With The Tide - Chapter 16 - From Its Watery Grave
Rating: M
Characters/Pairing: Emma Swan/Regina Mills, Emma Swan/Captain Hook, Emma Swan/OFC, Snow White/Prince Charming, Belle/Rumplestiltskin, assorted other characters.
Warnings: None for this chapter.
Author’s Note: Sorry for the lateness once again! I had to take an impromptu one week hiatus as I was on holiday!
Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time does not belong to me, nor their characters or plots. The plot of this fanfiction belongs to shikabane-mai, and the artwork she drew can be found: post/46770603575/captain-emma-swan-and-her-former- bounty-mark
Chapter 16
From Its Watery Grave
“You never miss the water ‘till the well run dry.” - American Proverb
“But I’m not injured,” Regina complained, blissfully and refreshingly ignorant, as usual.
Emma leaned forward to brush a lock of hair behind her lover’s ear. Then with very little warning, she tied the bandage around Regina’s eyes, causing the Princess to squeak in surprise. “Emma!” She exclaimed. “What on earth?”
“Shh…” Emma ushered her and pressed her lips to her captive’s. Regina bucked and then calmed underneath her, a tiny shiver going through her body as Emma’s firm hands pushed her down on to the mattress.
Skating her lips down the side of her lover’s neck, the Captain nipped gently at her collarbone. Regina let out a long, high-pitched moan. “Oh my gods, Emma, your touch…” She trailed off, sounding like she couldn’t find the words for the sensations that she was feeling.
Emma had tried blindfolding only twice before. Once with Hook and once with a Lady from the Summerlands, whose ebony skin had glistened with sweat as Emma had drawn out her orgasm mercilessly. Both times it had heightened all the sensations so much that the ensuing climaxes had been very powerful indeed.
She began to suck hard on the skin of Regina collarbone, but was stopped suddenly by a tan hand winding itself into her blonde locks. “Don’t,” the Princess told her, regret filling her voice. “If… my wedding night. If he sees…”
Emma gently kissed her skin to tell her that she understood. If King Leopold saw the love bite Emma had been about to give Regina, the Princess would have a lot of explaining to do. And then she might have been beheaded for adultery. It stung though, to know that soon her lover’s body would be somebody else’s and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Yes, there is… her inner voice reminded her. You could change course right now and elope. Raise your son together.
No. Emma had made her decision. Her fate was cemented. This was the way it had to be.
There was no way Regina could have been following her thought process, but the hand the had tangled itself in her hair made its way down her face to her cheek, gently caressing the skin. It felt too real, too emotional, and so Emma continued the love-making she had begun in such high spirits.
Her busy, callused hands made short work of Regina’s linen shirt and pushed it to the sides of her body, pinning her arms. Now she was practically immobile, but the Captain found herself strangely turned on by it. She grabbed Autumn’s Dagger from where it lay on the bedspread and cut neatly and quickly through the Princess’s breast bindings. “You know, both the dagger and the sword were named. The sword was Caliburn. This dagger was called Carnwennan.”
Regina keened in reply, her hips bucking at the cold touch of the flat of Carnwennan to her sternum. “Gods, Emma!”
Dropping the sapphire blade back on the bed, Emma pushed the ruins of Regina’s bindings to the side. She lowered her mouth to taste the slightly paler skin of one delicious-looking breast. Encouraged by the Princess’s whines and moans, growing increasingly louder in volume, she nipped at the skin and bit down softly on her nipple. Then Emma pulled back, very carefully watching Regina’s expressions. The Captain had always been afraid of being too rough during sex with her captive, fearing that she would trigger another flashback.
But the only expression on Regina’s face was pleasure, and so Emma thought it safe to continue.
She grasped the brunette’s pussy very firmly in her hand rather suddenly and received a surprised shriek as a reward. Emma slipped her hand inside the Princess’s breeches and made firm, small circles around her clit with the pad of her thumb. Regina’s whines and groans grew in frequency and volume until her hips were jerking helplessly under Emma’s body. The Captain slid her forefinger up to the knuckle into Regina’s hot wet centre and was unsurprised to find it spasming in orgasm.
One, she counted mentally.
Emma momentarily withdrew her assault to strip the girl until she was fully naked under the blonde’s own clothed body. The finger that she had sunk into the Princess’s body was joined by a second as the Captain began to slowly thrust into her tight channel. Regina’s walls pulsated around her fingers and Emma wondered if she dared to add a third. She wanted the Princess to remember this last night for the rest of her life, but only as long as Regina could walk tomorrow morning.
On the third thrust, Emma corkscrewed her fingers, eliciting a loud groan from the Princess. The sex noises still pissed her off, but she had grown to appreciate them, just as she had grown to appreciate Regina. They were annoying as hell, but kind of adorable because of it.
Emma moved her mouth up to Regina’s pulse point on her neck, an erogenous zone she had discovered reasonably early on in their sexual relationship. She sucked hard, making Regina tremble beneath her; but then she remembered what the girl had said about marking her skin and began to place butterfly kisses up to her ear instead.
It was a combination of actions that pushed Regina over the edge once more; Emma corkscrewed her fingers, brushed her thumb over the Princess’s clit and kissed a trigger point just behind her ear.
“Emma, Emma…” Regina chanted softly as she came once more. “Love you.”
Two.
The Captain reached up to untie the blindfold. Then she left Regina to remove the bandage completely from her eyes as she undressed herself Stripped of her breeches and shirt, Emma nestled herself into Regina’s warm body. “You remember..?” She began, croaking a little. She paused to clear her throat. “When you licked -“
“Yes,” Regina grinned, pressing a kiss to her clavicle.
Emma patted the mattress by the side of her head. “Get your knees up here, Princess.”
Regina eyed her in conflict but perhaps she had finally learned to follow the Captain’s orders because she crawled up Emma’s body to sandwich her blonde head between her own tan knees. Emma gripped the captive brunette’s hips with both hands and gently lowered them downwards until her pussy was mere inches from her lips and she could inhale the pure, rich aroma that was uniquely Regina.
Then, taken by a brief cheeky streak, she pressed the flat of her tongue directly to Regina’s clit. “Ah!” The Princess honest-to-Gods screamed above her and Emma winced at the loud, grating noise. No matter how gratifying it was to know that she still had it in her to elicit that sort of violent reaction, screaming was a sound she associated with death, not sex.
Nevertheless, she stiffened her tongue and began to circle the Princess’s bundle of nerves carefully, not quite touching but sometimes brushing close enough to make Regina wail in despair. “Please!” She cried from above.
