"Her Mother's Eyes"
That girl…Elizabeth Turner…she had her mother's eyes, Barbossa reflected, although otherwise she was a complete disappointment. She was so…lacking, he found. She was not soft and beautiful, like her mother. She was not sweet and understanding. Her arms would never shelter a world-weary voyager. She was gaunt and she was foolish and she was not worth his time. This realization came rather as a disappointment to the captain, although not nearly as disappointing as the news that Sallie Turner had died. She'd haunted his dreams; she'd always been there, in his imaginings of the future, offering a bright green apple in one capable hand. But now…he could dream of her no more. She was nothing like her mother, Elizabeth Turner.
She was nothing like her mother, and so she was of little use to him. Yet…she looked up at him with her mother's eyes, and it was so hard to do what he needed to do…slash her palm open, because he never could have killed her. He wasn't as heartless as all that.
The curse did not break, not with the girl's blood, and Barbossa could not understand it. And then he looked up at her, his blue eyes meeting her dark ones, and he knew the answer to the question before he even asked it. Of course she was not the daughter of William Turner…of course. It all became clear, in that instant…the haven of Sallie Turner's arms, the softness of her skin against his, the nights he spent in her bed because her husband had long since turned away from her. Of course. It made sense…all of the girl's failings, all of the things that made her not-Sallie…he could find them in himself. She was his, and he'd been a fool not to notice it earlier. Enraged at his own stupidity, he lashed out, struck her across the face, watched her fall limply across the pile of treasure.
He turned his back, allowed himself to become distracted, and the girl escaped. Of course the girl escaped. It was what he would have done. It was sensible to give orders to have her followed – the need to retrieve the medallion was obvious.
Less obvious was the need to retrieve Elizabeth Turner.
She was his.
And he knew, somehow, that she would be his undoing.
