Chapter Text
Every story has to start somewhere.
And this one is born behind the pearly walls of a castle, home to the rulers of a kingdom in search of perfection.
A king and queen sat high above everyone else, crowns glistening under the light of the throne room, decorated with the most obnoxious shades of red, gold and green. Their eyes were stern and their posture tense with anticipation – or maybe frustration – as they looked down onto their subjects, knelt on the hard ground before them.
In the front row, the crown prince hid his gaze behind blonde hair, dreading the moment he would inevitably be called upon to speak.
It had been a peaceful day. The sun had shone and the sea had crashed into the distant shore in rhythmic waves, lulling the palace with ease. The gardeners had worked hard in an attempt to make the already stunning garden into something even more breath-taking, not bothering to look out for who came and went through the palace gates, because that was not their job to begin with.
And yet, they had also been summoned to the throne room, stationed at the very back rows with the maids and the butlers.
No one dared to look up, the threating presence of the king was enough to keep them all with their forehead glued to the ground, eyes boring into the marble-like flooring beneath them.
“Crown Prince”
The king’s voice echoed menacingly through the room, sending a shiver down the prince’s spine at the mention of his title.
This was bad.
Very, very bad.
“Your Majesty” Everyone heard the falter in the prince’s voice. They couldn’t blame him, it was a terrifying situation for all of them.
“Rise”
Tension hung low in the room, thick and heavy on the prince’s shoulders as he fought his trembling legs in an attempt to stand up before the king. His own father.
The young man didn’t have many fond memories of his parents. He wasn’t even sure if the ones he had were real or if they had just been constructed by his own mind in an attempt to convince himself that he was loved. Yet, nowhere in his brain could he recall a moment where his father’s voice had sounded so dangerous. This situation was new, uncharted territory, and he hated not knowing the reason behind the sudden, cold atmosphere.
“It has been brought to my attention” the prince looked up and he could finally see the king, sitting lazily in his grandiose throne and draped in a crimson cloak of fur “That the prince – your brother – has run away”.
Whispers erupted in the room, followed by silent gasps of surprise.
“Care to explain how that happened?”
-
No amount of words, explanations or paintings could have prepared Seonghwa for the sweet, addicting taste of freedom.
He had finally done it. Months of preparation and studying (all while avoiding the watchful eye of his tutor) for this. He was free.
The streets were busy and loud, as to be expected by a coastal city.
Merchants lined the docks in an attempt to sell the last of their catch after a long day of work, while pirates and other travellers sang and danced under the ever growing number of stars in the sky, drinks in hand. Women waved goodbye to friends and picked up the hem of their long skirts before scuttering away, alone or holding onto a loved one.
The wind had died down by sunset, but the occasional spray of saltwater made it onto the cobblestone of the port, splashing kids and unexpecting tourists.
Even though many of the houses and roads had long gone dark, the taverns lining the docks were still high on life, illuminated by oil lamps and fireplaces with bright, orange flames.
This was everything Seonghwa had hoped for and more.
He had long shed his prince clothes during his journey, making sure to burn every last cloth in hopes of making the hunt for him that much harder. Because he knew the guards would come for him, his duties as a part of the royal family had been drilled into him from the moment he was born.
Even if he was a bastard, product of a lustful act between king and concubine.
Seonghwa was born in summer, kissed by the sun and blessed with his mother’s features. He stood out from the rest of the royal family, but that didn’t stop them from presenting him to the people as a legitimate child of the king and queen. And the public adored him, admired his beauty, his elegance, the way he would grace anyone with a gentle smile.
But the more he grew, the more he resembled his mother and the more they tore him away from the public eye. It had been subtle at first, a missed public appearance. Then his absence at the royal parades were shrugged off with vague excuses. Next he was fourteen and couldn’t remember what the world outside of the castle walls looked like. And the people soon forgot about him too. Or maybe they didn’t but had no way of knowing what had happened to the little prince with the raven hair.
“Why am I here father?”
Seonghwa had never dared question his father choices before then. Now he was sixteen and his gentle tongue had turned sour with resentment. Resentment that had blossomed the day they decided to execute his mother.
“Leave Seonghwa, this is neither the time nor the place for such questions” the king gestured to the elders of the palace that surrounded him in an attempt to bring the young boy’s attention to the many eyes and ears in the room.
