#loow

Patton walked down the corridor, checking to make sure the other castle residents didn’t need anything. He went up a floor and did the same thing there, checking in on the king in his study and informing him of the time. He was thanked and sent on his way. He stepped through the main spaces, checking the other studies and the main living areas to make sure that everything was in place and that the maids had done their jobs to the best of their ability.

When that was done, he made his way over to the servants’ quarters and checked in on everyone. He sped up when he got to the maids’ quarters, not wanting to be caught in conversation with a certain person. He walked at a slightly faster pace, exhausted and wanting to get to bed before much else happened that night. His mind ran through all the projects he still had to do, the mending he wanted to do on his favorite suit jacket but also the new skirt he was planning on making.

His distracted thoughts had him slowing down until he almost ran into the one person he was trying to avoid. She stepped back but blocked his path in the narrow corridor. “Where are you off to, Patton?” Gaelle’s voice was higher than it was when talking to anyone else as she tried to put on an accent she thought he liked. Gaelle was someone that was under the impression that Patton was anything but exclusively gay. She seemed to have some sort of obsessive crush on him despite him wanting nothing to do with her.

Patton sighed. “Gaelle, I’m tired. I just wanna go to bed. Maybe do a bit of sewing first.”

She frowned and he knew he’d said something to displease her. “You know, sewing isn’t a very manly thing to do.”

Patton closed his eyes and nodded. “You tell me this every time you see me. And every time, I could not possibly care less about your opinion. I must, once again, inform you that I am not romantically inclined toward you. If I am to be blunt, I’m not even platonically inclined to like you. So, if you don’t stop harassing me every night and let me pass, you won’t have a job in the morning.” His voice had changed from tired to a honey smooth tone that meant he was extremely upset but wouldn’t show it.

She scoffed, not hearing the danger in his voice. “You can’t do that.”

He dropped the ‘customer service’ smile he’d been maintaining and gave her a look that was deadly. “Not only do I have the ear of the king, I’m still your boss. Either leave me alone, or pack your bags.”

She scoffed again but moved to the side. Patton gave her a tight lipped smile and passed, going on to his room. He stretched when he finally closed the door behind him, reveling in the feeling of dropping his mental burdens at the door. 

He moved away from his bedroom door and toward the small balcony that overlooked the ocean a few miles away. He leaned against the railing, trying to get lost in thought as he stared at the shifting water. Just as he was relaxing, an arm wrapped around his waist, a hand coming up to cover his mouth with a cloth. He tried to shout but made the mistake of breathing in. His vision faded as he clawed at his attacker, who simply held him until he passed out.

⚓⚓⚓

Patton woke with a headache. The ground shifted under him, constantly in a rocking motion. He raised a hand to his temple only to find that he wasn't bound. He stood and looked around the small room. There was a bed that he’d woken up on that was tucked into a nook of the wall, a desk that was attached to the wall with a chair which was attached to that by leather straps for arms, and an empty shelf above the desk. Looking around the small wall, Patton found a trunk sitting at the base and a hook for a coat on the wall.

He took a few steps forward, the cabin wasn’t very wide, and tried the door, only to find it locked. Sitting on the bed, he wondered what was happening to him.

He didn’t have long to wait before the sound of a key in the lock reached his ears and a man entered. The first thing Patton noticed about him was how tall he was, barely fitting through the door. He had on a long dark green coat that went down to his knees, a grey shirt that was open to halfway down his chest and revealed his chest hair, and loose fitting black pants with a sword on his hip. When he came into the light, Patton noticed that he wasn’t as tall as he’d thought, having a large and dirty green hat with a feather in it on. His boots were simple work boots, the kind that Patton had often seen on the hired help that came to the castle for a quick paycheck.

When the man came into the room and shut the door behind him, it took Patton a minute for his vision to adjust again as the green-clad man took a seat in the desk chair, taking off the hat as he did so. Patton noticed his hair was a bleached brown, his skin tan from the sun, he wore a mustache darker than the rest of his hair, and his right iris was almost white compared to his dark green left eye.

