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The ship, quite recently surviving a storm, was swaying gently on the already quieted waves. The darkened azure stubbornly hid its secrets. The cozy cabin smelled of tobacco and spices, oil lamps were burning, scattering bizarre shadows along the walls, and she just wanted to stay here forever and forget about everything.
Angelique warmed her hands on a tiny cup of coffee, brewed by the faithful assistant to the mysterious Rescator especially for her - Abdullah was his name. Angelique took a small sip, closed her eyes, and understood that her fear caused by the raging storm was gradually dissipating away.
The mysterious owner of the cabin asked her to excuse him and disappeared somewhere. Angelique sadly shook her head: the fleur of secrets, surrounding the captain of the ship, was luring her, but she could not even answer herself, whether she was ready to solve this mystery.
Yes, he was kind and polite to her. Which did not prevent him from making poisonous remarks at her address from time to time, as if somehow he could know something from her past life, and it made him irritated. What was he hiding under that mask of his?
For all her life, Angelique had been trying to understand what was hidden under an external farce of things. Love for beautiful gestures and mystifications in Joffrey, whose soul she never managed to comprehend. Artificial coldness of Philip, who had the soul of the frightened and lonely boy yearning for love. The magnificence of the King, whose heart was burdened by fatigue and unbearable burden of responsibility. Desgrez, ah, dear Francois, who hid behind his sharp mind, the faithful and devotional heart.
Angelica sighed and stared at the coal-black surface of a cup of coffee. Had anyone ever tried to understand her soul? To try and find out what she was disturbed by, what pleased her? The memories of her first husband pierced her heart, hurt her soul. Oh, all this had been so long ago, as if in a kind of dream, the memory itself seemed to be unreal.
And so suddenly Rescator appeared in her life, like some fascinating mystery. Angelique put her cup onto the table and started pacing around the cabin. He first came to ask how she felt when the storm started to rage. He handed over the blanket for Honorine, he came to the rescue when Angelique was ready to despair. He loved luxury and understood her in some sense, women loved him, and he was well aware of that fact.
Angelique laughed nervously: too many coincidences to be true. But his mask, inspiring a superstitious horror in her, these fleeting attractions, a hoarse voice and a piercing look of his dark eyes... Like Joffrey used to talk about the South of France, the Rescator told her stories about Spain. She could feel his longing for his native land, similar to the one that she once heard in Joffrey's words. She could not believe how two people could be so similar.
Time would come, and she would ask Rescator, she would be courageous enough to ask him why he bought her in Candia. Yes, at that time she was beautiful and rich. But now, in La Rochelle... Why did he help her again? And what he would ask from her now?
"Only a wizard could have helped me now," Angelique thought with some sadness. She missed his mocking phrases relating to her unworthy behavior, she missed his hoarse voice and coffee she once drank with him. The Rescator had long promised to treat her to a cup of this dark and mysterious drink, but when such a possibility presented itself, he just disappeared and left her alone in his cabin.
The Rescator was mocking her again. Angelique felt frustrated: "How dare he leave me like this?"
She craved simple human warmth, she longed for someone who would be able to help her start her life anew. In a word, she yearned for someone who would be able to revive her faith in a happy outcome.
Angelique threw a cloak over her shoulders and headed away from the cabin. She was not fully aware of what she was going to say to him, but to leave a lady alone, at least, that was impolite behavior for a gentleman. As soon as her hand touched a carved handle, the door opened from the outside, and Angelique found herself in the arms of the Rescator.
"Ah, Madame, you truly like to run away at the most inopportune moment and abduct my cloaks elsewhere. Tell me, why do they attract you so much?"
"Do you know, monsieur, that to leave the lady alone for such a long period of time is impolite?"
"Have mercy, my dear, what manners do you expect from the pirate?"
"But you invited me for a cup of coffee!"
"This is because you have been frozen to death! And I had no desire to deal with your possible influenza."
The Rescator was mocking her again, Angelique attempted to free herself from his arms, but he kept holding her around the waist, laughing softly to himself.
"How could you dare?"
"Oh, but I do, Madame! I am the captain of this ship, almost the God of these places!"
"Don't take too much on yourself! Let me go!"
"And let you disappear again?"
"Why did you come back?" Angelique asked, having resigned with her fate. In truth, her awkward position in Rescator's embrace amused her.
"Madame, dare I remind you that this is my cabin. In general, I walked to invite you to admire the stars and drink one more cup of coffee together."
"Are you going to leave me alone in the end?"
The Rescator was silent for a moment, and after that, he said almost in a whisper:
"Never again. I will never leave you, Madame. Never again."
And the stars lit the darkness of this night, whose color was so similar to coffee.
The End.