Rose felt the dip in the bed and groaned, pulling the blanket tighter around her. "I do not want to get up, Maman." She all but whined while reaching and swatting behind her. Everything felt strange, the bed coverings more scratchy, she was only in her shift father than nightgown, and the room smelt stale and smokey, not of lavender and sage like at home.

In haze of sleepiness she rolled over, throwing the covers back and yawning. She opened her mouth to say something, but her words were cut off as she focused on a very male figure, rather than that of her pretty mother. Why was this man in her bed? She wanted to scream but nothing would come out. It was difficult to gain traction as she tried to scramble up the bed, away from him, backing herself into the corner.

Her chestnut curls were a bit wild, fanning about her head, and she struggled to cross her arms over his chest, which felt exposed in the thin linen shift. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked with a frown. It had come back to her, her ship being destroyed by this brutes and them kidnapping her. How could she of forgotten?

===

"Aye, lass. Name's Gerard, same as my father, and his father, and so on. I wouldn't go so far as to say better, but alive." He grunted as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the cot. He normally had duties to attend to, but surely the captain would forgive him considering his injuries. Even if he wanted to, he wasn't sure he'd be much help, considering already the room was spinning before him.

Her words surprised him and he narrowed his eyes. She didn't strike him as the type to flirt, so what was her game? Survival, probably. If she played her cards right and was kept in here, she wouldn't be left to the crew. Smart girl. "Do not go gettin' my hopes up, lass." He grinned, enjoying at least the bit of banter between the two of them. When was the last time he had bothered with that? Actually, there was no time before, he kept to the whores at port, not ladies maids to a princess. Not that she seemed like the blushing maid sort. His stomach growled, distracting him from his thoughts.