The Duchess at Sea Read online

  I slammed my fists onto the taffrail, the same anger from the moment my uncle told me the news was boiling inside me.

  “You’re rich.” He pointed out as if that was the only part he paid attention to.

  “Please, you already knew that.” He just didn’t know how rich or who I really was.

  “How rich?”

  It was almost like he’d read my mind. “It doesn’t concern you.”

  “Why are you going then? Asking for a lover’s help?”

  “What? No. There’s no one like that. I just hope that a family member might help me out in getting away from this stupid marriage.”

  My grandfather was my only hope at this point, and uncle Oliver wouldn’t let me go there, that was why I had to dress as a peasant and leave the castle and the city as soon as I could.

  Eventually, tiredness got the best of me and I agreed to go to sleep.

  As I exited the captain’s quarters the next morning, I nearly bumped into someone exiting an officer’s room. It was that tall guy with long hair and beard; again, he just glared at me and left. I still had about an hour before I had to go to the galley, so once again, I went to the navigation room. It wasn’t empty this time, though. The blond man lifted his head from the maps and smiled, adjusting his glasses.

  “Lenna.” He stood up, revealing the beautiful navy blue vest with golden buttons over his white shirt. “I haven’t had the pleasure to meet you, yet.” He extended a hand to me.

  Instead of moving forward to accept his handshake, I only did a quick curtsy in greeting. He saw my discomfort and sat down again.

  “My name is Hayden. Please take a seat if you will. I’m nearly done; therefore, I’ll soon be on my way.”

  I chose a chair on the opposite side of the table.

  “What are you doing here, Hayden?”

  “I’m the navigator and manager of this ship. I not only guide us through the water but also put everyone in their places.”

  “Seems like you do all the important work, then.” I glanced at the map; he was probably calculating the time we’d take to arrive at Keanys.

  “Basically, but half of my job is to tell people what to do and guarantee everything is in order. I like it: makes the journeys not so boring.”

  “I see…and are you also the one to calculate the crew’s profits?” I took my chance to get to know them a little further.

  He smiled. “No, that would be Felix and Callum. Ric takes care of the commodities we transport and Al takes care of our security.”

  “Al?”

  “Pardon me, I mean Alastair.”

  He was the big guy from earlier.

  “Oh, yes, I’ve met him. But so you transport commodities as well. That’s why I mistook you with a regular mercantile ship. I don’t understand, though. If you’re pirates, you aren’t supposed to be welcomed so easily at harbors and you shouldn’t want to risk being caught.”

  “We are not pirates to all countries. We help the ones we want to and thus we have no problem in those regards as we dock on such places, Alleara being one of them.”

  They probably didn’t start off as pirates; they were the crew of a common trading vessel at first. I’ve heard pirates were often rebelling crews.

  “Speaking of which, most of you seem to come from Alleara. Or so the similar accents of the five or you suggest.”

  “Indeed, we are; hence the fact we like the country.” Hayden stood up, collecting his maps. He put everything away in a drawer at the wall. “See you later, Lenna.” He waved as he exited and closed the door.

  I leaned on the chair, enjoying my brief hour of loneliness. I stood up to observe the wooden ship miniature on the shelf as I let my thoughts wander around.

  Despite the fact I barely knew them, the crew seemed to be quite nice, and they hadn’t done anything or said anything inappropriate to me. They only stared at me. The officers with whom I spoke to also seemed interesting. Well, most of them. Alastair was silent, keeping his distance, which was appreciated. Enric was the total opposite, he was talkative and charming, although didn’t nag, coming after me as much as I thought he would when we were introduced.

  Then there was Felix, the red-head and Hayden. They seemed to be the biggest gentlemen of the group and were good to talk to. I still didn’t really know what to think of the captain. He was nice and mostly polite, however, I still didn’t know the reason behind his intentions.

  Once my free time was out, I had to come down to the gun deck again to eat and do my job.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The sunlight was so bright as I exited the gun deck that it blinded me for a second. But, my hands shaded me with enough protection until I adjusted to the brightness of the afternoon in the middle of the ocean. The heat from the sun was comfortable on my hands; they were freezing after spending so much time washing the dishes.

  Sitting on the ground, leaning on the taffrail behind him, Felix was writing in a journal. He was enjoying the sail’s shade; I imagined it was hard for him to stand under the sun for so long with such a pale skin full of freckles. He wasn't too concentrated, looking around constantly. I walked over to him and sat by his side, yet keeping my distance.

  “Good afternoon.” I started. “Are you documenting today’s events?”

  He chuckled. “No. Hayden or Callum, maybe, but I don’t really do that. There is no reason to document anything, especially on such an ordinary day. Why do you ask?”

  “You were looking around and the five of you all have specific duties on the ship, right?”

  “I see you’ve been talking to Hayden, haven’t you?”

  “Yes, I have.” He must know him very well to assume it with such conviction. “You have known each other for a long time, don’t you?”

  “Indeed, we do. I was born in Ellinis, but my parents moved to the capital when I was about ten. That’s when the five of us met.”