Emma withdrew her tongue for a moment and smirked into her lover’s folds. “Please what?” She taunted.
“Touch me!” Regina cried, bucking her hips and pushing her nether lips back down onto Emma’s face.
“Where?” Emma enquired, seemingly innocently, slightly muffled.
The Princess shrieked in frustration. But once again it seemed her staunch upbringing was clashing hard with her life now. So Emma decided to give her a hand. “Your pussy?” She swept her tongue over Regina’s folds, gathering moisture on her tongue. “Your clit?” She tongued the little bud fiercely, for once enjoying Regina’s squeaks at every press down. “Or do you just want me to fuck you?” She asked, stiffening her tongue and thrusting it as deep inside Regina as she possibly could.
“Yes, Gods, Emma… Fuck me!” Regina wailed, her walls clenching hard around her tongue. Oddly turned on by the Princess’s profanity and feeling the burn in her own centre, Emma decided to irrationally try something. She curled three fingers on her left hand tightly together and pushed them inside Regina, slowly at first. But the sheer arousal dripping from the Princess’s entrance made penetration positively easy and they slid in with almost no opposition.
Regina let out a low garble of something that could have been words and came hard. Fluids gushed from her channel, startling Emma as she instinctually tried to lap them up. But Regina had flopped onto the bed next to her, eyes closed and breathing so hard that Emma feared for her health. “Fuck,” she whispered to herself and in that moment the Captain felt immensely proud of herself. Three, she announced in her mind.
“You squirted,” was all she actually said aloud, surprise ringing in her voice.
Regina flushed hard. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean - you -“
“It’s fine.” Emma emphasised, by licking her lips and as far down as she could reach on her chin, chasing the Princess’s flavour. “You taste excellent.” She grabbed the girl’s chin and engaged her in a wet, messy kiss which Regina returned only very lethargically, apparently too exhausted to even kiss her back.
After only a few seconds, Emma drew back, suddenly finding herself burdened with words she longed to say. “I don’t know how to love very well,” she said carefully, her hand drawing long, artistic lines up and down Regina’s back.
“Well that’s just a lie,” Regina laughed. “I’ll be sore for days!”
Emma allowed herself a little chuckle. “No, Regina. That’s not what I’m saying.” She said it so quietly, and with such intensity that Emma felt Regina tense up in her arms and knew she was listening intently. “I wasn’t capable of love for a very long time,” she confessed. “I was too scared of it; I was too scared of the consequences that it would bring. So I ran away from it. I ran away from anybody who was capable of loving me. And if you stay here with me, I won’t be able to run away. I can’t run away from you.” A tear trickled out from beneath her eyelid and she brushed her mouth next to Regina’s hair, as if her next words could be lost in the soft strands forever. “I love you,” Emma whispered.
The tears began to trickle out at a faster rate than Emma could count and Regina turned over in her arms to look her in the eye. She opened her mouth to ask something, perhaps if Emma really meant it, but closed it again.
“I love you too,” the Princess murmured back. She placed a brief kiss on Emma’s lips, then kissed away the tears at both of her eyelids. “Please don’t cry. It makes me feel like a most unattractive prospect.”
Emma choked as she tried to laugh and cry at the same time. Regina regarded her with morose eyes. “But you haven’t changed your mind, have you? You’re still going to let them take me away.”
“I could never give you what you truly deserve,” Emma confessed in a whisper. “Leopold… he could give you the world. You’d be Queen. You could have your own children. Riches, wealth.”
“I don’t mind giving up any of that,” Regina pleaded tearfully with her. “I just want you and Henry.”
Emma slowly skated her hand down all the tiny knobs of the Princess’s delicate spine. The callused pad of her thumb brushed roughly against tan skin, making Regina shudder beneath her. “I have lived for two hundred and seventy five years. Nearly four lifetimes. And I could live ten, twenty… even a hundred more… and yet never deserve you.”
Regina sat up in Emma’s arms, naked and unashamed, for perhaps the first time ever. She had a fierce look in her eye. “This will be the first and last time you ever choose my fate for me, Emma Swan. Choose wisely, because once we dock tomorrow… there will be no going back.”
Her eyelids flickered shut and Emma allowed herself to picture for a moment, what a life with Regina might look like. The pirate Captain, the Princess and their son… sailing the seven seas for evermore. Free of consequence and responsibility… free of death.
But then reality came crashing back in. “In ten years,” Emma said with increasing certainty. “When Leopold is dead and you have children and a Kingdom of loyal subjects who love you better than I ever could… that’s when you’ll thank me.”
“I hate you,” Regina said, with the same raw and bitter hatred as she had displayed the first time she had proclaimed such loathing for Emma. “You may love me, but your heart’s too ugly and dead to do right by me.” Her voice broke over the final words, and she arose from the bed. “Lace me into the dress you gave me. I want to look pretty…” Regina choked up. “For my husband-to-be.”
“Regina -“ Emma reached out to touch her shoulder, but the Princess shrugged her away.
“Don’t!” She bit out fiercely. “Don’t touch me.”
Emma held both hands up, going to the dresser where she had stowed Regina’s dress after she had been injured during the battle against the Nevic Navy. A sailor had pierced her ribs with a sword and during his attempt at saving her life, Bug had had to remove the dress. Later, it had made its way back to Emma, who had stashed it in the dresser until now.
She shook it out and inspected it critically. It looked a little worn around the edges, but apart from the hole where the sword had been impaled on Regina, it was in perfectly serviceable condition.
The Princess covered herself modestly as she stepped into the dress and allowed Emma to pull it up around her shoulders. The Captain treasured each inch of tan skin as it was covered up by the material. But the back of the dress hung open, so Emma began to lace it up with slow and sure hands, hating every moment of this prolonged goodbye.
“Where will you go?” Regina asked after a long period of silence.
Emma hesitated a moment, tugging the strings tighter together. “Somewhere hot. Back to the Summerlands, I suppose. Port Blake or Agano. Perhaps Eldora.”
“Eldora is inland,” Regina said in a puzzled tone. “Why would you want to leave the coast?”
Emma paused in her lacings. “It’s the capital city. I thought Henry might quite like to see it.”
“You’re still going back for him, then?” Regina asked faux-casually, head slightly bowed. Emma could tell that she had almost been expecting her to abandon her son once more to the mercy of Baelfire. But Emma knew now that she wasn’t smart. Not smart enough to stay away from love. Or maybe she was just tired of trying. Regardless, after Regina’s wedding to Leopold was over, she’d find Henry and be his mother, as much as a mother as she was capable of being. And she would support Charming and Snow in their endeavour to take over the monarchy of Neverland. And if they gave her a sibling… well, she would support them too.
