“You’ll need to speak up if you want to be heard,” he chided, stepping back as she stood. “You’re royalty. Have some confidence, princess. And I don’t care if you don’t listen to my commands, as long as you keep doing such a good job of obeying them. Seems kind of… I don’t know, contradictory?”

He watched as she gathered her things, following her around the room. It was more to make sure she wasn’t going to try anything. He rubbed his nose slightly, a slight throb, a little reminder of what happens when he stops being alert. When she went to the bathroom he moved to the closet and rummaged through her clothes, just seeing what was being left behind.

When she returned he glanced to her a moment, seeing her standing there, and closed the closet. She seemed… sad, almost pathetic, but he couldn’t blame her. She had probably been holed up in this castle most of her life because of how ‘safe’ it was for a princess. And now, here he was about to take her away from it all. But then he remembered his nose as it throbbed again. The compassion drained away. He moved to her again, putting his hand under her chin and tilting her head so she was looking at him. “Hold your head high. Don’t give us the satisfaction of seeing how afraid you are. Pretend you’re above all this. Right? Wouldn’t that make it so much easier to deal with?”

He yanked the bag from her hand, making sure all of its compartments were secured, and slung it around his shoulder. It didn’t matter if these were the only things she wanted to bring, she wasn’t going to be the one to carry them. He looked towards the door, waiting for her to pick up on the intention and start walking. He sighed.

Usually he didn’t have to deal with women. At least, not any that weren’t on his crew. The kind of work he did, the jobs he pulled, the piracy they committed… women never really traveled alone. They were the ones that would cower as their travel companions begged for their lives. He’d get what he wanted as they looked away in fear, and he’d leave. Leaving with one of them wasn’t really his style. Kidnapping in general wasn’t. This was a first for them.

Maybe it was always like this?

But what she had said about ‘getting to the bottom of this’; it made him wonder again. The father had PAID him to take the princess away. Who would pay the ransom for this? His gut got tight as he ran the possibilities through his head. This could still be a setup. It may have been easy to get in, and hell, maybe it would be easy to get out. But what then? 

[center]The father would have been the one to pay the ransom… but he had paid them to take her.
Did he expect them to kill her? 
Did he expect someone else to pay for her release?[/center]

This whole thing started to smell foul. One big mistake. He shrugged it off, waiting for the princess to move.