Maris could not fathom how Lord Beckett had discovered her identity and location. She had been so careful since fleeing Shipwreck. So few people knew her real name and Maris couldn't believe that any of them would pass her over to Beckett. Unless, of course, she was an awful judge of character.

'You can't trust those who don't owe you something, or those that do' Jack had once told her and perhaps he was right. Perhaps she had been worth more to someone as a reward than she had been worth as a friend or colleague.

And now she was to be used in negotiations with Pirate Lords. Whoever had tipped Beckett off couldn't have known the full story. Or couldn't have cared. Either way, that ruled out Doctor Moore and Mrs Moore, at least - the married couple who had taken her under their wing when she was younger. That made her feel a bit better but it didn't help in the slightest with her current predicament.

She was sitting in an ornate chair in front of an equally ornate desk behind which sat Lord Beckett. When his man- Mercer -had dragged her into the office, he'd tied her forearms rather tightly to the rigid arms of the chair she was sitting in. This afforded her little choice but to watch Lord Beckett as he read papers on his desk and then wrote a letter. He was making a point of pretending she wasn't there.

She glanced down at her nightdress, spoiled from the journey. Torn and muddy, just like the skin on her feet. She longed for a bath and wondered if she'd get the chance to have one ever again. That should have made her feel sad but instead a sense of emptiness welled up inside her.

Eventually, Beckett placed the quill down on the desk and leaned back in his chair. He observed her over steeped fingers and she returned his stare.

"There is one thing that puzzles me about you." He spoke in a casual voice after a considerable silence, as though they were friends at lunch.

"Just the one?"

Beckett raised an eyebrow at her tone with the hint of a smile playing around his mouth.

"Why were you hiding under a false name?"

He wouldn't stop staring. Maris wished he would.

"I was not hiding. I had started a new life-"

"-Oh come now, Miss Teague, you were hiding. I cannot help but wonder why your father would not keep his daughter in the safety of Shipwreck cove?"

"You know of Shipwreck?" The surprise in her tone caused a smug expression to spread across Beckett's face.

"It might surprise you to learn just how much I know about your family," he replied, tidying papers on his desk. Maris cocked her head at his self assured statement.

"Not everything though... or you would know my father believes that I am dead."

Cutler stared at the woman, all hints of a smile leaving his face. She was lying of course. Or, if not, she was spelling out the flaw in his plan that he hadn't considered. Could Teague think his daughter dead?

"Why?"

The tension in the room was noticeable as Beckett hung off of her every move, her every unspoken word. Maris inhaled until her lungs were full; she cast her eyes down to her feet.

"Perhaps if you were to untie my hands I could explain?" Beckett simply laughed.

"I have learned not to bargain with your family."

Maris raised an eyebrow at that. "I suppose that's wise…" she said after considering his statement for a second or two. "My brother taught me to never submit without negotiation, that's all."

"I am not untying your hands."

"Well, when I was Sixteen my father lashed out at me in a fit of anger and caught my throat with his sword. They took me to a doctor and my father was led to believe that I had not survived so that I might escape him."

The silence grew heavy and when Cutler did not respond Maris continued.

"I was going to show you the scar on my neck as evidence..."

Maris raised her chin still, attempting to expose her throat to prove that she was telling the truth. Beckett sat forward and gazed at her exposed neck but he couldn't make out any scars.

"I don't see anything."

Maris lowered her head back down and a brief smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Take a closer look..." she suggested, but the sceptical expression remained on Cutler's face.

"Oh, come now, Lord Beckett. You should not let us Teague's scare you so much-"

"-You don't scare me" he spat out but Maris simply shrugged her shoulder at him.

Cutler studied her face as she stared back at him, not quite knowing what to make of her. Maris seemed harmless but there was something about her he couldn't quite put his finger on. She was feisty and as intelligent as her brother, but Cutler didn't trust her. Not with the blood she had running through her veins. Regardless of this, she had issued him a challenge and it would not be wise for him to back away from it. He stood from his chair and moved around the desk towards her, coming to a stop in front of the woman with his desk now standing behind him.