“I am,” she said concisely. Because that was all Regina really needed to know.
Emma finished lacing the dress and let her warm palms rest on the Princess’s shoulders for just a moment until Regina turned around to look her in the eye. “You better take care of him, Swan,” she ordered, deadly serious. “He deserves the best, so you better be the best.”
“I’ll try,” Emma nodded and was quite alarmed when Regina gripped her upper arms fiercely.
“No!” She exclaimed fiercely. “You have to do better than that!”
Emma caressed her ex-lover’s face gently. “Regina,” she said softly. “I really will try.”
She didn’t even realise that she was crying again until the hot itch of a tear ran down her cheek, leaving a stain in its path. Regina’s eyes were welling up too and Emma pulled the Princess into her body, holding her as they both wept. Emma was unusually emotional, but the last time she had fallen in love it had ended the same way -a betrayal, two broken hearts and innumerate tears.
“You stay here tonight,” Emma said finally in a rough voice, pulling away from her captive.
“But where will you sleep?” Regina enquired, brushing stray tears away from her eyes.
Emma placed a final kiss on her forehead. “We always keep one cabin in the forecastle empty, just in case. I’ll sleep there.”
For a moment they stood there, foreheads resting together, breathing rhythmically. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Then Emma broke the moment and pulled away. But she took Regina’s hand in hers and laid it against her own chest, where her heart was beating rapidly. “It may be ugly and dead. But it loves you in its own way.”
Regina bent her head to press her lips softly against the patch of skin just above Emma’s heart. Then their lips met in one last, final, desperate kiss. Emma clutched Regina’s tangled ebony locks as the Princess wrapped her arms tightly around the pirate’s neck as if they could stay there, locked in embrace, forever.
“Captain!” The voice and its accompanying shake of the shoulders was a brusque, urgent awakening. “It’s nearly dawn! We’re about to dock!”
Emma jerked awake, already half out of the coverlets and pulling on her clothes as fast as lightning. “Wake the Princess,” she ordered, buckling her belt around her waist and pulling on her overcoat. Her hat was jammed at a jaunty angle on her head to finish off and she looked at Snow impatiently. “Well, go on!”
Knowing better than to disobey that particular tone, her Quartermaster hurried out of Emma’s temporary chambers and presumably towards the Captain’s Quarters to awaken Regina. Captain Swan was fairly certain the Princess would be awake, having likely not caught a wink of sleep all night. But she wasn’t willing to take the risk. After all, it would never do to have her bounty sleeping when the Queen came to collect it.
Emma strode out of the forecastle after Snow, heading towards Grumpy at the wheel. “I’ll sail us into Port Wordsworth,” she commanded, taking charge and gripping the spokes with tense hands. “Oh and Grumpy?” She called after the dwarf as he made to leave the Quarterdeck. “Can you keep Snow below deck this morning? I would hate for King Leopold to have any awkward encounters with his illegitimate daughter.”
“Don’t worry about it, Captain,” Grumpy gave a short perfunctory salute, which told Emma he had not quite forgiven her for yesterday’s events. It wasn’t unprecedented for her to threaten the life of a crew member, but it was uncommon, which meant that it had probably unsettled them all. Good, thought Emma viciously. When a pirate crew got too matey with their Captain, it usually led to mutiny… not because they disrespected the Captain but because they couldn’t follow orders.
The Captain was about to reach into her belt to grab her telescope when she realised she didn’t need to. Port Wordsworth wasn’t just a speck on the horizon; it was closer than she had thought. Too close. Was Emma really ready to say goodbye to the last two months? The mother of her child? The woman she loved?
Yes, she told herself firmly. Toughen up, Swan. Being alone is something you know how to do.
Except she wouldn’t even have to be alone. She had Charming, who was fairly useless as a father but a good boatswain and friend. She had Snow, a sister figure. She had Henry waiting for her somewhere, with Hook and Bae. And she had her ship and crew, with whom she could go anywhere and do anything.
But first she had to do this. As undesirable as it was. Because Emma had made her decision and she knew that Regina would respect it, because what else could she really do? At the end of the day, the only difference between love and trust was that the latter was given freely, which made the pain of betrayal sting sharper. But if to trust only herself was a lesson that Regina had to learn, then Emma was glad she had been given the opportunity to teach it. Because it was the most valuable thing she herself had ever learnt.
But as she began shouting orders to dock the ship in port, Emma wondered what teaching that lesson had cost her. Love, certainly. Family, perhaps. But then her gaze hardened and she held her head a little higher. Because when had Emma Swan ever needed either of those?
The anchor was thrown into the sea with a splash and Emma heard royal trumpets being played from the security of the dock. She slowly descended the steps of the Quarterdeck and offered her arm to Regina, who had been waiting quietly in the shadows of the ship deck for who knew how long. Perhaps all night.
“Your Highness,” Emma kissed the back of her hand, brushing her lips over Regina’s soft, tan skin for what would be the last time. But in contrast, it was the first time she had ever seriously addressed the Princess as formally as her station required.
“Captain Swan,” Regina curtsied shallowly and took her arm, silently allowing Emma to escort her over the gangplank and onto the dock.
As Emma’s feet made contact with land, she saw the royal entourage for the first time. The three most prominent figures stood in the foreground of it all. King Henry and Queen Cora, with interlocked forearms and welcoming smiles on their faces. Whether they were genuine or not, Emma couldn’t tell from the distance. The third figure, who stood slightly to the side, cut an imposing but rounded figure - King Leopold. To Emma he merely looked like a chubby, benevolent old man, but in reality she knew better. He was a rapist that had more or less disinherited his illegitimate daughter, who had then been known as Mary-Margaret Blanchard.
But the procession behind them was more impressive. There looked to be a whole section of musicians just to welcome the Princess home. Various men and women, standing behind the three royals, all dressed in finery and likely Dukes and Duchesses as well as their offspring. A Royal guard of course, a platoon of finely dressed soldiers in the deep green of Springlands livery on the left and the pure snow white of Winterlands on the right.
“Quite the welcoming committee,” Emma murmured to Regina under her breath.
Regina clutched her arm very tightly. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
As they grew ever closer to the parade of royals, musicians and soldiers, it was easier for Emma to get a read on the three monarchs in the foreground. King Henry, Regina’s father, looked benign and happy to see his daughter. Emma could see from which parent the Princess had inherited her brown eyes and tan skin. But her luscious brunette locks were evidently a gift from her mother.
