A New Beginning

Emma is the only legitimate daughter of the Duke of Rosewood. She gets betrothed after her mother's death, so she secretly becomes a pirate's companion when she is supposed to be away at school.

Emma looked out of her window. Rain was coming down so hard that she couldn't see more than a few feet from the window. Today was the day that would change her life forever. She could feel it with every fiber of her being.

A knock sounded on her door, by the way the person knocked, she knew it was Hailey. "Come in Hailey." she said softly.

A girl about a year older than Emma walked in. her brown hair up in a bun, her green eyes terrified. "Lady Emma, I am so sorry that I have to be the one to tell you about this, but your mother has passed on from this world. And your father would like a word with you in his office."

Emma glanced out the window again, "now that my mother is gone, he is going to marry me off. He never really loved her, but she had a way of making him listen to her. I shall go."

Emma looked more at the window itself than the world beyond. Her reflection was ghostly. Her brown hair was disheveled, and her green eyes were watery and red. She couldn't bear the thought of life without her mother. And now she was going to be shipped off with some man she doesn't even know.

She rose from the chair she was sitting in and followed her maid to her father's office. Her father was sitting behind his desk; her older brother was seated in front of it. Emma and her brother do not share the same mother. He was born to their father's first wife who died five years before Emma was born.

            Emma sat down next to her brother. Her father started speaking, "Emma, I know how your mother wanted you to marry for love, but she is gone now. I have been arranging a marriage for you with a Duke. I have always wanted you to be taken care of, this marriage will do that. He is also first cousin to the king. Henry Farthington."Henry Farthington? I have heard some nasty rumors about him. He is not someone you would want your only daughter to be married to."

"You are a fool if you think you are father's only daughter. You might be his only legitimate daughter, but you are not his only daughter. Your maid Hailey for instance is as much your sister as I am your brother." he laughed.

"I don't see you getting married anytime soon Gregory." she shouted back. She has always known that Hailey was also her fathers daughter. It didn't bother her though. That was the way of the wealthy. Never did they stay faithful to one woman.

"That is enough out of you young lady. You will be meeting him on Friday at the celebration ball we have arranged for you two." her father said sternly, which meant that she couldn't say more on the subject.

"Alright father, will you excuse me now?"

"You may go, just be out of my sight for the rest of the week." he said angrily.

"Very well father." she left the room without another word.

When she reached her room, she sent Hailey off and blocked her door. She walked over to the portrait of her mother. She put her fingers behind the portrait and found the latch. She pushed on the latch and the portrait opened to reveal a doorway.

A few months before today she had discovered this room, and she realized that this is a perfect place to hide away from everyone.

            The only thing that lies in the room is a small wardrobe. She has opened this wardrobe many times, but she hasn't been brave enough to try on one of the gowns in it. They are all much more revealing than anything she is ever allowed to wear. She chose to wear the red gown. In this chamber there is another door, more of an opening in the dirt wall covered with a board, and before today she hasn't bothered learning what that door leads to, but today she felt braver than she ever has. She also wanted to know if it led to a way out of this place without alerting her father.

Slowly she removed the board, praying that none of her family or servants were behind it. She couldn't see anything beyond the door, so she went exploring. It was dark, and the floor was just dirt. The walls were nothing but dirt either. Pretty quickly the floor got steeper, and the tunnel got smaller. Soon she had to crawl through it.

After a while she finally saw some light. When she came to the end of the tunnel, there was a metal grate blocking the tunnel from what looks like an alley way. She pushed as hard as she could. The grate only gave a little, she shoved even harder and it started to move.

It took Emma almost an hour to move the grate far enough to slip through. If anyone larger than her tried they wouldn't be able to slip in. Emma walked out of the alley way. She was right by the ocean. She has always loved the water, but her father never really brought her here and he didn't allow her mother to stray too far from him.

As she started walking along the beach, she noticed how dark it was getting. She should do the smart thing and go back home, but that was the last place she wanted to be right now.

