To Sail the High Seas: England x Reader ch27

Chapter 27

Upon entering the small room, you were greeted with the sight of the two Captains locked in a staring contest. Arthur was leant against the wall, an arrogant smirk playing on his lips, and Carriedo on his knees, wrists bound behind his back and a fresh cut running along his exposed chest.
“I’m going to ask you again, and this time you’re going to answer. Why did you sneak onto my ship?”
“You can ask as many times as you want mi amigo, but I won’t tell you anything.”
Stepping forward, Arthur flicked his wrist and made a fresh gash across the Spaniard’s chest with his sword. Although shallow, Carriedo’s grimace of discomfort made it clear that the experience was not painless.
“Have it your way, I can play this game all evening.”
“You always have had a sadistic streak amigo, I hope you don’t make your pretty companion suffer this way.” At these words Arthur’s jaw locked, his eyes no longer full of sadistic mirth at his victory.
“How do you know about her?”
“I wonder~”
This obscurity resulted in two more crimson slashes, and it became clear that Arthur held no qualms about shredding his captive to ribbons if he had to. Although obviously in pain, Carriedo let out a strange sounding laugh and smirked up at the easily provoked Englishman.
“Though I bet you enjoy hearing her scream, I know I did.”
“You bastard! I swear to God if you’ve so much as touched her-”
Taking this as your cue to step in before Arthur began to maim the handsome Spaniard beyond recognition (because that would be a shame) you made your presence known.
“Do all pirates act like children or did I just get really lucky?”
Their heads snapped towards you wearing identical looks of astonishment and you rolled your eyes, deciding to deal with the blond first seeing as he held all the power here.
“You worry too much.”
“You left the cabin.” You expression fell flat at his growled complaint.
“Yes, I left the bloody cabin, what did you expect? When have I ever listened to your orders?”
“You don’t understand, Carriedo is different, he could have killed you.”
“Every person you meet in your life has the potential to kill you, that doesn’t mean they will.”
“When will you bloody learn!? You’re not living on a merchant ship anymore; pirates are ruthless and pirate Captains more so. He could have killed you without batting an eyelid.”
“So is he more or less dangerous than you?”
“I- what?” Arthur faltered at your question, and you saw the Spaniard smirk out the corner of your eye, clearly catching on to the game you were playing.
“Is Captain Antonio Fernandez Carriedo more or less dangerous than Captain Arthur Kirkland?”
“Well I’d think it’s obvious who won our last battle wouldn’t you think?”
“So he’s less dangerous then. Meaning that since I’ve managed to survive you, the likelihood is that I can survive him.”
Amending his statement and naming his rival to be more dangerous would be like admitting defeat, and since you knew there was absolutely no chance of Arthur doing any such thing, you turned you attention to the bleeding Captain who was now shaking with silent laughter.
“I did warn you that we’d meet again sooner than you thought.”
“You were distracting me, you knew that the battle had stopped.”
“You’re the pirate shouldn’t you have figured it out sooner? But basically yes, that’s exactly what I did.”
“Eres una zorra astuta.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” Kneeling down you observed his wounds coldly before giving his chest a sharp poke and causing him to hiss in pain.
“What was that for señorita?”
“For provoking Arthur, because for one that’s a stupid thing to do, especially when you can’t retaliate. Secondly, if you are going to provoke him don’t involve me.”
At the sound of his name Arthur seemed to break free from his stupor and instantly tore you from the floor and away from Carriedo.

Without a word, Arthur had hauled you away from the Spanish man, and pulled roughly into the neighbouring room which contained only crates of cargo. After a moment of silence, he released your wrist and sank onto a nearby barrel. You stood there without a word, watching as the Captain tossed his flamboyant hat aside and ran one hand through his messy blond locks. Leaning back against the wall, he gave a defeated sigh and looked up at you almost imploringly.
“Just… Tell me he didn’t do anything to harm you.”
“Arthur, I’m fine.” As one bushy eyebrow raised itself sceptically you shook your head with a smile. “Honestly.”
“He said… that you- that he made you…” The words caught in his throat, suffocating him, and Arthur stared at his feet breathing deeply as he tried to regain control of his tongue.
“He was being deliberately maddening, you know that.”
Despite your words, the Captain didn’t raise his head from his hands. It was almost sweet really; you’d never expected him to openly show this level of concern for your well-being. With a slight shake of your head, you ignored rationality for a moment and knelt before the Captain with a gentle smile. He looked at you in surprise as you reached up to tenderly brush away the blond strands which were plastered to his forehead with sweat and blood. You frowned and moved your hand to his cheek to examine his face.
“You’re bleeding.”
“Tis but a scratch.”
He nuzzled your palm affectionately, but you stubbornly refused to be distracted.
“You still need to get that cleaned up, it could get infected.” He scoffed at this with a familiar arrogant smirk on his lips.
“If anyone is at risk of infection, it’s that Spanish twat.”
“That is a very good point.” You mused on this for a second before shooing the captain from the barrel which, as you’d hoped, contained some sort of alcoholic beverage - and if the smell was any indication it was a strong one too. “This’ll do.”
Locating some cheap looking fabric from one of the various crates piled up around the room, you dunked the cloth into the barrel only to ring it out again, not wanting to waste anything more than you needed to.
“What on earth are you doing love?”
“I’m going to treat Carriedo’s wounds.” As expected, the captain’s vaguely bemused expression turned sour at your words, and he placed a hand on your shoulder firmly.
“Why the hell would you want to do a thing like that?”
“Because he saved Peter’s life, how’s that for a reason?” You cocked your head to the side at Arthur’s bewildered expression.
“He… What?”
“Trust me, I was shocked as well. However, the truth of the mater remains; the only man on this ship who died at Carriedo’s hand today was one of his own. I’m sure one of the men must have found his body by now, it was in one of the corridors somewhere down here, but for some reason their little group decided to take a very indirect route when they were sneaking around.”
You could practically see the gears turning in your blond companion’s mind.
“If you’re not satisfied we can talk about this later, but let me clean him up at least.”
After frowning at you for a moment, the Captain gave a reluctant nod of consent, causing your face to split into a wide grin. Before you could stop yourself, you had peppered his face with kisses and practically skipped out the room.