Queen Cora herself was also smiling, but it was in that cool, detached way that Emma had long come to associate with people in positions of power. The Captain didn’t like the way Regina’s mother looked at her, as though she was a possession rather than a human being.
Then finally there was King Leopold, a little to the right. If Queen Cora saw Regina as a possession, then Leopold looked upon her as though looking at a juicy steak. His eyes ran greedily up and down her form and Emma gritted her teeth. Not that Regina wasn’t gorgeous, but there was appreciation and there was lechery. King Leopold definitely fell into the latter camp.
Emma’s legs seemed to be carrying her forward quicker than ever before and in a blink of the eye the pair of them stood before the trio of monarchs. Emma stepped forward and bowed deeply. As she was not a citizen of either the Springlands or Winterlands (although a felon in the latter), she did not have to kneel to swear fealty. But Regina dropped to her knees beside her, in front of her father and kissed his hand.
“Your majesties,” Emma murmured. “Queen Cora, I have successfully completed the service you gave me.” She stood erect once more, meeting the Queen’s eyes steadily.
Cora smiled grimly at her. “And you shall have your compensation, Swan.” She gestured absently to a courier, who pulled forward a horse and cart. The cart was loaded with leather bags and Emma swallowed. A whole cart full of gold coins. “Ethan will help you load it onto your… vessel. You also have temporary diplomatic immunity until sundown tonight, after which if your ship is still docked you and your crew will be arrested and executed for your various crimes… principally piracy.”
“A reasonable request,” Emma inclined her head. She couldn’t help glancing down at Regina, who was still on her knees in front of her father and trembling visibly. It was probably improper of her to say goodbye and so Emma kept her mouth shut. But she had evidently been too obvious in her longing to say something, anything, to reassure her old lover because Cora stepped forward.
“I know that you’re a smart woman, Captain Swan,” the Queen hissed in her ear. “Whatever my daughter may have told you, none of it was real. Regina is excellent at manipulation and she would have done anything, Captain, anything to escape.”
Emma drew back and lowered her head in acknowledgement. “My Queen. King Henry,” she turned to the King of Winterlands. “King Leopold.”
She stepped backward, but before she could tear away her eyes, Leopold came forward to offer his hands to Regina. The Princess took them, stood and then tried to withdraw her hands, but the King would not let her. He bestowed a greedy smile upon the Princess, then brought a pudgy hand up to touch her face. Emma watched in disgust as he caressed her lips, then trailed down by way of one breast to feel her hips. From the way Regina was wincing, he was clutching them hard enough to bruise.
“Nice child-bearing hips,” he roared and behind him his soldiers chuckled and jeered their approval. Emma swallowed and forced herself to turn around before she vomited. Rage, unlike anything she had felt for at least a hundred years, was coursing through her blood like fear. If she was forced to watch a second longer, she would either throw up or impale the King of Winterlands on her sword. Either way… Emma turned to leave.
Biting her lip, she forced herself not to look back as she walked away. The trundle of a cart full of gold coins followed her all the way back to the gangplank, but the sound only reminded her of pain and betrayal.
It was only when she had boarded The Bloody Blade once again that she allowed herself to look back at the Royal entourage. The musicians had begun to disperse and a row of horse-drawn carriages were being towed off towards the distant palace. As Emma watched, she could just about make out Regina, still clad in Emma’s old dress, being helped into the foremost carriage by a seemingly chivalrous King Leopold. The Princess turned her head at the last minute before she was shut into darkness and Emma could have sworn, that from all the way down the pier, that they caught each other’s eye.
“Where do you want all this going then, pirate?” The courier asked in a tone that made no secret of his attitude towards her.
Emma turned back to face him with a fake, sweet smile. “Haul it aboard, my friend,” she ordered pleasantly. “Don’t you know that pirate hospitality is the best in the seven seas?”
The courier looked at her suspiciously, but grabbed the top sack from the cart and began to lug it up the gangplank. He passed Emma and once his back was turned, she slowly and soundlessly drew her knife from her belt. When the courier dumped the sack on deck and turned back towards her, Emma darted forward, faster than an arrow and buried the blade in his neck.
Scarlet blood spewed all over the deck as the man crumpled to the floor. He landed face first with a nasty crack, probably breaking his nose. Not that it would matter. The dead didn’t need their sense of smell. Emma knelt by the corpse and quickly began to strip it of its clothing. The dark green livery of the Springlands was embroidered with oak trees. This uniform had a white stripe around the collar, indicating that the wearer was in a position of servitude, not power.
Emma tugged free an evergreen-coloured waistcoat and unlaced a crisp white shirt. She laid them out on the deck along with a pair of pale pea green leggings, leaving the courier only in his loincloth. All the while, her crew had been watching the man’s vicious death and stripping with wide eyes, but only Snow came forward to challenge her.
“Not to question your actions, Captain, but…” she trailed off, looking a little grim at the large pool of blood that was collecting on the deck.
“You want to know what the hell I’m doing?” Emma asked viciously. She pulled her knife from the man’s neck and cleaned it on her own shirt, staining the cloth red. Then she gripped the man under both arms and towed him to the side of the ship. Her crew immediately cleared to make a path for her, some with a little fear in their eyes. An act of unprecedented violence like the one she had just displayed was unusual. Emma made a point of trying not to kill people outside of battle and for no good reason.
Captain Swan heaved and threw the dead man overboard, where he hit the surface of the ocean with a splash and sank. She watched him disappear below the waves for a second, then clambered up on to the side, clutching the rigging so she didn’t overbalance. The rage that had filled her heart when Leopold had touched the Princess with his fat, gluttonous hands still burned strong and true.
“A member of our crew has been taken! As a result of my own actions!” Emma roared, feeling like a lion as the wind whipped her hair back and forth. “She was selfless, she was brave and she was true of heart! And right now, she is being fondled by a lazy, gluttonous King that does not know the burn of labour, the salt of the sea or the justice of equals! And I am going to find that fucking son-of-a-bitch, and I am going to kill him, so that I can redeem myself!” she declared fiercely, drawing her sword from her belt. “And maybe once I impale his head on a spike over the walls of Port Wordsworth, Evermore will finally realise that women deserve respect and fair treatment just as the same as any man! So who will fight alongside me? To win back a member of our crew whom I wronged so badly?”
“Me, Cp’n!”
“And I, Swan!”
The rest of the declarations were lost in a fury of cheers and the drawing of steel from scabbard. Emma looked over her faithful crew with wondering eyes and felt the fury that raged in her heart thirst for the blood of King Leopold of Winterlands.