            Instead of going back, she walked on. All she could think about is how much she wanted to get away from her father and this marriage he is planning for her. If her mother were still alive she wouldn't let him do this. She sat down on the beach and looked at the moon. "Mother, why did you leave me now? I need you!" She whispered. She heard someone walking down the beach toward her. Before she could even see him clearly, she could smell him. Not even the animals at her manor smell this bad. He smelled stale, like wine that sat out far too long, along with the stench of someone who doesn't bathe at all.

Before he could come too close, she stood and started walking away from him. He quickened his pace as she quickened hers. Soon she was running away from this man. When they were almost at the docks, she felt his hand on her arm.

"Now be a nice little wench and stay here. How much are your services for the night?" he slurred.

"I am not for sale, now if you would unhand me please so I can be on my way." she said in the firmest tone she could muster.

The man laughed a sound she wishes she never heard. She did the only thing she could think of, to scream as loud as she could. The man clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her scream. She bit down as hard as she could on the man's hand. He let go, cursing.

The taste of his skin was revolting, making her lose the contents of her stomach. He came at her again, and slapped her with the back of his hand across the face. She could taste her own blood now, she started to cry. He pushed her down into the sand and got on top of her to keep her from moving. She screamed once more, and he hit her again.

"You will do as I say wench, or I will kill you. Now you will be still while I undress you." He said through gritted teeth.

"I told you I am not a w***e. Please let me go!" she begged.

With her thrashing about like she was, they didn't hear another person approach. She felt the man's weight being lifted off of her, and then she heard a sound like wood snapping. She looked up; a much cleaner man was standing above the other man's limp body. Slowly Emma stood up.She walked over to the man that had rescued her from the one who was about to do unspeakable things to her. "Is he dead?" she asked. Her voice hoarse from screaming so loud.

The man looked at her, as if seeing her for the first time. His face hardened and he shook his head. "Just knocked out, let's get you out of here before he comes to. You can clean yourself up on my ship."

Emma looked him over for a minute. He seems like a trustworthy gentleman, and he was keeping his distance from her. He also smelled nice she noticed with a blush. "Alright, I do need to clean up some. Thank you for saving me from that awful man."

He just nodded and started walking. She was careful to not walk to close to the man, even though she knew if he were to attack her, there was no way she would be able to get away from him. She wasn't entirely convinced that she wanted to either.

He led her to one of the largest ships in the harbor. They had to get there by a much smaller boat. She couldn't believe her eyes at the size of his ship. She has never really been to the sea; her father would not allow her near it. He hated the sea and everything about it.

Emma didn't understand how her father could be so different from her; after all she was his blood wasn't she? He didn't stop to talk to any of the crew, but took her straight to the captain's cabin.

When Emma was inside, he left for a few minutes. When he returned, he had a bowl of water, a rag, and some bandages for the cuts on her face.

The man had a somewhat angry look on his face. She couldn't tell if he was mad at her or that other man. "I thank you for saving me back there. I don't know why I thought walking alone on the beach sounded like a good idea." she whispered.

He looked at her, fury in his eyes. "What were you thinking being out there alone? Don't you know where you are at?" he yelled.

She was taken aback by his temper about her, he didn't even know her and he was what seemed like looking out for her. "I do not know which harbor this is, I don't really live close to the harbor, my father never lets me travel anywhere near the sea."

"Than your father is a smart man. You are insane coming to this harbor alone. This is the worst harbor for attracting pirates in the world. How does a lovely lady such as yourself manage to get here alone?"

"My father only hates the sea because my mother loved it. She died yesterday, and he announced he is marrying me off to this horrible man. This man I have heard things about and I fear for myself to be married to him."

"Oh, you are betrothed? What is your age Miss?" he started rubbing his temples like he was getting a strong headache.

"I am seventeen, and my name is Eladrina."

He smiled, "that is an unusual name, my name is Samuel. It is nice to meet you Eladrina. Let us get your face cleaned up and I will have someone from my crew bring us some food."