“Can you guess why you’re here?” The man’s gruff voice brought Patton’s attention back to the situation at hand.

Patton sighed. “Sir, I don’t even know where here is, let alone what I’ve done to deserve this.” He tried to put his usual authority into his voice to hide how badly it was shaking.

The man nodded. “You’re being held for ransom. You’ve harbored a person I have interest in for too long and I intend to have them back. Thus, you are going to write home and tell them that until they hand over the mer or a sum of money to his equivalent to make up for the loss of revenue, you are staying with me.”

Patton furrowed his brow. “The mer?” He thought for a moment but soon realized there was only one new addition to the household recently that would constitute such actions from someone. “Virgil,” he said under his breath.

“So you do know who I’m talking about,” the man said, a note of triumph in his voice.

Patton nodded. “Unfortunately, I don’t know where he is.”

The man narrowed his eyes. “Explain.”

Patton shrugged, not breaking eye contact. “Virgil did indeed stay with us for four months. However, he disappeared a day or so before my capture and, as far as I know, has yet to return. I can’t give up a location I don’t know.”

The man nodded and slapped his thighs before standing and putting his hat back on. “In that case, I’ll be back with food in a few minutes.”

Patton reached out a hand but didn’t touch him. “Wait! Am I at least allowed to know the name of the man keeping me prisoner?”

The man didn’t turn around but did speak. “Remus Cadoc, Captain Remus Cadoc.” He left without waiting for a response.

Patton sat in the locked room for what felt like a half hour before the door opened again. This time, it was someone else bearing a tray of food. Unlike Captain Cadoc, this sailor didn’t seem to have any weapons on his person. The man put the tray on the desk and doffed an imaginary hat at Patton. “Cap’n got caught up in work and couldn’t bring this to ya but told me to do it.”

Patton thanked him and stood. “May I know your name?”

He smiled. “The name’s Apollo Aiman. What’s yours?”

“Patton Hope.”

Chapter 2

Main Taglist (Send an ask to be added or removed!): @antisocial-xxxpert, @more-fandon-than-friends, @vindicatedvirgil, @star-crossed-shipper, @the-sympathetic-villain, @battlebunnyteardropsinthesun, @punk-academian-witch, @sarcasmremovedsoul, @private-snippers, @mygenderisidiot, @mistythegenderqueermess, @5-falsehoods-phonated

He followed Apollo out onto the deck. The sun felt warm on his face and he took a second to close his eyes and just enjoy it. The winds buffeted him and almost pushed him over but he opened his eyes and caught himself against the cabin wall. When he got his bearings, he took a few steps and leaned against the railing. 

The peace of the open water lasted just a few moments before Patton looked to his side and found a sailor with a weapon. He thought back to when Thomas had insisted he learn to at least protect himself if he was going to be wandering the castle and it’s grounds so late at night. Keeping that sailor in his periphery, he scanned the side of the boat and found a small dinghy tied to the side.

Launching himself into action, he barreled toward the armed sailor. He slammed into the man, causing them both to fall backwards. Patton struggled to pull the sword from its scabbard, lamenting the lack of a weapon he was familiar with. Just as he got it out of the sheath, hands were grabbing at him and trying to pull him off.

He struggled and shouted but was eventually pried off the sailor. Large hands pulled the sword from his grasp and let it drop to the deck with a clang, strong arms wrapped around his waist and threw him over a shoulder. He had a good look at the back of the captain’s green coat as he was brought, kicking and shouting, across the deck and deposited back into his cabin, all while being carried as if he weighed no more than a sack of potatoes from the cellar.

⚓⚓⚓

Remus was at the wheel when Apollo approached him. “Should I let the prisoner out now, Cap’n?”