Characters/Pairing: Emma Swan/Regina Mills, Emma Swan/Captain Hook, Emma Swan/OFC, Snow White/Prince Charming, Belle/Rumplestiltskin, assorted other characters.
Warnings: None for this chapter.
Author’s Note: Sorry for the lateness once again! I had to take an impromptu one week hiatus as I was on holiday!
Disclaimer: Once Upon a Time does not belong to me, nor their characters or plots. The plot of this fanfiction belongs to shikabane-mai, and the artwork she drew can be found: post/46770603575/captain-emma-swan-and-her-former- bounty-mark
Chapter 16
From Its Watery Grave
“You never miss the water ‘till the well run dry.” - American Proverb
“But I’m not injured,” Regina complained, blissfully and refreshingly ignorant, as usual.
Emma leaned forward to brush a lock of hair behind her lover’s ear. Then with very little warning, she tied the bandage around Regina’s eyes, causing the Princess to squeak in surprise. “Emma!” She exclaimed. “What on earth?”
“Shh…” Emma ushered her and pressed her lips to her captive’s. Regina bucked and then calmed underneath her, a tiny shiver going through her body as Emma’s firm hands pushed her down on to the mattress.
Skating her lips down the side of her lover’s neck, the Captain nipped gently at her collarbone. Regina let out a long, high-pitched moan. “Oh my gods, Emma, your touch…” She trailed off, sounding like she couldn’t find the words for the sensations that she was feeling.
Emma had tried blindfolding only twice before. Once with Hook and once with a Lady from the Summerlands, whose ebony skin had glistened with sweat as Emma had drawn out her orgasm mercilessly. Both times it had heightened all the sensations so much that the ensuing climaxes had been very powerful indeed.
She began to suck hard on the skin of Regina collarbone, but was stopped suddenly by a tan hand winding itself into her blonde locks. “Don’t,” the Princess told her, regret filling her voice. “If… my wedding night. If he sees…”
Emma gently kissed her skin to tell her that she understood. If King Leopold saw the love bite Emma had been about to give Regina, the Princess would have a lot of explaining to do. And then she might have been beheaded for adultery. It stung though, to know that soon her lover’s body would be somebody else’s and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Yes, there is… her inner voice reminded her. You could change course right now and elope. Raise your son together.
No. Emma had made her decision. Her fate was cemented. This was the way it had to be.
There was no way Regina could have been following her thought process, but the hand the had tangled itself in her hair made its way down her face to her cheek, gently caressing the skin. It felt too real, too emotional, and so Emma continued the love-making she had begun in such high spirits.
Her busy, callused hands made short work of Regina’s linen shirt and pushed it to the sides of her body, pinning her arms. Now she was practically immobile, but the Captain found herself strangely turned on by it. She grabbed Autumn’s Dagger from where it lay on the bedspread and cut neatly and quickly through the Princess’s breast bindings. “You know, both the dagger and the sword were named. The sword was Caliburn. This dagger was called Carnwennan.”
Regina keened in reply, her hips bucking at the cold touch of the flat of Carnwennan to her sternum. “Gods, Emma!”
Dropping the sapphire blade back on the bed, Emma pushed the ruins of Regina’s bindings to the side. She lowered her mouth to taste the slightly paler skin of one delicious-looking breast. Encouraged by the Princess’s whines and moans, growing increasingly louder in volume, she nipped at the skin and bit down softly on her nipple. Then Emma pulled back, very carefully watching Regina’s expressions. The Captain had always been afraid of being too rough during sex with her captive, fearing that she would trigger another flashback.
But the only expression on Regina’s face was pleasure, and so Emma thought it safe to continue.
She grasped the brunette’s pussy very firmly in her hand rather suddenly and received a surprised shriek as a reward. Emma slipped her hand inside the Princess’s breeches and made firm, small circles around her clit with the pad of her thumb. Regina’s whines and groans grew in frequency and volume until her hips were jerking helplessly under Emma’s body. The Captain slid her forefinger up to the knuckle into Regina’s hot wet centre and was unsurprised to find it spasming in orgasm.
One, she counted mentally.
Emma momentarily withdrew her assault to strip the girl until she was fully naked under the blonde’s own clothed body. The finger that she had sunk into the Princess’s body was joined by a second as the Captain began to slowly thrust into her tight channel. Regina’s walls pulsated around her fingers and Emma wondered if she dared to add a third. She wanted the Princess to remember this last night for the rest of her life, but only as long as Regina could walk tomorrow morning.
On the third thrust, Emma corkscrewed her fingers, eliciting a loud groan from the Princess. The sex noises still pissed her off, but she had grown to appreciate them, just as she had grown to appreciate Regina. They were annoying as hell, but kind of adorable because of it.
Emma moved her mouth up to Regina’s pulse point on her neck, an erogenous zone she had discovered reasonably early on in their sexual relationship. She sucked hard, making Regina tremble beneath her; but then she remembered what the girl had said about marking her skin and began to place butterfly kisses up to her ear instead.
It was a combination of actions that pushed Regina over the edge once more; Emma corkscrewed her fingers, brushed her thumb over the Princess’s clit and kissed a trigger point just behind her ear.
“Emma, Emma…” Regina chanted softly as she came once more. “Love you.”
Two.
The Captain reached up to untie the blindfold. Then she left Regina to remove the bandage completely from her eyes as she undressed herself Stripped of her breeches and shirt, Emma nestled herself into Regina’s warm body. “You remember..?” She began, croaking a little. She paused to clear her throat. “When you licked -“
“Yes,” Regina grinned, pressing a kiss to her clavicle.
Emma patted the mattress by the side of her head. “Get your knees up here, Princess.”
Regina eyed her in conflict but perhaps she had finally learned to follow the Captain’s orders because she crawled up Emma’s body to sandwich her blonde head between her own tan knees. Emma gripped the captive brunette’s hips with both hands and gently lowered them downwards until her pussy was mere inches from her lips and she could inhale the pure, rich aroma that was uniquely Regina.
Then, taken by a brief cheeky streak, she pressed the flat of her tongue directly to Regina’s clit. “Ah!” The Princess honest-to-Gods screamed above her and Emma winced at the loud, grating noise. No matter how gratifying it was to know that she still had it in her to elicit that sort of violent reaction, screaming was a sound she associated with death, not sex.
Nevertheless, she stiffened her tongue and began to circle the Princess’s bundle of nerves carefully, not quite touching but sometimes brushing close enough to make Regina wail in despair. “Please!” She cried from above.
