The Duke's Daughter -Wattys2014 Collector's Dream Award Winner-

Chapter Thirty

Arianna stood on her feet, her wrists tied high above her head. She stretched up on her toes, attempting to keep her binds from removing her arms at the shoulders. The cold night air swept across her exposed back as the rough splintered mast dug into her cheek. Tears rolled freely from her eyes but not a sound passed her lips. Her sobs had expired soon after she had tested her binds.

How long had she been tied here? A moment? An hour? Did it even make any difference?

Arianna imagined her life at home. At this precise moment would she have been dining alone with her father? Or readying herself for a ball? Attending countless balls and soirées did not seem like such capital punishment anymore.

What she would give to go back. What she would give to untie herself from this mast and swim across the ocean to wherever the Green Eyed Lady was. Like the siren he believed her to be. What she would give to see Derek's smiling face at this moment.

The movement on the deck was a blurry mess observed through her tear filled eyes. If only she could block out sounds as easily.

"'Tis a pity such a perty back's gonna take so many lashes." One voice claimed.

"Ya ain't usually lookin' at a whore's back when yer plowin' 'er. So long as those teets an' face ain't marked tain't no body gonna mind." Another chortled.

"I mind, you bloody ignorant cur!" Arianna screamed, venting some of the frustration that was built up inside of her.

A meaty palm connected with the back of her head, smashing her face harder into the mast and white spots filtered into her blurry line of sight. The almost healed wound on the back of her head, from her fall from the Lady, throbbed anew with a heavy, thick pain. The splinters from the mast agitated her still swollen cheek, sending a stinging pain into her aching brain.

"Ya 'etter learn ta curb 'at tongue, whore. 'is lordship don't like 'em mouthy." The same voice spoke in her ear.

"I do not care what he likes! Do you really think I would need to be kidnapped if I did?" She laughed at him. The laugh was not her usual joyous and happy laugh, but sounded almost haunted as it increased in strength and volume, passing her lips of it's own accord. Could she have seen, she would have witnessed the color heighten in the enlisted man's face at her words, then drain again under her eerie laugh.

She knew not why she was laughing, this was in no way funny. Suddenly, the laugh turned into a sob and she hung from her binds as her knees collapsed beneath her. The pull on her arms increased until she was sure they would finally be pulled from their sockets, but the pain was the only thing she could control at this moment. Control it she would. It was her way of reminding herself that this was no nightmare, it was real. This was really happening to her.

"Back down, boys." The same voice from the dining room drawled from close by. Arianna heard the crewmen who had been taunting her shuffle off. She heard his boots scrape across the deck as he circled her. Would he simply begin to whip her, or would she get warning first?

She felt his body heat shield her exposed back from the cold. "Agree to share my cabin and I shall not touch you." He whispered in her ear and Arianna felt her anger rise to the fore of her emotions once more.

"A very similar sounding proposal ended your Admiral with a fork in his cheek. What makes you think your offer will end differently?" Her voice was cold and Thomas felt the chill over his bare forearms.

"Because I do not truly intend to make you my mistress. I am simply trying to save myself from having to take your life with this whip."

Arianna blinked her eyes hard to clear the tears from her vision. His face was before hers.

"Do you truly expect me to simply trust you?"

His eyes held pity in them as they traveled down her length, though his expression remained stern before his crewman's watchful eyes.

"What choice do you have, lady?"

He was right.

"Alright." She bit the word out passed her clenched jaw. She wondered how soon she would regret this decision, and yet, she had no other option save death.

He pulled a blade from his belt and reached up, cutting her binds. Arianna's arms fell limp to her sides. Her body would have followed, to puddle upon the deck, had Thomas not swept her into his arms, with an arm under her knees and the other behind her back. He began to move towards a corridor when an angry yell stopped him.

"What in the hell are you doing, Bell? I gave you an order!" The Admiral fumed from the bridge. Thomas turned with Arianna in his arms and faced him.

"I am neither an enlisted man nor an officer in the king's navy, Admiral. I carry out your orders when I choose to, otherwise I am here to provide first hand report to the king. Do not be a sore loser because the lady prefers me to you."

The Admiral's face clouded even further with anger. The bandage over his cheek amused Arianna and she sent a wink his way before Thomas turned and carried her to his cabin.

******

Derek was livid. There was no other word to describe the anger and fear that churned in his stomach, and had since the Lady had pulled out of safe harbor. Every inch of available sail was hoisted and the Lady was covering distance at an unbelievable rate, but it still was not fast enough for Derek's liking.

The pain in his arm was beginning to lessen, but not enough to allow him to abandon the sling that Alejandro had created to keep his arm in place. He felt useless. He felt like a failure. He should have known better! The thought surfaced for the thousandth time in his mind.

It was his fault Arianna was in the position she was in. Had he simply escorted them to the privy, she would still be by his side.

Alejandro had not spoken a word to him, save the necessary reporting of their progress. Derek knew Alejandro was giving him his space, hoping that Derek would be able to clear his mind and focus on the task at hand. It was working to some degree. They had to make it in time. Their destination was ten days away if they could continue to catch the winds just right. They had to make it in time.