A/N: New story. Testing the waters. Tell me what you think.
Prologue: Release Him
Her dress was gathered in her hands, her hair was flying freely behind her, and her face was flushed for she had never run that fast since she was a child. She barged through the door -the barricade- as if she were fleeing a fire.
"Release him." She was surprised she had enough oxygen in her lungs to force the words out.
"I beg your pardon?" He did not look up at her. He kept his attention focused on his task at hand: the disturbing letters from Lord Beckett.
"Release him at once." She repeated. Her voice was stern. It usually granted her what she wanted, but she knew this man better.
"Gillette, remove Lady Claire from my office. I have not the time to deal with her silly demands."
Gillette nodded and made way for her arm. "Do not put your hands on me, you filthy pig," She spat.
"My apologies, Milady." He bowed and gestured for the door. "Commodore Norrington is busy at the moment. Perhaps this discussion would be better held at a later date?"
Alison Claire ignored the man's words. She was a Lady of nobility. She would not take sugar-coated orders from anyone. "I demand you release him at once!" She never had to fight for anything in her life, but she was prepared to.
He dropped his pen, but did not look up. He could not look up. Her eyes would make him cave. "Do not forget your place, Lady Claire. You are not speaking to one of your servants." His tone was coy and threatening. Any other person would falter at the sound, but not her.
She tried a different approach. "James, please. I beg of you. Release him." Her words dripped with desperation and her eyes held hopelessness. But Commodore Norrington would not notice, for he could not look her in her eyes. They were the color of the freshest blade of grass, and oh how he loved to lay in the soft grass on a sunny day.
"Do not address me so informally. You are in my quarters now. You will address me as 'Commodore'. I have killed men for less." It was a lie, but he would never give her the satisfaction of his enjoyment of his first name bouncing off her plump lips.
"Commodore. I have never begged in my life. But if that is what it will take, than so be it." She stepped closer to his desk.
James could smell her. She smelled of Lilac. "I told you to leave the Lilac bushes alone, Alison. You know that I cannot stand the scent." Another lie. He adored the scent. But he did not want her to be the least bit desirable; an impossible task, and that he was finding out the hard way.
"I'm sorry. You know that I love them so." It was beyond her how anyone could despise the smell of fresh lilacs. But this man was atypical. She remembered the task at hand. He always distracted her. She knew he did it on purpose. "Are you going to release him or am I just wasting my time?"
"You are, no doubt, wasting your time. I gave too much of myself trying to capture the wretched man. No silly little girl will ruin that." Again, a lie. She was beyond a silly little girl. She was a beautiful woman who possessed a fiery spirit that James would love to claim as his.
"Silly little girl? It is funny that you should say that. I can recall another 'silly little girl' that had you swooning ridiculously. And it is apparent that she has taken your heart with her to the grave. I will never forgive her for that, because now, I have to live the rest of my life with a heartless man."
"How dare you?" He finally looked up into her eyes. He was too infuriated to become lost in her pools of green. He stood up and slowly, dangerously slowly, walked up to his fiancée. "You are nothing to me. Why should I throw away my life's work for someone who cares not for the well being of others? Your words are that of an old, bitter, cynical woman. You are filled with envy. I will do nothing for you. We will marry, you will have my children, and that will be your only use to me. Nothing more, nothing less." His words were like the sharpest dagger through her breaking heart.
"I never expected to be anything more to you. And if this man's capture is your life's work, than you have bigger problems to be dealt with." And with those words of hatred said, she stalked out of his office with tears of rage and sadness warming the corners of her eyes.
A/N: I think you know who the captured man may be. But, why is she so adamant on his release? Is this story worthy of another chapter? All comments are greatly, wonderfully, appreciated!