  If I remembered the maps well, Ellinis was the land in the furthest north part of our country; dad said their plain fields were beautiful, I wish Dad had taken me there.

  “It was a long way south.” I pointed out.

  “It was worth it.” He shrugged.

  I glanced at the notebook in his hands. “So what are you doing? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

  “Not at all.” He handed me the book with charcoal drawings on the white pages. “I’m just seizing the day by exerting myself to carry out my hobbies.”

  The picture on the page was incomplete, but beautiful nevertheless. It portrayed some crew members wiping the floor on the other side of the deck.

  “You’re an artist!” I looked at him. “May I see the rest of it?”

  “Please, be my guest.”

  I flipped through the pages, taking the time to look at each page. Most of them were various crew members in the ship and his friends. It made sense. Since they spent so much time at sea, there wasn’t much to copy in the middle of nowhere. There were some drawings of ships as well, and some of the diverse people in varied cities.

  “Those are so beautiful!”

  “I’m obliged.” He smiled. “What I enjoy the most is to portray people, it’s a challenge to copy their souls on the page, but at the same time, I also like just picturing daily situations.”

  “Or different places. You’ve probably seen so many of them!”

  “Yes, we have had the opportunity to see many cities and countries.”

  My smile didn’t reach the eyes.

  “I wish I could have this privilege.” The words came out on their own before I could have time to stop them.

  “Perhaps in the future?” he suggested, optimism covering his words in a gentle way.

  “I hope.” I handed him his journal and changed the subject. “And do you think you could draw me?”

  “Of course. Lovely ladies are a great delight to portray.”

  He opened a blank page and started his work. I stayed there until it was time for dinner.

  My back hurt fro
m leaning over the cupboard the entire evening, doing the dishes in the washbasin. I almost regretted not sleeping more, but I kinda enjoyed last night and that made me happy. Tonight, however, it was like they couldn’t stop eating. The clean dishes were disappearing from the cupboard faster than I could wash them again. I only had time for a short break in the afternoon, but now the noisy pirates wouldn’t stop drinking, eating, and laughing. I was almost sure they were doing it on purpose to mock me, after all. I was there for so long I didn’t even have time to have dinner.

  Someone left more dirty plates and cutlery by my side, and I was under the impression he had put dirty dishes for me earlier. I sighed, unwilling to let them irritate me. I was also scared to say something and end up making it worse. I only had a few more days to endure, anyway.

  One of the pirates came closer. He was the man who found me, the biggest one of the group. He was as wide as a wardrobe. From behind me, he added his dish on the pile and rested his big hand on the counter, leaning closer. With no way out, I pressed myself against the counter so I would at least not touch his body, however, it didn’t work. He just took a step closer. He put the other hand on the opposite side of the counter, trapping me in place.

  “Hey, pretty…” He said in a slurred way and the stink of rum made me wonder just how many bottles he had drank.

  “Get away from me.”

  I leaned away as far as I could and even tried to push him away with an elbow, but he was like a wall and didn’t move an inch. One of his hands touches the curve between my neck and shoulder, descending to the collarbone of my peasant white shirt. He slowly pushed it down.

  “Stop it!” I slapped his hand. He laughed, and the foul smell coming from his mouth almost made me throw up.

  I grabbed a knife from inside the washbasin and slid it against his hand when he kept messing with my shirt. The cut was small and probably didn’t even bother him since he just laughed looking at the thin trace of blood.

  “Feisty!” He smiled at me and clasped my wrist, twisting it until I was forced to let go of the knife in my hand.

  He pulled me closer, way faster than I had expected a drunk guy could, pressing me against his body. I tried to pull him away, but all my strength wasn’t enough to move him a millimeter. I was fairly sure I had screamed when he leaned in to kiss my shoulder, but I was too desperate to register what I was doing besides pushing him away and trying to free my right wrist from his iron grip.

  Next thing I knew, he was being pulled away from me by many hands and someone entered in front of me.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Callum pushed the man on the chest, making him step back.

  I panted, feeling dizzy. They took him away, and Callum turned to face me.

  “Come. Enough cleaning for you tonight.” He gently held my shaky hands and guided me up to the main deck. I didn’t know how I managed to walk with legs so wobbly, but somehow we arrived at his cabin. “I’m sorry for Nate’s behavior, he has this tendency to think he can do anything, especially if he had way too many drinks.”

  Callum checked the water jar on the dresser.

  “You may wash yourself if you want to.” He put something on my hand, which was shaking less. “I’ll be back in an hour, but you may lock the door meanwhile.”

  He left the room so fast it took me a while to understand he had given me the key to the door. I immediately locked it and washed myself to get rid of any trace of Nate’s touch or smell on me. I put on the simple nightgown from my satchel and only opened the door to Callum. I had thought about seizing the room all to myself; but after what had just happened, I actually wanted the captain’s constant presence around me. I was sure he wouldn’t do anything like that, nor let anyone get close like that again.

  Callum closed the door, and I lied down on my improvised bed on the other side of the room. As he took off his boots and lied on his bed, he apologized once more.

