I am starting to lose track of time; I have been here at Newlyn’s home for some days and nights. This morning, I wake in a plain, but comfortable room with my mentor. Sit is in the doorway peeking in. “Help me with the breakfast?” He asks and I roll out of bed, dress, and head down to the workers kitchen. Sit is already there putting meals together for Shaylo, Newlyn, Sid, myself him and the handful of other servants that stay here. The meals range from some being extravagant breakfasts of freshly chopped fruit, meat, and bread to as simple as a couple of pieces of toast meat and milk, my guess is, that is Shaylo’s meal. Sit instructs me, “Run these over to the main house this is Newlyn’s and some plates for her assistants, and I will run this dish over to Shaylo. Meet me back here when you are done, okay?”


    I nod, “I understand.” I take a walk over to the main house. It is easy for me to find Newlyn, she is out on her front sitting area at one of the tables, and I quietly deliver her meal and set the other meals down for her servants that are there with her. She takes little notice to me, clearly engaged in a discussion and to my relief; I quietly retreat to the workers kitchen of the smaller home on the property. I don’t wait long for Sit to return.


    Sit and I finish our meals and Sit says, “Let''s head down to the shore. You will like it. I think it will remind you of the North Shore.” The shore is within walking distance from Newlyn''s gaits. Sit and I take the path that leads to it. He casually says as we walk, “I have put some thought into how we are going to do this.”


    “Yes” I answer, the word escapes slowly.


    “There is no doubt in my mind that we have to come off as being as authentic as possible.” That’s a given, Sit continues, “The weakness with you is your inexperience.” He sighs, “We can''t throw you in the pen with her and have you pretending to be someone that you’re not. Do you understand?” I look at him and nod, agreeing. “I think the good thing with you is, your real story can be used and built upon to get what we want from Shaylo.” The path that we are walking down opens to a sandy shore, we find a spot to rest and talk more.


    Sit volunteers his idea, “We will use your real-life story as a basis and simply add a little more to it so that even someone like you can act out. Who knows, you will even convince yourself that this story is true. Do you understand?”


    “Yes,” I answer.


    Sit’s voice has a hint of relief to it, “Well good.” He winks at me. “Shall we?”


    “What?” I ask,


    “Swim silly; that’s why we are here right?” He stands from sitting in the sand and strips down completely. I stare at his smooth, cinnamon tanned brown muscular body. His hair seems not to change as quickly as the women I know, but today his hair is the color of the sand, a dirty blonde and his eyes are a clear, vibrant blue. He catches me staring at him, instead of ignoring my gaze he acknowledges it right away while coming off as being over confidant. He changes direction from going to the water, comes to me and grabs hold of me at an arm’s length after I have already removed my clothes.


    “Do you like what you see?” Sit is gazing into my eyes. I turn my head to look away, feeling embarrassed that he caught me. He shakes me, to get my attention.


    “No, go on, look at me.” He urges. I look into his eyes, “Look at my entire body Taylan, don''t be shy.” I slowly look down and peek at his rippled chest, then down to his masculine parts. He makes it twitch and I immediately force myself free from his grasp.


    “Oh, dear Taylan, we can''t have any fun, can we?” He chuckles at my uneasiness. Instead of letting me walk away, he charges at me full force and tackles me to the sand.


    I scream, “What are you doing?” He pins me on my back and looks into my eyes saying, “I asked you a question.”


    “What?” I say completely flustered.


    “Answer my question.” He demands while still pinning me down.


    “I don''t know?” I roll my eyes and try to squirm from his grasp.


    “Now that''s a lie.” He laughs at me and still holding me firm says, “Tell me the truth.”


    I reluctantly divulge, looking into his eyes with all the little confidence I can muster, “I was admiring you, you’re handsome and you are strong.” I look away embarrassed for having been caught.


    He smiles, “Well thank you, you are pretty good looking yourself.” He gives me a wink and I muster up the strength to roll my body over. I have the feeling that he let me go. I free myself from his grasp. We are both on our feet again. He puts his arm around my shoulder and leads me into the ocean.


    “That wasn''t so bad, was it?” He asks.


    “Which part?”


    “The part where you admitted that you think I am attractive.”


    I shrug my shoulders, “No, I guess not.” We dip our toes into the water to get used to it.


    “You know Taylan; you’re not a good liar. We will need to stick to the truth as much as possible to convince Shaylo of anything.”


    “Yes, I know.” I skim my toes along the water’s surface; the air is very warm making the water feel cooler than it is. We walk in about waste deep and wade in the water. There are no weeds, just a fine sandy bottom, the waves are nothing, but a gentle ripple today, which makes it easy just to sit and bathe in the water and talk about all this stuff that we must do.


