Page 19 of A Captain So Callous and Cruel

BANG! BANG!

The knocks on the door are so sudden, I jump, my heart lodging in my throat.

BANG! BANG!

The Captain lets out a long sigh. “What?”

The door practically crashes open as an elderly, tall man steps through. My eyes widen in surprise as he tugs behind him a small body.

Oh, my goddess.

“Captain,” he hisses in greeting.

“Grimy,” the Captain replies, cutting his eyes to the boy in Grimy’s large hold. The large man is fisting the boy’s collar, shaking him about, and it nearly makes me jump out of my seat to pull the boy away from him.

“Your son was caught hidden under one of the tables in the entertainment room…where the women are performing for the men.”

My vision spots as the shock knocks me cold.

Son?

No, no, no.

This can’t be.

I fight to contain my shock, but it feels like the world has tilted on its axis.

I had no idea the Captain was traveling with a child.

His son.

Looking at the boy, I see he has all his father’s dark colorings. He’s beautiful too, like his father. His body is small, thin. He can’t be older than twelve.

The goddess is cruel.

The child glares up at Grimy, but his cheeks are red and he looks embarrassed to have been caught.

Captain Erickson’s voice hardens and his expression becomes fierce with quiet disdain. “James, I brought you onboard to shape you into a man. You still have a long way to go. You left a privileged world and you still think you are owed luxuries you simply wouldn’t know how to possess. It is my greatest disappointment, having you grow up in such vile splendor. What makes you think you deserve to enjoy the temptations of the flesh if you are unable to control yourself?”

James clamps his mouth shut, his face falling as he looks down at his feet. The words were so biting, I feel conflicted for the boy. Where is the affection? The gentle lesson that sometimes a boy is too young to understand this side of men? Even as I ask that to myself, I nearly want to scoff. If you’re taking a young boy aboard a bloody ship where vile shit like this happens all the time, what fatherly affection could there possibly be?

“I understand your curiosity,” the captain continues, “and as much as I look forward to the day you get to experience the many…joys life has to offer, you simply wouldn’t know what to do with a woman if you got given the chance. Or am I wrong?”

His son shakes his head stiffly, quietly muttering, “No, father.”

The captain looks at the man named Grimy. “Take him to his room. Lock it if you have to. He will get properly punished in the morning. Maybe I’ll have him polish that room he spent so much time gawking in.”

Even Grimy looks upset by the captain’s words, but he stiffens a nod. “Yes, Captain.”

His hold on the boy becomes gentler as he steers him out. The door shuts, and I look at the Captain now, watching him viciously twist around the bracelet, his teeth clenched. His mood has turned sour. In the blink of an eye, he went from looking sorrowful to vicious. I clench my hands, rattled by the uncertain mood in the air.

“Why are you upset, Red?” he questions then, like he’s itching for a fight.

“Your son is beautiful,” I whisper, walking on eggshells.

“He’s a boy,” he hisses back, defensive.

“He looks like you.”

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