  “Nate will apologize as well and he will be punished.” He assured me. “Once he’s sober.”

  “Was that why you were lurking me all the time? You knew he’d try to do something when he had a chance?”

  “I knew it was possible for most of them to try their chances on you, but indeed, Nate was the first that came to mind in a list of possible suspects. He’s strong, impulsive and he’s used to having all the women he can pay for pleasureful services in front of him.”

  “But I don’t get it. I didn’t get close to him, I didn’t even talk to him to make him pay attention to me.”

  “He’d pay attention to any pair of boobs in front of him…” He cleared his throat. “I mean, to any feminine curves around.”

  “He’s disgusting. And he had no right to do what he did!”

  “I know and I agree, but what do you want me to do? It’s not like I can control his every move, and it also wouldn’t be right to do so if I could. All I can do is set the rules and hope everyone will choose to follow them.” He sighed heavily. “And of course, he might give excuses like growing up in a bad environment, being drunk, or not having a good moral sense. Which all do apply to Nate, but in the end, choosing to do the right thing is on him.”

  “Yes, but he won’t do it. As you said, he thinks he can do anything he wants. I bet it’s because he’s stronger and gets things done his way already. But being strong doesn’t give men the right to get their way on women, and it doesn’t give him the right to hit me either.”

  The words just flowed out my mouth, the fury bottled up inside for many years burst in an instant. Callum raised his body, supporting his weight on an elbow so he could look at me.

  “Are we still talking about Nate? Because he didn’t hit you.”

  “I was talking in general.”

  “Seemed pretty specific to me.” Ignoring him, I turned to face the wall. “Lenna… has your uncle hit you?”

  I decided to change the focus of the topic.

  “You’re not like that at all…” I turned just enough to see him. “I wonder why.”

  He fell for it as he lay back down, facing the ceiling.

  “I wouldn’t like any harm to come to my mother, nor would I like to any sisters or daughters, if I had any. So I don’t think it’d be fair to do it to others. Besides, my dad used to say that a man who has to force his way into a woman wasn’t doing the job right…not that I understood exactly what he meant at the time, I was a child when he passed away. His words stuck to me, though; and with time the understanding did too.”

  “I’m sorry about him. He seemed like a great man.”

  “He was the greatest of the land.” By the nostalgic sound of his voice, I imagined he had a sad smile on his lips.

  “And you seem to be following his steps pretty well.” I adjusted myself to be more comfortable. “Good night, Callum.”

  Soon I let myself be dragged to dreamland, too tired to fight my heavy eyelids this time.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  I could hardly believe the sight in front of me as I exited the captain’s quarters the next day. Nate was standing in the middle of the deck; Callum by his side, crossing his arms and on the other, Alastair was glaring at the man between them.

  “I’m sorry if I scared or hurt you last night, Milady. The event will not be repeated.”

  My eyes widened at it.

  “Dismissed,” Callum commanded in the end. Nate nodded and walked away. The captain then turned to face me. “As I said, you shall not be harmed in my ship.”

  “Thank you.” I heard myself speak, but I was still so astounded that my brain wasn’t working properly.

  I was aware of the fact that Callum was respected and obeyed, but I didn’t expect him to make one of the largest men on the ship apologize to me like that. However, the most surprising thing was Callum’s determination in making me feel good in our journey. I was only a clandestine. I wasn’t paying them; he knew I was somewhat rich. He was not getting anything out of this, so he definitely didn’t need to go through such lengths to please me.


  Callum continued, grasping me away from my thoughts.

  “If anyone does or says anything inappropriate to you from now on, you may immediately report it to Al and he will sort it out.”

  I’d rather tell Callum himself, or even Felix or Hayden, but I knew it was because Alastair was in charge of the ship’s safety.

  “Alright,” I answered.

  “Now, let’s have breakfast. I’m hungry.”

  I followed him close behind, unwilling to stand alone in the ship anymore, despite his efforts in making me feel safe.

  After having a small loaf of bread with some butter, I started my task. Breakfast was always slow. The crew would take a while to wake up and eat, but I also had fewer dishes because some men would sometimes only grab fruits or eat bread with no plates. When finished, I went to the navigation room until it was time for lunch again.

  I was starting to get bored at this routine but kept reminding myself it’d be for a short amount of time.

  As I concentrated on washing, Callum surprised me by leaning on the cabinet by my side as he faced the galley.

  “Would you join Felix and me for a card game after dinner?”

  “I have my job to do.”

  “Not anymore. Nate will wash it at night and he’ll have extra watching shift as well of other tasks he hates doing. At least for three days as his punishment, then we’ll get other people to do it as usual. That’ll teach these men to respect a lady; they shouldn’t have been pranking you last night.”

  So I was right, they were pranking me! I wanted to break these plates in each of their heads for this!

  Callum crossed his arms and continued.

  “Besides, after spending the entire day drinking their rum, they’re more likely to do something stupid like that again at night. So it’s best for you to be away from here. You may stay in my room if you wish, but you could enjoy yourself and have a more entertaining evening if you come with us.”