Seonghwa’s hands curled into fists. He could feel his nails digging into the skin of his palms, and as much as it hurt, it was good for grounding him. Otherwise, he probably would have done something he regretted.
“Father” Seonghwa spoke again, his voice low “I’m trying, but I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you decided to keep me here all those years ago. Why keep me at the palace and why hang my mother now?”
“Silence! You dare disrespect your queen by calling that witch your mother?”
Anger bubbled in the pit of the boy’s stomach.
Seonghwa had never gotten the chance to talk to his mother. She lived in a separate wing, confined to her own room and only let out on rare occasions. Their interactions had been strictly limited to glances on the off chance they were walking down the same hall. But Seonghwa saw himself in his mother’s delicate face and in her nimble fingers when he saw her tuck a curl of dark hair behind her ear. They even moved the same, quick and quiet on their feet. And the day she was executed was the day Seonghwa found out they had the same smile.
“But she is my mother! I followed all the rules you gave me, I pretended to be your legitimate child and still, I have been confined to these four walls as punishment for something I am yet to understand” Seonghwa let out a breath between clenched teeth “You hung her with no explanation. I deserve more, father”.
The king flicked his wrist in dismissal, holding Seonghwa’s gaze as the elders filed neatly out of the door. He adjusted his position in his chair, legs spread and head resting in the palm of his hand as he looked his son up and down. When the door had been closed once again, the older man spoke.
“You look different from us, prince. You don’t resemble me or your brother and it shows in your –” Seonghwa felt his father’s eyes travel down his silhouette, face stern “– your delicate features. You are nothing like the other men here”.
The prince felt exposed under the judging gaze of the king. He wrapped an arm around his own abdomen subconsciously, fingers gripping onto the silky shirt that covered him. All of a sudden he felt wrong, inadequate.
“That witch cursed you with her appearance and had to be punished for it. I gifted you with time, but you never grew out of her looks”
“That’s why you killed her?”
The silence that followed was enough of an answer for Seonghwa. He felt sick, his stomach churning dangerously at the memory of his mother’s neck snapping right under his nose. He had watched from a distant balcony, hidden by the shadows of the night so that no one would be able to see him. Still, the moment they kicked the crate out from under his beautiful mother, she turned towards him and smiled as if she had known he was there all along.
Seonghwa swallowed thickly, his fingers dampening because of the cold sweat he had broken into. Crescent moons were embedded in his skin where his nails had been pressing not too long ago.
“That – ” Seonghwa’s voice broke. He felt an unfamiliar rush of warmth in his cheeks and behind his eyes.
“That doesn’t explain why you didn’t exile me like every other bastard. Why am I still here?”
The king tapped his index finger to his cheek once, then twice, then again, as if he were thinking carefully about what answer to give his son. But Seonghwa knew there wasn’t a single worry behind those harsh eyes and that the man was toying with him simply because he could and had done it many times before.
Power and money were to blame. Seonghwa may have been a part of the richest family in the country, but his tainted blood made him see things differently. He wasn’t blinded by every shiny jewel and had avoided the god complex that came with power because realistically, he had no such thing in the palace.
He was the black sheep, the runt of the litter.
“As you know, your brother is sick” the king tapped his knee. Seonghwa knew what he meant. His older brother was born with a weaker body than most, delicate bones and prone to lung diseases of all kinds. He may have been blessed with their father’s broad build and naturally toned muscles, but his sickly complexion and the cough he was never able to shake off were very telling of his physical state.
“If he were to die, you would have to take his place”
His father pointed to a painting on the wall of himself and the queen, dressed in majestic robes that had no reason being that long.
“She turned out to be more useless than I had hoped, couldn’t give me a second heir” Seonghwa’s nose crinkled at the unbothered shrug his father gave him “So we just kept you”.
“I’m a spare part”
His father nodded, then focused on another painting in the room. This one was much larger than the others and depicted the royal family in its entirety, heads of blonde hair spaced between the two edges of the frame. A single raven haired boy, no more than three years old at the time, sat on the queen’s lap.
“We can’t have your cousins taking the throne from us”
After that, Seonghwa had stormed out of the room without looking back once. He pushed past the elders crowding just outside the door and ran to his room as the hot tears that had threatened to spill in his father’s presence finally found their course down his reddened cheeks.
That was when the thought of running away settled into his brain for the first time, tightly squeezed between the hate for his father and the pain he felt towards his mother.
