06-23-2011, 02:13 AM
When she spoke again, he lowered his gaze. "Scarlett," Laiden mouthed her name while staring at her chains. It was a pretty name . . . and his mother's favorite color. Eying the shackles as she mentioned the keys, his face pulled into the darkness once again. He was unreadable for a moment: without his expression to speak for him, there was nothing that Laiden could say.
Looking to where the keys were hanging, Joseph licked his lips in hesitation. The moonlight shifted so they could see one another again. Scarlett sounded so forlorn: she wanted to see the ocean from the deck. He wasn't a fool . . . Laiden knew that there would be trouble if he was found releasing the prisoner. This girl was the most valuable thing on the ship. Blue eyes locking on Scarlett's gaze for many unblinking moments, he slowly pulled his hand away. The touch that she'd left there made his hand burn from the brief caress.
She wanted to see the night sky, just as Laiden had ached to see it. At first he shook his head. Was he denying her help, or perhaps fighting with himself? Joseph gazed at the girl's eyes for a few more moments before he pulled his hand back. Withdrawing from the cage, he brought himself to stand. He never so much as looked at the keys.
"Shouldn't," he whispered. The ship tossed a bit with a large wave, making him stumble toward the door.
"I promise I won't run or anything."
Laiden's dark hair fell into his features to hide his expression of inner turmoil. Darkeness crept over them as the moon sank behind another thick cloud. By the time moonlight fell on the wooden floor once again, he was gone. There was no sound of footsteps or movement. Somehow Joseph kept his blanket as silent as the rest of him.
((Hehe.))
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