Emma withdrew her tongue for a moment and smirked into her lover’s folds. “Please what?” She taunted.
“Touch me!” Regina cried, bucking her hips and pushing her nether lips back down onto Emma’s face.
“Where?” Emma enquired, seemingly innocently, slightly muffled.
The Princess shrieked in frustration. But once again it seemed her staunch upbringing was clashing hard with her life now. So Emma decided to give her a hand. “Your pussy?” She swept her tongue over Regina’s folds, gathering moisture on her tongue. “Your clit?” She tongued the little bud fiercely, for once enjoying Regina’s squeaks at every press down. “Or do you just want me to fuck you?” She asked, stiffening her tongue and thrusting it as deep inside Regina as she possibly could.
“Yes, Gods, Emma… Fuck me!” Regina wailed, her walls clenching hard around her tongue. Oddly turned on by the Princess’s profanity and feeling the burn in her own centre, Emma decided to irrationally try something. She curled three fingers on her left hand tightly together and pushed them inside Regina, slowly at first. But the sheer arousal dripping from the Princess’s entrance made penetration positively easy and they slid in with almost no opposition.
Regina let out a low garble of something that could have been words and came hard. Fluids gushed from her channel, startling Emma as she instinctually tried to lap them up. But Regina had flopped onto the bed next to her, eyes closed and breathing so hard that Emma feared for her health. “Fuck,” she whispered to herself and in that moment the Captain felt immensely proud of herself. Three, she announced in her mind.
“You squirted,” was all she actually said aloud, surprise ringing in her voice.
Regina flushed hard. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean - you -“
“It’s fine.” Emma emphasised, by licking her lips and as far down as she could reach on her chin, chasing the Princess’s flavour. “You taste excellent.” She grabbed the girl’s chin and engaged her in a wet, messy kiss which Regina returned only very lethargically, apparently too exhausted to even kiss her back.
After only a few seconds, Emma drew back, suddenly finding herself burdened with words she longed to say. “I don’t know how to love very well,” she said carefully, her hand drawing long, artistic lines up and down Regina’s back.
“Well that’s just a lie,” Regina laughed. “I’ll be sore for days!”
Emma allowed herself a little chuckle. “No, Regina. That’s not what I’m saying.” She said it so quietly, and with such intensity that Emma felt Regina tense up in her arms and knew she was listening intently. “I wasn’t capable of love for a very long time,” she confessed. “I was too scared of it; I was too scared of the consequences that it would bring. So I ran away from it. I ran away from anybody who was capable of loving me. And if you stay here with me, I won’t be able to run away. I can’t run away from you.” A tear trickled out from beneath her eyelid and she brushed her mouth next to Regina’s hair, as if her next words could be lost in the soft strands forever. “I love you,” Emma whispered.
The tears began to trickle out at a faster rate than Emma could count and Regina turned over in her arms to look her in the eye. She opened her mouth to ask something, perhaps if Emma really meant it, but closed it again.
“I love you too,” the Princess murmured back. She placed a brief kiss on Emma’s lips, then kissed away the tears at both of her eyelids. “Please don’t cry. It makes me feel like a most unattractive prospect.”
Emma choked as she tried to laugh and cry at the same time. Regina regarded her with morose eyes. “But you haven’t changed your mind, have you? You’re still going to let them take me away.”
“I could never give you what you truly deserve,” Emma confessed in a whisper. “Leopold… he could give you the world. You’d be Queen. You could have your own children. Riches, wealth.”
“I don’t mind giving up any of that,” Regina pleaded tearfully with her. “I just want you and Henry.”
Emma slowly skated her hand down all the tiny knobs of the Princess’s delicate spine. The callused pad of her thumb brushed roughly against tan skin, making Regina shudder beneath her. “I have lived for two hundred and seventy five years. Nearly four lifetimes. And I could live ten, twenty… even a hundred more… and yet never deserve you.”
Regina sat up in Emma’s arms, naked and unashamed, for perhaps the first time ever. She had a fierce look in her eye. “This will be the first and last time you ever choose my fate for me, Emma Swan. Choose wisely, because once we dock tomorrow… there will be no going back.”
Her eyelids flickered shut and Emma allowed herself to picture for a moment, what a life with Regina might look like. The pirate Captain, the Princess and their son… sailing the seven seas for evermore. Free of consequence and responsibility… free of death.
But then reality came crashing back in. “In ten years,” Emma said with increasing certainty. “When Leopold is dead and you have children and a Kingdom of loyal subjects who love you better than I ever could… that’s when you’ll thank me.”
“I hate you,” Regina said, with the same raw and bitter hatred as she had displayed the first time she had proclaimed such loathing for Emma. “You may love me, but your heart’s too ugly and dead to do right by me.” Her voice broke over the final words, and she arose from the bed. “Lace me into the dress you gave me. I want to look pretty…” Regina choked up. “For my husband-to-be.”
“Regina -“ Emma reached out to touch her shoulder, but the Princess shrugged her away.
“Don’t!” She bit out fiercely. “Don’t touch me.”
Emma held both hands up, going to the dresser where she had stowed Regina’s dress after she had been injured during the battle against the Nevic Navy. A sailor had pierced her ribs with a sword and during his attempt at saving her life, Bug had had to remove the dress. Later, it had made its way back to Emma, who had stashed it in the dresser until now.
She shook it out and inspected it critically. It looked a little worn around the edges, but apart from the hole where the sword had been impaled on Regina, it was in perfectly serviceable condition.
The Princess covered herself modestly as she stepped into the dress and allowed Emma to pull it up around her shoulders. The Captain treasured each inch of tan skin as it was covered up by the material. But the back of the dress hung open, so Emma began to lace it up with slow and sure hands, hating every moment of this prolonged goodbye.
“Where will you go?” Regina asked after a long period of silence.
Emma hesitated a moment, tugging the strings tighter together. “Somewhere hot. Back to the Summerlands, I suppose. Port Blake or Agano. Perhaps Eldora.”
“Eldora is inland,” Regina said in a puzzled tone. “Why would you want to leave the coast?”
Emma paused in her lacings. “It’s the capital city. I thought Henry might quite like to see it.”
“You’re still going back for him, then?” Regina asked faux-casually, head slightly bowed. Emma could tell that she had almost been expecting her to abandon her son once more to the mercy of Baelfire. But Emma knew now that she wasn’t smart. Not smart enough to stay away from love. Or maybe she was just tired of trying. Regardless, after Regina’s wedding to Leopold was over, she’d find Henry and be his mother, as much as a mother as she was capable of being. And she would support Charming and Snow in their endeavour to take over the monarchy of Neverland. And if they gave her a sibling… well, she would support them too.