    “What are your thoughts for a story?” Sit asks, shifting gears from being playful into being more serious and inquisitive.


    “Well, I do admit that I have little experience in fabricating lies and to be honest, I could easily see myself getting lost within a lie. The last thing that I want is to disappoint Rosaleen and Newlyn.” He understands my worry.


    “Well let’s start from the top. Tell me your real story on how you came to be here?”


    “Don''t you already know it?” I ask.


    “Newlyn informed me, which means the information came from Rosaleen, but I want to hear it from you.” There is silence between us. I look into those crystal blue eyes that are encouraging me to speak.


    “Rosaleen met me and my two sisters on the North Shore one morning. She invited us all to her ship along with my mother. She broke up our family that day. Rosaleen took Ashlea and me as her servants and left my older sister with my mom. Rosaleen hinted that she was being generous despite her tricking all of us with her false generosity, and in the end, she divided our family. Rosaleen started showing Ashlea and me what goes on in her life, teaching us different things that she felt was important. We didn''t really work for her but were more her companions and extra eyes for her to keep watch. On the second night, a man attacked me. That is how I received the gash on my neck. The morning that followed, Rosaleen sentenced the man to death. He was well already dead from receiving a blow to the head by Ashlea who had come to my rescue. I was ordered to kill him. I cut his throat. I was told to clean up the mess of blood and to dispose of the body. Later that morning, the ship arrived just off the shore to this island. I accompanied Rosaleen from the main town to her mother’s home, now I’m here with you and soon to be acting as a prisoner.” I wade in the water, waiting for his reaction to my summary. I have a tough time believing it myself. My life has never been fast-paced, and I don''t feel like I have completely learned anything new or mastered any real skills. It feels like they just plucked me out of obscurity just because they could, doing what they wanted, and now it feels like they don''t know what to do with us. What’s even worse is knowing that they won''t just let us off the hook so that we can go home. It is funny because during these thoughts, Sit follows up and asks me how I feel about everything, as though he was reading my mind, and I repeat these thoughts aloud.


    He answers, “Trust me, I know how it feels, but understand that what you are about to do has meaning. If Rosaleen and Newlyn didn''t need you, you would be the first to know.” Sit is thinking everything through. I don''t bother to ask because it is obvious, and I allow him to mull it over on his own. I lay back in the water allowing myself to float along the surface. It is so relaxing, and the cut on my neck feels like nothing more than a scratch. It is healing nicely. I flip back so that I am wading, my knees resting on the sandy bottom. The water stops just below my shoulder, and I continue to watch him think.


    He seems to have reached some resolve, “I am going to think aloud, stop me at any point.” Sit takes in a breath and begins, “The events that first took place with Rosaleen, taking you and your sister from your home, we can use your real-life experience.” He pauses, gathering his thoughts as he mulls this over while allowing himself to float in the warm clear water. He replies, “It''s obvious you will need to leave out Shrago’s attack from our fabrication for your new identity. We should tell it like this; prior to the ship leaving your home area you had tried to make an escape with your sister however, you were caught and injured during the capture. If she asks about it in more detail, you can reveal that the injury was from a grappling hook that had grazed your throat, not because they were trying to hurt you with it, but because they were trying to grab a hold of the boat that you were using to escape. They succeeded in latching onto the boat and unfortunately you couldn’t make the attempt of swimming because you were too far from shore and besides, the entire point of your escape was to go unnoticed and not have it turn into a chase.” He looks up at me and asks, “What do you think so far? Do you think that you can manage sticking to that?”


    I can work with this, “Yes, I think you are on to something, it sounds believable, but I have a question?”


    “What?” Sit asks.


    “Does Rosaleen’s ship even have grappling hooks?” He starts laughing at me, I don’t understand. It is an intelligent question. “What?” I ask clearly confused and now I am a bit annoyed.