Maris gazed up at him, unsure what to say or do now that he was so close. Without warning, Lord Beckett reached forwards and took hold of her chin. He gently tilted her head backward to reveal the scars. Her throat was pale and flawless except for puckered scarring which sat to the right of her throat and ran around her neck and across the shoulder, currently hidden by her nightdress. The scars were pale and white but at one time they had been a serious wound. Somebody had slashed at her neck with a blade from right to left.

"Jack stopped him before he could do any permanent damage" she whispered.

She pulled her face away from his hand. Beckett stood still as he stared down at her. His relationship with his own father had been an emotionless one. But even so, he couldn't imagine a father lashing out at his own child with a sword.

"That's why you were hiding?"

Maris's head snapped back up to look Cutler in the eye.

"I wasn't hiding," she replied, defiance in her voice once again. "I was creating a new life. Jack took me to a nurse who knew Doctor Moore after it happened. He helped me recover and took me under his wing. It was a room above his surgery from which you had me kidnapped!"

There was silence. An awful, tense silence. Lord Beckett towered over Maris, inches away from her face.

"You understand why your negotiations will fail now, surely?" she asked, her voice quieter now. She dared not blink as his eyes bore into hers as though searching them for a lie.

"Why would he try to kill his own daughter?" Beckett asked as though she hadn't spoken.

"Your plan won't work. You've stolen me away from my home for nothing" Maris's voice was getting louder. She was angry with him.

"Why did he try to kill you?" Beckett insisted, furrowing his brow.

"Did you hear what I said? We're all going to die and it's your doing!" Maris shouted.

In one swift movement, Beckett had closed the space between them, a hand either side of Maris on the back rest of the chair. She leaned backwards instinctively but there was nowhere for her to escape to.

"Miss Teague, do not underestimate me." He spoke slowly and although his voice was soft it was firm. "Your father and his intention to kill you will not stop me from destroying the pirate lords. I have the Dead Man's Chest. I command these seas and I will destroy all pirates. Every. Single. One. Now, answer my question..."

The look in his eyes and the steel edge to his voice scared Maris. She turned her head and stared at the floor but Lord Beckett grasped her jaw and chin in his palm and forced her to look at him.

"Tell me," he whispered. There followed a pause and Maris realised that it didn't really matter if he knew the truth. If anything it might make him see that his plan to use her as a means to negotiate wasn't as strong as he had originally believed.

"I betrayed him and he couldn't find it in himself to forgive me."

Cutler did not move and Maris wondered if he was going to hurt her. The intensity of his gaze made it unreadable.

"I tried to leave. I hated what they did... just the way they lived was so..." she paused, her breath shuddering as she released it.

"When he found out that I had run away he locked me up to ensure I couldn't try again, but I did and he caught me... and..." she stopped, finding that she was unable to go on. Her bottom lip was wobbling. She felt like a tiny, little child under the gaze of this powerful man. Beckett still didn't move or break his stare.

His breath tickled her chin and she felt properly scared of him. He was shorter than a lot of men and yet there was something about him that screamed of power. He surprised Maris by suddenly untying the rope binding her arm to the left arm of the chair. She looked up at Cutler as he shifted from his imposing position over her. He chose instead to lean on the desk behind him and tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. He then glanced down at her with his chin still tilted up somewhat.

"Your father…" he paused for effect, "is a lunatic".

Maris bit her lip at his comment.

"Maybe he is," she replied, "but he's also one of the most feared pirates on the seas. He will kill me, his own flesh and blood. Then without a pause, he will kill you and he will cut down every man in your Armada if he stands with the other Pirate Lords."

Beckett had an unreadable look on his face as his eyes raked over her face and then the rest of her before coming to rest on her scarred shoulder.

"Not if I kill them first, Maris."