Samuel left the cabin. Emma was a little restless after what just happened, so she started to explore a little in here. She didn't expect it to be so clean in here; it was cleaner than her own room that Hailey cleaned every day.

He came back into the cabin when she was at the window staring out at the open sea. He walked up behind her. She turned around to face him. He took the cloth and dipped it into the bowl of water. He started gently washing dirt and blood off of her face.

She looked at him intently, she couldn't imagine why a guy like him is still unmarried, that is unless he is a pirate himself. She has her tale that pirates like to jump from woman to woman, not caring about them after having their way with them.

"May I ask you a question Samuel?"

He paused over a cut on her cheek, "Why not, what do you want to know?"

"Why isn't a guy like you married off already?" she blushed.

He chuckled lightly, "I haven't found the right girl for either myself or to make my father happy. In our family we have to marry certain types of women, so not just any woman will do." He set back to work on cleaning blood and dirt off of her face.

"Oh, so it isn't because you are a pirate?" she asked innocently.

He laughed, "That I am, but it is not because of that reason that I have not wed yet. I am not like the pirates you may have heard about. I am more like the code enforcer amongst the pirates and any other ship that comes into this harbor."

"Oh, well that is a good thing. Especially if all pirates are like that man who attacked me. I am very thankful that you came when you did."

"It's my job," he said without looking at her.

"Oh, well I am thankful nevertheless. Do you mind if I ask you to tell me a little bit about yourself? I don't know you after all, and I would like to get to know my rescuer."

He laughed again, "I don't think I have laughed this much in quite a while. I think I will humor you in this. Ask me any question you like, though if I answer your question, you shall answer one back in return."

"That sounds fair. Not many men would humor a young woman like me, what makes you different? What makes you not want to turn me into my father, or the male guardian over me?"

"I don't know why I am not turning you over, but you have been through enough for one day, we will revisit the discussion about your family tomorrow."

"I don't want to tell you who my father is. You might end up turning me over to him, and he doesn't even want to see me right now. He told me he didn't wish to see me until Friday evening, so I plan to stay away until then."

"Alright, now it is my turn to ask you a question. What interests you about the sea so much that you would take a risk like you did to come and see it?"

She thought for a moment while looking out onto the sea. "I don't know, there is just something about it that draws my attention. It is so vast and beautiful that I can't imagine life without such a beauty as that." she blushed.

He looked at her for a while, in which time she was looking out of the window. This girl had him confused. He should have immediately turned her over to her family, but he didn't. Perhaps because she seemed so innocent that turning her over to her father would make her reputation be ruined, which would ruin any potential marriages she could have.

Part of him wanted to get to know her better, but the other part wanted to be rid of her. She wasn't safe for him to be around. There was already talk of him getting betrothed to some Duke's daughter. The Duke himself was about to be married to another Duke's daughter.

He has managed so far to push the marriage of the Dukes daughter onto his younger brother Edmund. Edmund seems to like her very much, but it is up to their father in the end of who he wishes to marry her off to."Do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked while still looking out the window.

"Yes, I have five brothers and one sister. I am second youngest in the family. What about you?"

            "Just a brother. Half-brother really. His mother died five years before I was born. My father married my mother a year before I was born, and I was the only child they had together. And I have a few more that my father sired, but I suppose they don't technicaly count do they?"

            They talked all night long, and she fell asleep on the bed. He sat there a while looking at her. He couldn't tell what it was about this girl, but he wanted to get to know her more. Whenever he saw a man handling a woman like that he took care of the man and let the woman go tend to her own wounds and mess.

Author's Note

It's a work in progress, but I would like some opinions and critiques on it.

Reviews

[Shay]

i really like the plot so far and im looking forward to reading more :)

[Phoenix Flame]

Thank you very much, I hope to have more chapters up relatively shortly. They might not be in order though I will try to write them in order.

[KeelyJane]

I suck at critiquing. This was good.

[Phoenix Flame]

Thank you, like I said, it's a work in progress, but I wanted to see what people who don't know me thought of it.