    He muffles his laughter, “Taylan did you not open your eyes when you were on board? They are on every ship of that size. They are used to secure ropes and anchor the lifeboats as sinkers and are used to catch and secure other boats. Rosaleen has a handful of them on her ship.” Sit smiles at me meaning no offense to his laughing. I know this, but still, I can’t help it and continue to feel annoyed. Deep down I am more annoyed with myself for asking a foolish question. Rather than admit that it was silly I just splash him and avoid his retribution by diving into the ocean to get some distance. I am attracted to him and his eyes. I can''t get those crystal blue orbs out of my mind. I don’t want to feel this with him, of all people, but my heart is decided, and I accept it. I’m totally smiting for him. I can''t believe that I have fallen so fast for this stranger. I have known him for about a heartbeat, and when I first came into his company, he was nothing more than an invisible servant for Newlyn. I had not really noticed him until he was ordered into my bedroom that night. I have only had conversations with him that were focused on Rosaleen''s and Newlyn''s orders and not the kind of things that involve flirting or getting to know someone because you want to. We really haven’t talked on a personal level so I really can''t explain this attraction. Right now, it is only based on his good looks. There may be something more, but it is too early to know. I find myself asking this question repeatedly as I wade in the water. I am intrigued by him; not only is his toned body desirable, but I am drawn to his personality. He is playful, arrogant, but protective and a little guarded on how he is perceived. Right now, I don’t know where we stand on this relationship dynamic. I know with Rosaleen and Newlyn, they are my masters, and Sit is on the same level with me when it comes to having to serve more elite people. However, the weird dynamic that we are creating is new. I will be posing as his prisoner. What is stranger is I believe what I am feeling with him is mutual. So how is this going to work? I can''t even picture this man being a prison guard or coming off as being harsh to me. Then again, my first impression of him was nothing more than a shadow. He has taken on the role of a friend and mentor and something more. He chases me into the depths, and I let him catch up. He gives me a playful bear hug and the motion causes us to circle, as though we are doing loops in the air only, we are underwater. Feeling a bit dizzy and needing a breath of air, we both resurface.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    “Where do you think you’re going?” He asks playfully as he grabs hold of me in the water.


    I giggle, which catches me by surprise, for the last little while my life has been more serious, “I was just trying to get away from you.” The way that he is holding me in the water with one arm supporting me under my knees and the other arm supporting my back, I wrap my arms around his neck. The feeling must be mutual. He carries me to the shore and sets me down on my feet; we walk back up to where we left our clothes and rest in the sun.


    “Sit?” I ask.


    “Yes Taylan.” He turns his head, giving his full attention.


    “Is what you are doing, I mean how you are around me, is this all just an act?” He searches my face for hints to what I mean, or he is looking at me to see what I want all of it to really be so that his answer pleases me.


    “What do you mean?” He asks.


    “Us, this,” I gesture my hands to refer to the both of us.


    He looks at me, “Of course it''s an act, you will be acting and so will I as per Rosaleen and Newlyn''s orders.”


    “No, I''m not talking about that.” I sigh and roll my eyes. I feel a little annoyed that he isn''t grasping what seems so obvious to me. “I mean us; it feels like there is something more than just a partnership here.” I pause to think about how I am going to convey myself, “Is what you are doing and how you are acting here with me just an act because of Rosaleen and Newlyn''s orders, or do you have any real feelings for me?” I look up at him with nervous eyes. I’ve never done this, been so forward and never had a relationship as strange as this, let alone have any sort of friendships with the male population because back home, men go on to the cities and Kingdoms to serve and protect. They seldom return because they often end up re-establishing themselves there.


    Sit hesitates and I glimpse a slight blush on his face although he is doing a fantastic job at not coming off as awkward like I am, “I think there is something between us and to answer the other part to your question, the answer is no, this side of me is not an act.” There is a certain sense of understanding in those comforting eyes, and he gently rubs my back. “Don’t worry yourself about what Rosaleen and Newlyn have instructed me to do. You know what they want and what we have made of this short relationship. The feelings are real. Everything that is discussed between us is real. We have a partnership and must be honest with one another.” He shrugs, “What would the point of this partnership be if this were just an act? How would we succeed at this facade if we weren''t transparent with one another?”


    Again, looking to me for a response and I believe that Sit is being honest. I shrug and respond, “Yes you’re right.” I say with a twinge of relief, “It''s just, I know everyone has a task to do and we are all under the rule of either Rosaleen, or Newlyn. I wasn''t sure if they had asked you to act this way with me for some ulterior motive.” Sit doesn’t seem surprised about my reasoning.


    “I can see how you may think that. It was good for us to get that all out of the way, but you do have something wrong.” He raises an eyebrow.


    “And what''s that?”


    “You’re a servant to Rosaleen, but Newlyn isn''t my master. I choose to serve her and can choose to leave when I wish.”


    “Why don''t you?” I ask.


    He smiles, “Why would I?”


    I carefully choose my words, “Well for starters it seems like there is way too much drama here, wouldn’t you rather be on your own and away from all of this?”


    He allows himself a chuckle, “All of this drama is interesting, it adds spice to the everyday norm, and you will see that all the theatrics is only a small price to pay for the overall good you get from being a part of it all. Trust me it will get better.” I can sense the passion for his work in his words. We dress and continue to rest and dry off on the beach.