Squinting against the glare of the sun, he pulled the brim of his hat lower. “Go ahead. But keep an eye on him or it’s your head that’ll roll!” He called the last part as the pirate scurried away.

He watched Apollo head down to the kitchen, come back up with a tray of food, and go into the cabin they were using as a brig. His hands steady at the wheel and no other ship in sight, he kept an eye on the cabin door. His first mate, Susan Webb, commandeered his attention to start planning their next cargo drop off. A shout and clatter brought his focus to the deck just in time to see their captive tackle Asher.

Remus handed the wheel to Susan and rushed to join the fray. Jericho and Apollo, the two closest, aided him in hauling the prisoner off their gunner. Remus threw the man, who seemed intent on causing at least one pirate harm, over his shoulder and marched him to his cabin where he deposited him on the bed.

The prisoner, Remus made a mental note to learn his name as this was getting tiring, shot up and tried to run past Remus but he caught his arm and pushed him back as gently as he could. Still, the man’s back hit the partition hiding a portion of the bed from the rest of the cabin.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” Remus stared the man in the face.

He twisted his lips into a scowl. “What does it look like I’m doing? Trying to escape!”

“And how were you going to do that? Steal the dinghy? Where do you think you could go from there?” Remus took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair before shoving the hat back on. “You would have starved before you got anywhere!”

The prisoner scoffed and turned away. “I would have dealt with that when it came to it. Even so, I would rather die of starvation than be kept a prisoner.”

“You’ve got spunk, I’ll give you that.”

Remus finally calmed down and took the time to actually look at the man he was keeping captive on his ship. His skin was slightly darker than the wood beside him, hair as black as tar. His light blue shirt was rumpled and his grey jacket was skewed slightly. Remus could have sworn he’d had glasses when he was kidnapped but they weren’t on his face now. Earrings glinted on his ears, simple silver loops that made him look sophisticated.

Remus ran his hand through his hair again. “Still, you’re going to stay in here until I’m sure you’re not going to try to pull a stunt like that again.”

“And what if I do?”

“Then you can stay in here until we can agree on something. You don’t try to maul my crew, I won’t let anything harm you during your stay.” Remus turned on his heel and exited, locking it behind him.

His crew had picked themselves off the deck and restored some semblance of order. The ones involved in the scuffle stood as close to attention as they could, all lined up and ready to get reprimanded. Instead, Remus just sighed. “Did anyone get seriously injured?”

They exchanged looks, Apollo tossing his husband a questioning tilt of an eyebrow and Jericho responding with a quirk of the lips. Finally, Susan spoke up. “No one’s hurt, Captain. We’ve just got some bruised egos is all.”

Remus nodded. “Susan, call Brian up and tell him it’s his turn at the wheel. I’m going to The Room for a while.” With that, he descended into the bowels of the ship.

Chapter 3

Main Taglist (Send an ask to be added or removed!): @antisocial-xxxpert, @more-fandon-than-friends, @vindicatedvirgil, @star-crossed-shipper, @the-sympathetic-villain, @battlebunnyteardropsinthesun, @punk-academian-witch, @sarcasmremovedsoul, @private-snippers, @mygenderisidiot, @mistythegenderqueermess, @5-falsehoods-phonated

Prologue | Audiobook

Chapter 1 | Audiobook

Chapter 2 | Audiobook

Chapter 3 | Audiobook

Chapter 4 | Audiobook

Chapter 5 | Audiobook

Chapter 6 | Audiobook

Chapter 7 | Audiobook

Chapter 8 | Audiobook

Chapter 9 | Audiobook

Chapter 10 | Audiobook

Chapter 11 | Audiobook

Chapter 12 | Audiobook

Chapter 13 | Audiobook

Chapter 14 | Audiobook

Chapter 15 | Audiobook

Chapter 16 | Audiobook

Chapter 17 | Audiobook

Chapter 18 | Audiobook

Chapter 19 | Audiobook

Chapter 20 | Audiobook