“I am,” she said concisely. Because that was all Regina really needed to know.
Emma finished lacing the dress and let her warm palms rest on the Princess’s shoulders for just a moment until Regina turned around to look her in the eye. “You better take care of him, Swan,” she ordered, deadly serious. “He deserves the best, so you better be the best.”
“I’ll try,” Emma nodded and was quite alarmed when Regina gripped her upper arms fiercely.
“No!” She exclaimed fiercely. “You have to do better than that!”
Emma caressed her ex-lover’s face gently. “Regina,” she said softly. “I really will try.”
She didn’t even realise that she was crying again until the hot itch of a tear ran down her cheek, leaving a stain in its path. Regina’s eyes were welling up too and Emma pulled the Princess into her body, holding her as they both wept. Emma was unusually emotional, but the last time she had fallen in love it had ended the same way -a betrayal, two broken hearts and innumerate tears.
“You stay here tonight,” Emma said finally in a rough voice, pulling away from her captive.
“But where will you sleep?” Regina enquired, brushing stray tears away from her eyes.
Emma placed a final kiss on her forehead. “We always keep one cabin in the forecastle empty, just in case. I’ll sleep there.”
For a moment they stood there, foreheads resting together, breathing rhythmically. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Then Emma broke the moment and pulled away. But she took Regina’s hand in hers and laid it against her own chest, where her heart was beating rapidly. “It may be ugly and dead. But it loves you in its own way.”
Regina bent her head to press her lips softly against the patch of skin just above Emma’s heart. Then their lips met in one last, final, desperate kiss. Emma clutched Regina’s tangled ebony locks as the Princess wrapped her arms tightly around the pirate’s neck as if they could stay there, locked in embrace, forever.
“Captain!” The voice and its accompanying shake of the shoulders was a brusque, urgent awakening. “It’s nearly dawn! We’re about to dock!”
Emma jerked awake, already half out of the coverlets and pulling on her clothes as fast as lightning. “Wake the Princess,” she ordered, buckling her belt around her waist and pulling on her overcoat. Her hat was jammed at a jaunty angle on her head to finish off and she looked at Snow impatiently. “Well, go on!”
Knowing better than to disobey that particular tone, her Quartermaster hurried out of Emma’s temporary chambers and presumably towards the Captain’s Quarters to awaken Regina. Captain Swan was fairly certain the Princess would be awake, having likely not caught a wink of sleep all night. But she wasn’t willing to take the risk. After all, it would never do to have her bounty sleeping when the Queen came to collect it.
Emma strode out of the forecastle after Snow, heading towards Grumpy at the wheel. “I’ll sail us into Port Wordsworth,” she commanded, taking charge and gripping the spokes with tense hands. “Oh and Grumpy?” She called after the dwarf as he made to leave the Quarterdeck. “Can you keep Snow below deck this morning? I would hate for King Leopold to have any awkward encounters with his illegitimate daughter.”
“Don’t worry about it, Captain,” Grumpy gave a short perfunctory salute, which told Emma he had not quite forgiven her for yesterday’s events. It wasn’t unprecedented for her to threaten the life of a crew member, but it was uncommon, which meant that it had probably unsettled them all. Good, thought Emma viciously. When a pirate crew got too matey with their Captain, it usually led to mutiny… not because they disrespected the Captain but because they couldn’t follow orders.
The Captain was about to reach into her belt to grab her telescope when she realised she didn’t need to. Port Wordsworth wasn’t just a speck on the horizon; it was closer than she had thought. Too close. Was Emma really ready to say goodbye to the last two months? The mother of her child? The woman she loved?
Yes, she told herself firmly. Toughen up, Swan. Being alone is something you know how to do.
Except she wouldn’t even have to be alone. She had Charming, who was fairly useless as a father but a good boatswain and friend. She had Snow, a sister figure. She had Henry waiting for her somewhere, with Hook and Bae. And she had her ship and crew, with whom she could go anywhere and do anything.
But first she had to do this. As undesirable as it was. Because Emma had made her decision and she knew that Regina would respect it, because what else could she really do? At the end of the day, the only difference between love and trust was that the latter was given freely, which made the pain of betrayal sting sharper. But if to trust only herself was a lesson that Regina had to learn, then Emma was glad she had been given the opportunity to teach it. Because it was the most valuable thing she herself had ever learnt.
But as she began shouting orders to dock the ship in port, Emma wondered what teaching that lesson had cost her. Love, certainly. Family, perhaps. But then her gaze hardened and she held her head a little higher. Because when had Emma Swan ever needed either of those?
The anchor was thrown into the sea with a splash and Emma heard royal trumpets being played from the security of the dock. She slowly descended the steps of the Quarterdeck and offered her arm to Regina, who had been waiting quietly in the shadows of the ship deck for who knew how long. Perhaps all night.
“Your Highness,” Emma kissed the back of her hand, brushing her lips over Regina’s soft, tan skin for what would be the last time. But in contrast, it was the first time she had ever seriously addressed the Princess as formally as her station required.
“Captain Swan,” Regina curtsied shallowly and took her arm, silently allowing Emma to escort her over the gangplank and onto the dock.
As Emma’s feet made contact with land, she saw the royal entourage for the first time. The three most prominent figures stood in the foreground of it all. King Henry and Queen Cora, with interlocked forearms and welcoming smiles on their faces. Whether they were genuine or not, Emma couldn’t tell from the distance. The third figure, who stood slightly to the side, cut an imposing but rounded figure - King Leopold. To Emma he merely looked like a chubby, benevolent old man, but in reality she knew better. He was a rapist that had more or less disinherited his illegitimate daughter, who had then been known as Mary-Margaret Blanchard.
But the procession behind them was more impressive. There looked to be a whole section of musicians just to welcome the Princess home. Various men and women, standing behind the three royals, all dressed in finery and likely Dukes and Duchesses as well as their offspring. A Royal guard of course, a platoon of finely dressed soldiers in the deep green of Springlands livery on the left and the pure snow white of Winterlands on the right.
“Quite the welcoming committee,” Emma murmured to Regina under her breath.
Regina clutched her arm very tightly. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
As they grew ever closer to the parade of royals, musicians and soldiers, it was easier for Emma to get a read on the three monarchs in the foreground. King Henry, Regina’s father, looked benign and happy to see his daughter. Emma could see from which parent the Princess had inherited her brown eyes and tan skin. But her luscious brunette locks were evidently a gift from her mother.