And now four years later he was watching the waves crash into the docked ships and breathing in the salty air of the ocean.
“Pretty boy! Com’ere will you?”
Seonghwa turned with ease, his hand balancing a tray of empty glasses. The crew of pirates he had been serving for most of the night were calling him over for the umpteenth time, waving their arms and cheering whenever he brought them another round. They were rowdy, and excited. Seonghwa only saw pirates spend good money when they had something to celebrate, which was always good for him too because happy spirits often meant decent tips.
“Bring us another round, make it double!” The group, no more than twelve men, cheered at their captain’s words. They lifted their glasses and spilt the little beer that was left in them over the table they were surrounding.
Seonghwa grimaced at the thought of having to clean the sticky mess they would leave behind, but maybe they’d pay well enough that it would all be worth it.
The port had been packed for the past few days. Seonghwa had never seen so many ships come and go in such a short span of time, but with the weather changing for the better, it made sense. Summer was approaching fast, sailing conditions were better and many more fleets were on the move now compared to winter when the storms and the winds made it riskier to sail. Downpours were still a common occurrence, but spread further apart and much less intense.
Summer arriving also meant it had been almost two years since Seonghwa had left his royal life behind and had started living as a commoner.
Life on the docks tasted of salt and beer. It was cold and it was wet, but it was fun.
Seonghwa had lived the first twenty years of his life in the royal library, studying book after book. He had lived in fear of making mistakes, striving for perfection because otherwise, he would get caned or possibly worse. He didn’t have to make public appearances after all, so why bother with words when they could just slap some sense into him?
But now, he spent his mornings watching ships sail in, crews load and unload crates of goods, seagulls dive into the shiny sea without a single care in the world. He could feel the water spray on his skin in icy droplets whenever he wanted to and ask sailors for stories about their travels, or he could buy books in the pretty bookstore down the road and read them under the warm sun.
So when the tall man, dressed from head to toe in the royal navy’s unmistakable uniform, made his way into the tavern Seonghwa was working in, the runaway prince didn’t waste any time before ducking behind the counter.
Sure, his hair was longer now and brushed the skin of his shoulders in gentle waves, he was taller too, but he hadn’t changed that much. Not enough to risk the sailor spotting him anyways.
Seonghwa pulled his knees up to his chest, not caring about the damp patches that were forming on the back of his shirt from leaning on the side of the counter where they prepared hundreds of drinks every night. He ignored the weird look that was thrown his way from the barmaid he had been working with that night and pushed his index finger to his lips. She seemed to understand and went on to do whatever she was supposed to do. Seonghwa was glad for this.
The tavern life was one that Seonghwa had to learn to love. The hours were strange, his sleep schedule had to be completely destroyed and rebuilt to fit the long night hours he would have to do. To say that he had been in a constant state of drowsiness for the first few months of working there was an understatement.
Then there were the people. Those that worked with him were loud, arrogant an drunk. Those they had to serve were even louder, more arrogant and, if possible, more drunk.
Nights at the tavern were chaos, people took their drinks with a side of insults and blasphemy. Seonghwa swore he heard more profanities on his first day there than in his whole life before. But he’d be lying if he said that their speaking habits didn’t catch on quick. If his parents could hear him now, they’d be horrified.
“Who are you hiding from?”
The quiet whisper made Seonghwa almost jump out of his own skin.
He turned to the barmaid he had seen walk off not too long ago. Except now she was crouched down next to him, also hidden from the view of the customers and the royal navy.
“The tall man. The one with the royal family’s crest on his uniform”
Seonghwa watched her hide her mouth with her hand in surprise, as if he were sharing a piece of juicy gossip. The woman, not much older than him, slowly peered over the counter and Seonghwa could see the way her eyes drifted from one side of the room to the other before sneakily ducking down again.
“Which one?”
“What do you mean ‘which one’? The only man there with the crest”
“Seonghwa” Seonghwa never recalled telling her his name “There’s a whole bunch of them”.
In that moment, Seonghwa wished for the ground beneath him to split in half and swallow him whole. He didn’t care if the barmaid fell down, or if he took the whole tavern with him, he just wanted to die in peace next to the ocean. There was no way he’d be going back to that hellhole he once called home, not now and not any other time either.
“I’ve got to get out of here”
“Did you do something bad?”
