#rsbw

Red Skies, Black Waters chapter 4

“You’re not in here.” He smiled toothily and tapped on the leather cover of the captain’s log. “Care to tell me what your name is?”

Her gaze stopped on his pistol and on the metal basket-shaped guard of his cutlass, before moving onto Monroe and giving her the same quick assessment. She drew her legs away from him, and took another sip of water before letting her hands rest in her lap, grimacing as the shackles rubbed against the raw skin of her wrists.

“Pirates.” Her voice was low and hoarse, husky from dehydration. “Of course it would be pirates.”

His smile took on a sharp edge. “What were you expecting, princess? A rescue mission?”

word count: 5274/20953 total chapter: 5/? rating: NR (T for now, will go up to M/E in future chapters) tags: pirates, enemies to friends to lovers, angst, adventure

But standing there and watching her as she valiantly tried to pick up her broken pieces, thoughts of ransom and gold, and impending danger were the last things on his mind.

Bellamy fidgeted, the wooden planks beneath his feet creaking and making him flinch. Clarke didn’t notice.

There was a foreign feeling residing in his chest, spreading icy cold, dark tendrils inside his veins and masterfully lodging itself under his stomach, squeezing his muscles and whispering wretched things inside his ears.

He felt guilty, he realized with a jolt, and he didn’t know how to elevate that feeling, how to fix this. It was eating at him and he loathed that.

This little spoiled girl wasn’t supposed to be able to invoke such sense of empathy and protectiveness inside him, but Clarke refused to follow any of his rules, insisting on prowling through every single one of his walls.

He took a few steps closer to her, hesitant and slow, his shock giving way to his concern.

“Clarke,” her head snapped up and he was met by the full force of her blue eyes, red-rimmed and glassy from her tears. He faltered but not for long, “I didn’t know.”

She just blinked and continued to stare at him. As if that would have changed anything her eyes appeared to scream at him and he bit down his helpless, angry retort.

Refusing to give up so easily, Bellamy’s hand reached for her shoulder, unheeding the little voice in his head that told him that he was once again playing by her rules, but before he could make contact, heavy, hurried steps climbed up the staircase and came to a halt behind his back.

“Bellamy,” Miller was struggling for air, his forehead wet with a sheen of sweat. “You need to come with me.”

Red Skies, Black Waters chapter 1

“You’re not in here.” He smiled toothily and tapped on the leather cover of the captain’s log. “Care to tell me what your name is?”

Her gaze stopped on his pistol and on the metal basket-shaped guard of his cutlass, before moving onto Monroe and giving her the same quick assessment. She drew her legs away from him, and took another sip of water before letting her hands rest in her lap, grimacing as the shackles rubbed against the raw skin of her wrists.

“Pirates.” Her voice was low and hoarse, husky from dehydration. “Of course it would be pirates.”

His smile took on a sharp edge. “What were you expecting, princess? A rescue mission?”

word count: 3751/5795 total chapter: 2/? rating: NR (T for now, will go up to M/E in future chapters) tags: pirates, enemies to friends to lovers, angst, adventure

“I was made aware that you’re enjoying our hospitality to the fullest,” what hospitality Clarke wanted to ask, “but I’m sure you’re aware that the food and water we give you is cutting back on our rations, and some of my crew members are not happy with it. They do all the work around here, and yet you seem to get the better deal out of it somehow.”

If he was implying that they were going to stop giving her food then she would accept it as cordially as she could. Clarke had gotten to know hunger quite well the past few weeks while sick abroad Good Fortune. That did nothing to scare her but the resentment the crew seemed to be already harboring towards her was disconcerting to put it lightly. The pirates might be loyal to their captain but she still couldn’t tell if they would go behind his back and take what they thought they were owed or not.

He continued, ignorant of her inner turmoil. “They wouldn’t mind getting something in return. Say, you wouldn’t have something of great value on you, would you?”

Clarke barely stopped herself in time from reaching for her throat where her necklace laid nestled under the high cut of her dress, carefully hidden under the folds as to not be visible at all.

The too casual way he mentioned valuables had her become suspicious at once. If she had any valuables, they would have been part of the cargo that his crew pilfered from Good Fortune, something that he was no doubt conscious of. Somehow, he knew about the delicate golden chain hanging from her neck, that was the only explanation for his seemingly random question.

It had been her father’s and she had no intention of surrendering it so easily, if at all.