Queen Cora herself was also smiling, but it was in that cool, detached way that Emma had long come to associate with people in positions of power. The Captain didn’t like the way Regina’s mother looked at her, as though she was a possession rather than a human being.
Then finally there was King Leopold, a little to the right. If Queen Cora saw Regina as a possession, then Leopold looked upon her as though looking at a juicy steak. His eyes ran greedily up and down her form and Emma gritted her teeth. Not that Regina wasn’t gorgeous, but there was appreciation and there was lechery. King Leopold definitely fell into the latter camp.
Emma’s legs seemed to be carrying her forward quicker than ever before and in a blink of the eye the pair of them stood before the trio of monarchs. Emma stepped forward and bowed deeply. As she was not a citizen of either the Springlands or Winterlands (although a felon in the latter), she did not have to kneel to swear fealty. But Regina dropped to her knees beside her, in front of her father and kissed his hand.
“Your majesties,” Emma murmured. “Queen Cora, I have successfully completed the service you gave me.” She stood erect once more, meeting the Queen’s eyes steadily.
Cora smiled grimly at her. “And you shall have your compensation, Swan.” She gestured absently to a courier, who pulled forward a horse and cart. The cart was loaded with leather bags and Emma swallowed. A whole cart full of gold coins. “Ethan will help you load it onto your… vessel. You also have temporary diplomatic immunity until sundown tonight, after which if your ship is still docked you and your crew will be arrested and executed for your various crimes… principally piracy.”
“A reasonable request,” Emma inclined her head. She couldn’t help glancing down at Regina, who was still on her knees in front of her father and trembling visibly. It was probably improper of her to say goodbye and so Emma kept her mouth shut. But she had evidently been too obvious in her longing to say something, anything, to reassure her old lover because Cora stepped forward.
“I know that you’re a smart woman, Captain Swan,” the Queen hissed in her ear. “Whatever my daughter may have told you, none of it was real. Regina is excellent at manipulation and she would have done anything, Captain, anything to escape.”
Emma drew back and lowered her head in acknowledgement. “My Queen. King Henry,” she turned to the King of Winterlands. “King Leopold.”
She stepped backward, but before she could tear away her eyes, Leopold came forward to offer his hands to Regina. The Princess took them, stood and then tried to withdraw her hands, but the King would not let her. He bestowed a greedy smile upon the Princess, then brought a pudgy hand up to touch her face. Emma watched in disgust as he caressed her lips, then trailed down by way of one breast to feel her hips. From the way Regina was wincing, he was clutching them hard enough to bruise.
“Nice child-bearing hips,” he roared and behind him his soldiers chuckled and jeered their approval. Emma swallowed and forced herself to turn around before she vomited. Rage, unlike anything she had felt for at least a hundred years, was coursing through her blood like fear. If she was forced to watch a second longer, she would either throw up or impale the King of Winterlands on her sword. Either way… Emma turned to leave.
Biting her lip, she forced herself not to look back as she walked away. The trundle of a cart full of gold coins followed her all the way back to the gangplank, but the sound only reminded her of pain and betrayal.
It was only when she had boarded The Bloody Blade once again that she allowed herself to look back at the Royal entourage. The musicians had begun to disperse and a row of horse-drawn carriages were being towed off towards the distant palace. As Emma watched, she could just about make out Regina, still clad in Emma’s old dress, being helped into the foremost carriage by a seemingly chivalrous King Leopold. The Princess turned her head at the last minute before she was shut into darkness and Emma could have sworn, that from all the way down the pier, that they caught each other’s eye.
“Where do you want all this going then, pirate?” The courier asked in a tone that made no secret of his attitude towards her.
Emma turned back to face him with a fake, sweet smile. “Haul it aboard, my friend,” she ordered pleasantly. “Don’t you know that pirate hospitality is the best in the seven seas?”
The courier looked at her suspiciously, but grabbed the top sack from the cart and began to lug it up the gangplank. He passed Emma and once his back was turned, she slowly and soundlessly drew her knife from her belt. When the courier dumped the sack on deck and turned back towards her, Emma darted forward, faster than an arrow and buried the blade in his neck.
Scarlet blood spewed all over the deck as the man crumpled to the floor. He landed face first with a nasty crack, probably breaking his nose. Not that it would matter. The dead didn’t need their sense of smell. Emma knelt by the corpse and quickly began to strip it of its clothing. The dark green livery of the Springlands was embroidered with oak trees. This uniform had a white stripe around the collar, indicating that the wearer was in a position of servitude, not power.
Emma tugged free an evergreen-coloured waistcoat and unlaced a crisp white shirt. She laid them out on the deck along with a pair of pale pea green leggings, leaving the courier only in his loincloth. All the while, her crew had been watching the man’s vicious death and stripping with wide eyes, but only Snow came forward to challenge her.
“Not to question your actions, Captain, but…” she trailed off, looking a little grim at the large pool of blood that was collecting on the deck.
“You want to know what the hell I’m doing?” Emma asked viciously. She pulled her knife from the man’s neck and cleaned it on her own shirt, staining the cloth red. Then she gripped the man under both arms and towed him to the side of the ship. Her crew immediately cleared to make a path for her, some with a little fear in their eyes. An act of unprecedented violence like the one she had just displayed was unusual. Emma made a point of trying not to kill people outside of battle and for no good reason.
Captain Swan heaved and threw the dead man overboard, where he hit the surface of the ocean with a splash and sank. She watched him disappear below the waves for a second, then clambered up on to the side, clutching the rigging so she didn’t overbalance. The rage that had filled her heart when Leopold had touched the Princess with his fat, gluttonous hands still burned strong and true.
“A member of our crew has been taken! As a result of my own actions!” Emma roared, feeling like a lion as the wind whipped her hair back and forth. “She was selfless, she was brave and she was true of heart! And right now, she is being fondled by a lazy, gluttonous King that does not know the burn of labour, the salt of the sea or the justice of equals! And I am going to find that fucking son-of-a-bitch, and I am going to kill him, so that I can redeem myself!” she declared fiercely, drawing her sword from her belt. “And maybe once I impale his head on a spike over the walls of Port Wordsworth, Evermore will finally realise that women deserve respect and fair treatment just as the same as any man! So who will fight alongside me? To win back a member of our crew whom I wronged so badly?”
“Me, Cp’n!”
“And I, Swan!”
The rest of the declarations were lost in a fury of cheers and the drawing of steel from scabbard. Emma looked over her faithful crew with wondering eyes and felt the fury that raged in her heart thirst for the blood of King Leopold of Winterlands.