Seonghwa finally looked over the counter and almost felt sick at the sight of the sea of red and navy blue that filled the tavern. The colours of his father’s sailors.
There was no way he’d get out of there without being seen. He could pray he wouldn’t get recognised though. He was far from home, very far in fact, so they probably weren’t keeping an eye out for him here. Maybe they wouldn’t pay him any attention, he could slip by unnoticed. He was pretty good at that, just like his mother.
“Can you cover for me tonight? They can’t see me here”
The woman crouched comically next to him. If anyone was paying any attention to the bar right now, they’d see two pair of inconspicuous eyes peeking out from behind it.
“Only if you tell me what you did. I’m not dealing with those pirates you were serving for nothing in return”
Seonghwa couldn’t tell her the truth. He hadn’t said a word to a single soul about his past because he knew it was the safest way to deal with it. He couldn’t trust anyone, they all could have snitched on him if they wanted to. After all, there was an embarrassingly large sum of money waiting for whoever brought him back to the palace safe and sound.
There was no way he was going to tell her now, especially not when they had the royal navy hanging around just a few metres away.
“I…” Seonghwa could see the barmaid’s eyes searching his, brilliant green reflecting in his own dark irises. She was pretty, with curly hair and a freckled face.
“I ran away from home”
Seonghwa didn’t wait for a reply from her. He stood up and fixed his white shirt, buttoning it up to the top and folding the hems of his sleeves. He often tucked his hair behind his ears, a habit he had picked up a long time ago, but this time he didn’t. It hid his profile well and he sent a silent pray to whatever gods were out there before moving. Seonghwa could feel the woman’s eyes follow him as he walked. Just as quiet as he was fast, beelining between the guests of the tavern. The door to the outside wasn’t far.
“What’s your problem pretty boy?! Where’s the round we ordered?”
Seonghwa cursed the existence of every pirate on this planet. He hated them and their arrogance. Even if he was the one that left them hanging with a promise of more drinks, he still hated them for being angry and so damn loud.
The constant buzz of conversation died down after that, coming to a quiet stop as the captain of the crew pushed his chair back with a loud creak.
Seonghwa should have just run, then and there. He should have, but he didn’t.
“Not gon’ talk aye? Would be a shame if we ruined that dainty face of yours”
The feeling of numerous pairs of eyes on him made Seonghwa want to crawl out of his own skin. He could feel them looking, their attention on his shirt, his hair, his skin.
A hand on his shoulder made him turn around in haste and push back whoever it was with force.
“There, sir. We just wanted to know if there was any way we could help –” the sailor’s voice got caught in his own throat as he got a good look at Seonghwa’s face. His shirt, adorned by white ruffles, stretched with the heavy breath he let in.
Seonghwa knew he recognised him, it was plastered all over his face with stupid surprise. Now he really needed to run.
“Seong- Prince Seonghwa!”
A title he hadn’t heard in a long time. His title. One he had stripped himself of the moment he set foot outside the palace gardens.
“I’m sorry, you must be mistaken. I’m no prince” And although his words claimed one thing, his panicked face and the way he slowly stepped out of the man’s reach said otherwise.
Seonghwa sensed the people around him closing in, taking tentative steps forward. Their grubby hands were ready to catch him, desperate for all the gold and coins the king would offer them in exchange for him.
He wouldn’t let them. Not when he finally had had a taste for freedom.
Seonghwa reached behind him, getting a hold on the edge of a stool with his hand and swiftly swinging it forward. He hit the sailor in the face, one of the legs of the seat shattering and splinters flying.
The pirate crew he had turned his back on lunged forward, almost crashing into each other in an attempt to grab him, but Seonghwa was faster. He ran for the door, desperate to get out. He expected there to be a fight, to have to hit at least a few more people to get out, but instead he was met with a clear path to the exit, most men and women pushing to get out of his way?
Why were they not trying to stop him? He wanted to ask, but his feet wouldn’t let him. They carried him out to the dark street, wet with the spray of the ocean.
The docks were empty apart from the few drunks that stumbled around, probably on their way to their next stop for more drinks or home. The moon was full and high in the sky, reflecting its pure colour into the bed of water beneath it. If Seonghwa hadn’t been running from his past right now, he probably would have spent the next few hours sitting around and listening to the sound of the waves.
