Chapter One: The Slaver Meets His Catch
This is my first story so feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you! ~Sparkles~
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Grace gazed longingly at the island she was leaving behind. As much as she hated to admit it she was going to miss England tremendously. After the third time her parents had caught her trying to spend a day as a peasant in the market (something a refined English lady never did) they had, had enough. They decided to send her to school in France. She sighed heavily. Maybe a life away from England wouldn't be all that terrible after all, and in what better place then France? Grace despised the life she had led in England. She was like an untamed mare that you try to lock up in a stall but it would never work because all it really wanted was a life of sprinting in the fields. In other words she was like a prisoner in her own home. The thing Grace wanted more than anything was just to paint. She wanted to be an artist. But it would never happen. She was expected to get married, settle down, have a family & serve her husband, why? Because she was a women & it was her duty. Rubbish!
"Miss" Grace jumped at Mary, her lady-in-waiting's soft voice. "It's late miss, and cold, I think you should retire." Grace waved away Mary's comment with a swish of her hand. "My Lady, please come below, you'll catch your death!" Mary was like a sister to her but she could be so overly worried sometimes.
"I'm coming Mary." She sighed looking out over the water she caught the last glimpse of the place she once called home.
"Things will be much better in France."
"LADY PLEASE IT'S FREEZING!" Grace shook her head & joined Mary below deck for bed. Her mind wandered as Mary & her maids removed her corsets & readied her for bed. What would France be like? Would the girls be different from that of her homeland? After much pondering she came to the conclusion that it would be exactly the same as England was. Every girl there would most likely have the illusion that this was their place, that they were better than everyone else & that there was no world outside tea & needlepoint, it would be no different. She would once again be trapped in a place where she had no say in her future, all because of her social standing! Grace sighed heavily and allowed Katrina one of her maids to escort her back into her main chambers and into her bed. Grace awoke coughing & sputtering to the strong smell of smoke. It was terribly hot inside her room. Was something burning? It was then she realized, Oh my God the ship was on fire!! She ran to fetch Mary out of her bed. Grace threw open the door to the adjoining room where Mary & Her other ladies in waiting slept. Someone or thing was waiting for her behind the door, as she took her first step into the room Grace was yanked backward off her feet. The last thing she remembered was a dark face of a man holding a rag over her mouth then...black.
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Upon awakening the first thing Grace noticed was that she couldn't move her arms, legs or anything else for that matter. She tried to wiggle her fingers & toes but to no avail. After trying in vain for several minutes she gave up. Silly women open your eyes; she scolded herself for being so foolish. Grace soon realized that opening her eyes didn't help her much considering the state of her vision when she opened them. Everything was hazy & blurred, good lord she'd been drugged! But after some adjustment she could make out a lump in front of her. It was Mary & she was still obviously still knocked out. She didn't look too bad but she had some nasty scratches & a large bruise on her head. Grace soon became aware of a sharp pain in her right arm. Panicking she started struggling against her bonds. But her struggling was only making matters worse for her poor arm.
"You keep doing that your bound to hurt yourself"
Grace yelped at the large dark skinned man towering over her. Grace's first thought was that there should be laws against being that beautiful. He had jet-black hair that was shiny & thick. It looked to be about shoulder length but she couldn't tell for sure because it was tied back at the base of his neck. His dark tanned skin at the moment was covered in sweat. He had the body of a sailor, this stranger looked to be chiseled out of rock but not overly so. Grace had never been around many men at least not one that looked like this. And just looking at him started to make that unexplored area between her thighs start to dampen. Grace then realized that she was staring & immediately looked away blushing crimson red. He gave a deep throaty laugh & she blushed deeper if it was even possible.
"I have brought you breakfast my lady, I say you should be hungry by now."
He bent down & set a tray in front of her on which sat a slice of stale bread and what looked to be dried fish & a glass of water. It was then she noticed his eyes, they were the most amazing things she had ever seen one was a stormy gray the other sky blue & both it seemed you could fall into if you kept staring.
"Ummm... would you mind telling me where I am?" Grace final snapped out of her trance long enough to ask him a question
"Why your on a ship m'lady" answered this stranger with a laugh.
A SHIP?!?! Grace decided to play his game if it meant he would get some real answers out of him. "And to where is this ship headed good sir?" Grace was trying not to scream when she said the words. Her question earned another laugh from him. " Why to the Mediterranean m'lady & from there to dock in northern Africa."
