Bound Series - Bound by Obedience
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“Come in, Admiral. Shut the door.” Lord Beckett set down the papers he was perusing and waved a frilled cuff hand at the chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”
“I’d rather stand, if you don’t mind.” Norrington’s voice was hard.
“Actually, I do.” Beckett said smoothly. “It was not a request, Admiral.”
Norrington sat down reluctantly in the chair offered, glancing at Beckett’s henchman lurking wraith-like in a shadowy corner of the room.
“Mr. Mercer informs me you have been heard complaining about your duties in the local taverns.” Beckett began without preamble. “That you find them to be distasteful. Is this true?”
“I do not agree with the hanging of woman and children,” Norrington replied sharply, his back stiff.
“Are you saying the King’s Law should be handed out whimsically, perhaps by your own, personal moral code?”
“I am only saying…”
James was cut off by Beckett’s biting words. “What you are saying is tantamount to treason. For which the punishment, as you well know, is more than just an appointment with the gallows.”
Beckett fingered a document, watching, waiting for Norrington’s reply.
“My apologies, Lord Beckett,” James said, finally. “It won’t happen again.”
“I am certain it will not,” Beckett said. “For you see, Admiral,” He rose and came around the desk, leaning close to Norrington’s ear, “Obedience to his superiors is the first thing a Naval Officer is taught, am I correct?” He landed a hand gently to James’ sleeve, murmuring, “I will see to it, that you receive further training, if necessary.”
“I assure you,” Norrington’s sense of duty spoke, “I shall not question my orders again, Lord Beckett.”
“Excellent.” Beckett smiled, nodding towards his clerk. “Leave us, Mr. Mercer. I do not believe the Admiral will give us any more trouble tonight.”
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“What will become of Elizabeth?” Norrington asked once the two men were alone.
“Miss Swann?” Beckett picked up a parchment from his desk. “She will be hung, along with the rest of the miscreants once they are apprehended.” He held out the document to Norrington, “Unless…”
Norrington took the execution order. “Unless, what?”
“That depends on your cooperation. Her father has already pledged to do whatever necessary to assure her safety. As you have undoubtedly witnessed.”
“What exactly do you want from me, Lord Beckett?” Norrington asked impatiently, tiring of the game.
Beckett circled behind the chair and leaned his face close to Norrington’s, a pale hand clamped firmly on his shoulder. “Your services, James.” Beckett’s hot breath sent chills down Norrington’s spine. “You have certain qualities I find most attractive.”
“I do not know what you mean,” Norrington said tensely.
“Oh, I am sure you do. I am informed you were quite, shall we say, intimate, with your lieutenant, Andrew Gillette.”
“Andrew was my friend.”
“He was your lover,” Beckett said sharply. “I could hang you for the sodomite you are. Or,” he added, crooning softly, “we could keep that little secret between ourselves. It is your choice, Admiral.”
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There comes a time when all men are held accountable for their lives, a time when they face their Creator and give an accounting of their sins. James Norrington was well schooled in the love of God and Country, though the two of them, blurred in his rum-soaked mind, became one and the same.
Where exactly he had abandoned his faith he could not remember. He only knew that his new supreme force now shrived him from his ornately carved throne, before which he knelt in supplication, performing his act of penance.
And received Lord Beckett’s absolution in his mouth.
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