But the shouting behind him didn’t die down and Seonghwa looked back. His father’s navy was emerging from the tavern door, guns drawn. They shouted in unison as they spotted him.
Seonghwa ignored all the dangers of running on wet cobblestone and made his way down the port road as fast as he could, not daring to glance back. His head pounded with the idea of being dragged back there, if they managed he probably wouldn’t see the light of day again. His father would have whipped him into shape personally this time. He couldn’t go back.
“Over there!”
Seonghwa knew they were catching up to him and the bright moon didn’t help his case. And just as he was about to start losing all hope, a gunshot rang through the air, distracting the men that had been chasing him. He took the chance and dove behind a pile of crates that seemed to be left unattended.
He could feel his heart in his ears, the taste of metal in his mouth. That’s when he brought his sleeve up to his face and saw that his nose was bleeding, staining his cupid’s bow in crimson liquid.
Seonghwa had always been prone to stress. When it got bad, the capillaries in his nose would burst and leave him bleeding and more often than not, lightheaded. He had gotten punished many times before for staining his silk shirts with blood.
And now was the worst time to attend to his bleeding nose, he needed to stay sharp in case the navy men realised where he had hid.
He didn’t dare look over the boxes that sheltered him on two sides, he’d have to rely on his hearing.
By now the men after him had turned back to the task at hand. Find the prince.
They divided into small groups, diving down alleyways and searching the proximity for any sign of Seonghwa. At least they hadn’t seen him hide or hey would have strode over immediately.
Their voices got louder as they drew near, but just as quickly they got lower as they went past him. Somehow they didn’t check behind the most obvious hiding spot ever. Maybe Seonghwa’s luck was finally turning around for that night.
“Hey, you”
And for the second time that night, Seonghwa almost felt his heart jump out of his own throat.
He had been so focused on the people searching for him he hadn’t paid any attention to anything else, and now that he turned to look behind himself, he found he had been cornered between the crates and two men.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
The man’s voice was coarse. It sent a shiver down Seonghwa’s spine.
With his seated position on the ground, the two towered over him menacingly, their faces unidentifiable with the moon shining on their backs. Seonghwa felt powerless, their eyes piercing through him even if he couldn’t see them. There was something about their aura that made him squirm.
“Not going to talk, aye?” The shorter of the two laughed out loud, then bent down to grab Seonghwa’s arm.
He pulled him to his feet with ease, and finally they were face to face. The other man still somehow towered over him, his broad frame giving him an even more powerful look.
Seonghwa’s feet stuttered against the ground as he regained his composure. He hadn’t been able to utter out a single word until now, hyperaware of the blood that was now seeping through the crack between his lips, panicked at the idea the royal navy would come back for him, trembling at the uncomfortable dampness of his clothes. It was all too much, and the suffocating air that floated between him and these strangers was about to push him over the edge.
“Well, if you’re not going to talk to us, maybe a word with the captain will knock some sense into you”
At this, the taller turned to his partner, a hand lazily placed on his hip.
“This doesn’t seem like something important enough to take to the captain, San” the man then looked Seonghwa up and down. It was hard to tell what he was thinking “Besides, he hardly looks like he could be any kind of threat to us”.
Seonghwa knew he looked like a mess, but as he listened to the two bicker back and forth, at least he was able to focus on something that wasn’t his physical and mental state. Even if they were threatening to take him to their captain for whatever reason, his muscles instinctively relaxed at the distraction.
If it hadn’t been for the bruising grip on his arm, Seonghwa would have thought they had forgotten about him even being there. Maybe he could have made another run for it. Again.
“Uh – excuse me?” Seonghwa wiped his lips with his sleeve, probably spreading the blood across his cheek in the process.
The two men turned towards him, the way they instantly shut up surprised Seonghwa. They reminded him of well trained dogs, just like the ones they had at the palace.
“Could you tell me what I did to upset you?”
“How about you tell us what you were doing snooping around our stuff instead?” Seonghwa looked up at the man that wasn’t holding onto him. The darkness made it hard to tell, but his expression seemed more confused than angry like he had expected it to be.
“Your stuff?” Seonghwa mimicked, turning around.
He looked at the crates behind him, nets and weapons piled on top and to the side of them. Then, he focused back on what was in front of him, except that this time, his eyes went to gaze at the ship behind the two men. It stood tall and its sides were slim, a perfect schooner if Seonghwa had ever seen one. The dark colour of its wood almost let it blend with the pitch black of the sea at night.
