5 TIMES SOMEONE THREATENED HOOK (AND THE 1 TIME SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENED)
1 - The Prince & the Pirate
As he waited in the dark for Emma's father to acknowledge his presence, Hook found himself longing for the sound of billowing sails and creaking wood and the tide surging against the sleek curves of the Jolly Roger. He missed the sea.
Around him, the miners worked steadily, movements as smooth as a pendulum's swing. Up went the arm and down came the pickaxe, again and again in a tireless rhythm. It was uncomfortably warm underground, the air stale and laden with dust. Cramped, dimly lit, packed with ripe, sweating men—it wasn't all that different from the hold of a ship actually, except for the noise, which was giving him a headache.
Long hours becalmed on a motionless sea, praying for a fair wind, had taught Hook to endure monotony, but he was not by nature a patient man. Minutes passed. He folded his arms, unfolded them, folded them again, and was about to begin the whole process once more before he realized that he was fidgeting, and stopped himself. "You said you wanted to see me, your highness?"
"Yes." Up went the prince's well-muscled arm, gleaming with sweat in the ghostly silver lamplight. "I did." Down came the axe, raising a cloud of dust and scattering shards of grey stone.
Hook sighed. It was terribly unfair that his lover's parents, both of them technically approaching sixty, were still young, fit, and skilled in the use of sharp weapons. Yet another reason to damn that bloody curse and its reptilian maker.
"Concerning Emma, I presume?"
Something about the captain's cavalier tone irritated the prince, or maybe it was just the sound of his daughter's name coming from the mouth of a wanted criminal. James turned, pickaxe gripped tightly in one hand. "I don't like you."
"But I'm so likeable," Hook drawled. "If you just took the time to get to know me—"
"I'm sure I'd like you even less." He took one step closer, then another. Hook raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by his attempts at intimidation. This was Prince James, for god's sake, so aptly nicknamed Charming, supposedly the most pure-of-heart hero in all the kingdoms. He wasn't the type to lure an enemy underground, stab him through the eye with a pickaxe, and hide the body beneath a pile of rocks in an abandoned tunnel.
"You don't deserve a woman like Emma," James said. Not threatening, but flat and factual.
Hook smiled, politely, pleasantly. "I know," he said, surprising the other man with his easy agreement. The next words out of his mouth were pure steel. "That makes me all the more determined to keep her."