Killian never thought of himself as an unlucky man, on the contrary, he always believed he had lots to be thankful for : a great family, honor, a title, money and a great position in the emperor's navy. He was proud of himself and thought he was as happy as one could be until that day he met Countess Emma Cassidy, his swan.

Not only did he find out that day that his father wanted to arrange his marriage, but also because he felt like the unluckiest man on earth since he can't be with her. He tried to convince himself that it was dishonorable to even think about it, she was after all married but at each meeting this voice in his head telling him what they were doing was wrong would weaken, until it was no longer there but by then, it was already too late, their brothers had found out about their dalliance and he was sent off the next day to the ship.

He never thought he'd see her again. Not after standing her up that night she invited him over to the rented place in Misthaven. He had sent a message with a valet telling her that his captain had all but kindly invited him to join his diplomatic expedition to Arendale, but he never received an answer and thought she was angry at him.

But she was not, she seemed rather self-conscience and shy when he first saw her.

After the battle, Killian slept for days, and when he woke up, the pain from his hand was so intense he would slip in and out of consciousness, only noticing her. Feeling her soft hand wipe his forehead with a cool rag made him wonder if he was hallucinating or if he had died and arrived in heaven. The only thing preventing him from believing the latter was that despite still being the most beautiful woman he had laid eyes on, she looked tired like she lacked sleep, she had dark circles under her eyes and she would sometimes shed a tear or two while no one was around.

"where am I" He said to Emma as he finally woke up

"You are at my husband's estate in Glenhaven" She said looking away shyly, "do you remember what happened ?"

"Yes, we were in a battle and the enemy's officers boarded the Jewel of the realm, I cut one of the ropes that tied their ship to ours while they boarded and was about to cut the second rope when a man cut my hand badly. that's all I remember. Where is Liam ? Is he alright ? What about the battle, did we win ?" Killian then noticed he was in a room on his own with Emma, trying to straighten himself up in bed, he shouted in tremendous pain. lifting his arm, that's when he noticed something other than Emma, the absence of his hand.

"WHAT ? Where's my hand ? No" he said crying in horror. "No ! Why ? No !" he screamed, Emma started crying again seeing his distress, she stood up and tried to reassure him by hugging him and telling him that everything was alright but he kept screaming and thrashing in pain and fear until Liam entered the room to hold him down while the doctor administrated him with something to calm him down.

Emma left Killian's room and isolated herself in her own, it was a bad idea taking care of him, she knew that, but she couldn't prevent herself from volunteering, if not for making amends then because she still considered him as a close acquaintance and she wouldn't want the maids to do a botched job with him.

Emma started crying again, unaware of the little feet that followed her in the room.

"Mommy, what's wrong ?" Henry said coming to hug her, "Why are you crying?"

"Nothing Henry, I was sad but I feel better now that you're here with me" she said, wiping her tears

"would you like to play with me ?" Henry asked proudly.

"Yes my love, now why don't you hide and I'll come looking for you ?"

"Yesssss !" the 5 year old then started running while his mother counted to 20.

"I'm sorry brother, there was nothing else can do, there was no way to save your hand" Liam said sadly to a now calm Killian.

"Please Liam, I want to be alone" Killian said sadly, looking out of the window on the opposite side of the room, tears still streaking down his face.

"Of course, I'll let you process things"

Liam then left his brother to rest and get accustomed to his new situation.

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