“Don’t play dumb, will you?”
Seonghwa shook his head from side to side. Suddenly he was aware of what, or rather who, he was dealing with. Pirates. Pirates that would hand him off to the royal navy without a second thought if they came back down this road. Pirates that would do anything for an extra coin to spend on a good drink at a tavern.
He put his hand on top of the one that held onto his forearm and squeezed it, making the other look up at his red stained face in surprise. The idea that sparked in his head was absolutely terrible, one he would probably regret in the very near future, but anything was better than staying out here on the docks exposed and defenceless.
“Take me to your captain, I beg you”
The man gave Seonghwa a half smile, confused by the sudden request. Anyone in their right mind would have run the other way, not begged to meet with the captain of a pirate ship. Especially when they were being accused of touching that crew’s goods.
“San, don’t” the taller man warned. The so-called San just gave him an innocent smile before tugging Seonghwa closer to him and putting an arm around his shoulders.
Seonghwa could smell the sea on him.
“Ah, come on Mingi. You heard him, he wants to meet with the captain” he cooed. He then turned to Seonghwa, who still had a hard time believing it had been that easy to convince them to bring him aboard their ship. In that moment, Seonghwa knew they were either incredibly stupid or worryingly confident. He hoped it wasn’t the latter.
“Welcome to the Aurora, thief”
Seonghwa was then dragged to the ladder that draped the side of the schooner. The ease with which they agreed to his request became increasingly worrying at every step he climbed. The higher he went, the more he felt his stomach drop. But he couldn’t escape now, not with the two climbing up behind him, muttering quiet remarks to each other which Seonghwa couldn’t quite hear.
“Help our guest up, will you?” San shouted from behind him as they reached the top. Before he could react, Seonghwa had two pairs of hands on him dragging him onto the deck of the ship. He wasn’t able to get a good look at them, but their arms felt strong on his shoulders. He would have never been able to fight any of these people off if he ever needed to.
On this ship, he was at their mercy and his livelihood depended solely on them. His life depended on damned pirates.
“What the hell is this, San?” the man who spoke had to be at least as tall as that Mingi guy, if not more. He stared at Seonghwa with a questioning expression, as if he were some kind of unidentified creature who just happened to wash up on their deck. In all fairness, the weirdness of the situation was finally catching up to Seonghwa and he did feel like a fish out of water here.
“We caught him lingering around our stuff, says he wants to talk to the captain” Mingi explained, finally making it over the railing of the ship.
“And you what? Just agreed and brought him on board?” at San’s nod, the taller man continued “Are you insane?”
The other, Mingi, shrugged, showing he didn’t have much of a say in the matter either. Whoever this San person was, he seemed to be a bit of a loose cannon in Seonghwa’s eyes.
“I expected this kind of thing from Wooyoung, but not from you Sannie. You two are spending way too much time together”
Seonghwa had been left to sit on the deck without any kind of restraint to take in his surroundings. In the distance he could hear the shouts he had been running from just a few minutes ago. They were back, and he was up on a ship with a bunch of pirates surrounding him. Except, there weren’t as many as he expected.
Two, Mingi and San, stood to the side and talked quietly between each other, occasionally glancing back at Seonghwa with furrowed brows. The other two, who helped to haul him into the ship, stood a few metres away from him. They too seemed to be discussing amongst themselves, unsure about what to do. At least, with the few oil lamps that decorated the ship, Seonghwa was able to see their faces and their perplexed expressions.
They were all young, shockingly young in fact.
If he had to guess, none of them were older than he was.
“Is someone going to explain the bloody mess on our deck, or should I take a wild guess?”
The air on the deck shifted instantly as a silhouette, dark and imposing, emerged from the cabin of the ship. Seonghwa couldn’t tell a single thing about the man’s appearance, but his voice alone was enough for him to understand that this was their captain. The way they all hastily turned towards him was just as telling.
“Captain Hongjoong!” Mingi exclaimed, surprised by the man’s sudden appearance.
The captain didn’t stay shrouded in mystery for long and walked over to where all the commotion was taking place, now perfectly visible under the orange glow of the lamps.
Seonghwa had seen and served many captains in the past few years. They were often dressed in big hats and capes that stated their role to anyone that looked their way, sporting big beards and scars. They were proud of their role and they dressed like it.
