Chapter 2

I shivered as I watched him take me in.

'My name is Capitan Armando Salazar.' He walked around me, making way for his cabinets, taking two glasses from it. He stopped his motions to watch me once more.

'Wine?' he asked. I swallowed thickly and then nodded. He poured liquid as red as blood in the glasses and took them in hand. He walked towards me. The closer he came, the more apparent it was I was no match for this man, not in length or height.

He handed me one of the glasses, watching how I took it from his hand.

'Thank you, sir´ I told him softly. He nodded once, walking back to the chair at the desk. He sat down and then took a sip from his glass.

I hesitated, not sure how to trust this man. He seemed not nice at all. He seemed as hard as he seemed dominant. I watched him empty his glass, still watching me with that stern look.

'It is not poisoned,' he told me. I gripped the glass even tighter, taking the smallest sip ever.

'Tell me, miss Gray, how did you end up being locked away in that cabin?' he then asked me. I was shocked at hearing him talk a full sentence in that deep, Spanish voice. His accent was thick, but I understood him perfectly.

'They took me from port Royal, I live there,' I answered softly. He stood and poured himself another glass of wine.

'And they took you, as in, you were unwilling,' he continued, sitting down once more. I started getting angry.

'Of course I was unwilling! Who would want te be taken by pirates!' I suddenly said loudly. He seemed a little surprised by my outburst, but quickly concentrated his gaze on me again. A small smile played around his lips.

'Good, miss Gray. I would have disliked killing you.' I instantly regretted my outburst. For a second I had forgotten who it was in this room with me.

'You- you hunt pirates,' I said. He smiled wider, scaring me even more.

'Yes indeed.'

My brain worked fast. I had once heard about a pirate hunter, but his name had been different.

'Like the butcher of the sea?' I then asked. I noticed his eyes lit up.

'You have heard of him?' he asked me. I nodded. I knew about the butcher, he was ruthless, yet noble, and had a hatred for pirates so great he would call them unhuman, an infection.

'Yes- yes I have. He is ruthless, shows no mercy and calls pirates an infection.' The Capitan grinned at my words.

'Have you ever seen him? The butcher? He also goes by the name El Matador Del Mar,' he told me.

'You are uncomfortable,' he stated. Seeing me grow even whiter. It suddenly clicked inside my mind.

He leaned back in his chair, finishing his second glass.

'El Matador Del Mar is a Spanish name,' I said. He placed his glass on the desk again, standing.

'It is, miss Gray.' I swallowed.

'You- you are Spanish, you are…' I did not even dared to finish that sentence. He smiled darkly, coming closer, step by step.

'I am El Matador Del Mar, miss Gray, the one and only.'

I felt myself grow weak.

'Why am I here, if you don't-' I bit my tongue. The last thing I needed was giving him a reason to kill me.

He stopped right before me, towering over me. His dark eyes looked deep down in my own.

'I never show mercy, not to pirates. It is true, what they say about me. I am ruthless, but I hope to be noble enough too.' I swallowed and watched him with fear in every fiber of my body. I knew he felt it too.

'I do show mercy to you, miss Gray. You will be safe here, under my care. Until we reach a decent port for you to go off board.' I licked my lips, his close proximity almost too much.

'Though I wonder how someone so young, an innocent girl, could be wandering around alone in such a dangerous place like port Royal,' he continued, he walked around me, making me even more nervous.

'I live alone, I work- I have my own place above the shop I clean in,' I stammered. He hummed. I did not understood if it was in approval or not.

'How old are you, miss Gray.' It was not a request, he demanded me to answer him.

'I am nineteen, sir.' He stopped his circle around me, right before me. He licked his lips and eyed mine for a time. I held my glass with two hands now, afraid to drop the glass if he kept up being this intimidating.

'So young, a girl still and yet, you understand your position as a woman as well,' he said. His dark eyes never left mine. It made me completely nervous.

'You have the bad luck to come aboard while we have just stashed. We will not enter any port for months. So I suggest you accept your fate, for now.' I almost dropped the glass at those words. Months?

'How- how can I earn my keep here, sir?' I asked him. I hoped he would not rape me or expect me as some sort of mistress.

He laughed. It shocked me truly. The sound was loud and it did not suit him at all to be so loud and cheerful. It was also adding to his dominant demeanor.

'You will provide me company every evening, miss Gray, that will be enough on your part.'

'And were will I- stay,' I asked. I had meant to ask where I would sleep, but I was afraid he would think I meant something else.

His smile broke down, his stern look back.

'This night, you will sleep in here. In the morrow a room will be prepared for you, next to mine.'

I nodded and took a small sip from my glass, before he suddenly extended his hand to catch a lock of my brown curls.

'Do you have anyone waiting for you in port Royal, miss Gray?' he asked. I had surely not expected for him to ask me anything like this.

'Like a - a suiter you mean?' I asked. He grinned.

'Or family, perhaps?' he added. I shook my head, but then thought about how helpless that made me seem.

The Capitan nodded.

'Then these months of you being away will not alarm anyone. That will make everything easier.'