking tall and confident. The only other man I’ve ever known to walk like this is Ace. They are so similar in ways, but so very different. I watched him walk all the way to the dinner room doors and spend a moment longer on the deck by myself. I close my eyes and let the wind flow through me. For this time, I want to be completely thoughtless. I hold my eyes shut and just stand under the winking stars. I can’t quite figure it out why, but everything in me says I need to stay close to Caspian. I have a weird gut feeling that I am being drawn to him and away from Ace. I've never really understood where my thoughts go in the ocean at night but I've always been one to listen to the whispers in the breeze. No matter how calm or firey as the waves get, they never lie.