But as he looked at the man standing in front of him, he saw none of that.
Their captain wore a simple shirt, for the most part unbuttoned, leaving the skin above his sternum and the first few of his ribs exposed. No hat, no mantle. His hair was wavy with salt spray, a few beads twisted into braids at the side of his head. Other than that, the only demonstration of power he had above everyone else were the numerous rings that decorated his fingers in shiny metal. Nothing else, not even a parrot on the shoulder like the stories Seonghwa had read in the palace library. He was like none other.
By the time Seonghwa had finished taking in the man’s appearance, the captain had bent down on one knee in front of him. His stare was hard, but somehow the prince didn’t feel intimidated as he focused on him, just surprised at how such a young face could hold such power.
Seonghwa didn’t move as the captain put a hand on his face. He felt the warmth of his adorned thumb wipe at his cupid bow with light pressure, leaving another streak of blood across the top of his cheek. The smell of herbs – lavender if he had to guess – mixed with the ocean air, surrounding Seonghwa in waves.
“Beautiful” the captain whispered “You have the eyes of a siren”
Seonghwa’s mouth gaped open and the captain must have found this amusing. He let out an airy laugh, soundless, his pearly teeth peeking past his lips.
“Sirens aren’t real” Seonghwa breathed out, his brain short circuiting. The smell, the intensity. The captain’s closeness was so sudden and suffocating.
“Oh, but they are. I’ve seen them with my own eyes”
Seonghwa pulled back the moment the captain’s hand left his face. For a moment, he had forgotten all about the task at hand, intoxicated by the presence of the man that had been kneeling right in front of him moments ago. As the confusion dissipated from Seonghwa’s mind, he clearly saw the five others that now surrounded him and the standing captain.
“So, thief. Tell me why you wanted to meet with me so badly”
The prince had had enough of feeling overpowered for one night.
He stood up, ignoring the way the motion of the sea toyed with his balance. Suddenly, he felt less like the tavern boy he had played for the past four years and more like the prince he had been raised to become. He looked down at the captain, their height difference playing in Seonghwa’s favour.
“I need you to take me with you. Just as far as your next stop is fine” Seonghwa wanted to sound confident, to channel his inner prince, but his voice wavered under the pressure of the very small crew standing in front of him. Was this all of them? He had never seen a ship with less than fifteen people on it, at the least.
And yet, they were more intense than any pirate crew he had come across before. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the atmosphere here was very different to ones he had witnessed before.
“And why would I do that?”
The captain held a tight-lipped smile.
Seonghwa felt like he had gone crazy. Here he was, asking a pirate for a favour with nothing to offer in return, abandoning the life he had built for himself in this city with no hesitation. All to avoid his father, his luxurious palace, the riches that waited patiently for him to go home.
His room. The gardens he spent hours playing in. His mother’s execution. His clothes. The beatings. The books he buried his nose in.
“I believe I can’t offer you anything in return”
Seonghwa imagined himself being thrown overboard. Maybe he would swim out of the city’s port and die at sea, too exhausted to fight the waves, but surrounded by a love he would never get over.
He waited for them to erupt into laughter, mock him for being weak and with no resources. What man asked for favours with nothing to back them up?
But they didn’t say a word. They waited on their captain, who seemed to be deep in thought.
“Do you know anything about medicine?”
A weird question. One Seonghwa didn’t expect. He searched the captain’s face for any signs of mockery, but failed. He was serious, and Seonghwa was suddenly grateful for all the times he had hidden in the library to get away from his tutor and all the useless lessons he had tried to inflict on him. Medicine had always been a great interest of his, one he had researched thoroughly in the past.
“I’ve studied some, yes”
Seonghwa stood awkwardly. He played with the hem of his stained sleeves nervously as they whispered amongst themselves. His reply didn’t sound as promising as he had wished to be.
But as the chatter died down and the captain gave them all a nod, he turned to Seonghwa with a tense expression on his face. It was almost unnoticeable, but the prince had somehow managed to catch it. He gave him a curt nod and left, disappearing back through the doors he had made his appearance from without another word. The man that rivalled Mingi’s height motioned for him with his hand.
“Come with me”
And with a sigh of relief he didn’t know he was holding, Seonghwa shoved all his growing worries to the very back of his mind to take care of another day. For tonight he would be alright.