    I change subject, going back to building my story for Shaylo, “So what now after the grappling hook?” I ask.


    “Shouldn’t I be the one steering this discussion?” He glares at me.


    I blush, “Maybe…”


    He exaggerates his sigh so that it is long. He replies, “Oh Taylan, at least I have your interest in this.” He recomposes himself, and I know that he is back into the thought process. “What to do after the grappling hook?” He thinks aloud, scratches his head, “Well I think that I have something, but it really isn''t elaborate.”


    I respond, “Well simple is good. What''s your idea?”


    He regards me and continues, “Well how about, after you are caught from trying to escape, Rosaleen was furious with you and instead of keeping you on her ship, your guess, is that Rosaleen decided that she didn’t want to keep you. Figuring that you would be too much of a liability on a ship with a limited amount of resources, so instead, she handed you off to her mother Newlyn to serve her. The last thing that she wanted was to let you have your wish by letting you go; Rosaleen couldn’t have that.”


    I nod, “Yes that feels right to me, if Shaylo tries to ask anything more about the ship and Rosaleen I can just say that I don''t know because it was all in a short time span, and that I was locked up after my failed attempt at leaving.” I trail off; not meaning to say it aloud, “So now that leaves us, how do we mask our comradeship?”


    “You know what I am, which is a fantastic actor.” He winks, “and I can change my demeanor easily, but that leaves you, do you think you can hide your fondness of me?” He grins and I shove him. There is no force behind it, so it doesn’t do anything, but lets him know how I feel. He doesn’t fight back. Instead Sit laughs and replies, “I know how that came across, seriously, you are going to have to hide whatever feelings that you have for me.”


    “And how am I supposed to do that? I am not an actress, and I have never played this sort of game of deception.”


    I can tell that he has a solution to this predicament, “You aren''t going to like what I am about to say, but for you to come off as a prisoner, I have to treat you like one, and I mean really treat you like you are beneath me. I’ll be harsh and maybe even cruel so that should make you come to loath me; you won''t need to act. I just need you to remember, I don''t truly hate you. Taylan you must understand that this is all to help with the act.”


    I regard him, “I understand.”


    He follows up, “No really, you got to understand, I mean it.”


    I sigh, “Yes, I get it.”


    He stands up and shakes the sand out of his hair quickly, “Come let’s go back to the house and get a bite to eat.” We walk up the path to Newlyn''s home and enter through the main door. In the kitchen, he helps me navigate where things are, and we help one another put together sandwiches and chips. During our lunch, he repeats the plan aloud so that we each have it memorized. He has me change upstairs into a simple light grey linen jumpsuit. I take care to tuck my necklace under the collar. Ashlea returned it to me prior to her departure and feeling that if Sit, or Newlyn see it they may object to me having it. He explains after I have dressed, that these are my prisoner clothes. We head out again, outside the walls, but this time to an open field where we review the minute details.


    Sit explains, “So we have our story down and now to the details. If Shaylo asks you something that is outside of what we have discussed, you simply say that you don''t know. To make anything that you say sound true maintain normal eye contact and don''t emphasize like for example, I really don''t know, just say that you don''t know. Give eye contact to show confidence without staring her down, got it?”


    “Got it” I confirm and to make sure that I really know how to do this he pretends to be Shaylo asking me questions, and I practice my deception on him; satisfied with how convincing I’m coming across he decides to move on to the next task.


    Sit continues, “I don''t think that Shaylo is the physical fighting type, to me, she seems to be more of a mental bully, but if she uses her strength, we should go over some basic defense skills, just to be on the safe side. I need you to stand in front of me with your hands at your side.” I do what he asks, and he shows me different moves like, how to break free from hold positions. He provides me with some offensive moves so that I can stand my ground. My guess, if there was an onlooker watching us it would look like we were doing an intimate dance, lunging, and turning back and forth. I appreciate his lesson, and have the feeling that it will pay off, if not with Shaylo, at some other point in my life. I feel disappointed that our relationship, this feeling I have in this moment will soon change to prisoner and master. It sounds negative, but at least right now, it feels more as though we are teacher and apprentice.


    After an afternoon in the field, we retire back to Newlyn''s home. I am tired, but I have confidence in what I am about to do. We enter the walls of Newlyn''s property and stop at the same spot where Rosaleen and I were the day we had arrived on the solar bike. I look to him for the reason we have stopped.


    “You are ready.” He says encouragingly.


    “Okay, but now?” The sudden change in tempo catches me off guard.


    “Yes, let''s do this.”


    I’m puzzled and feeling a little hurt that he is just throwing the last evening that I was looking forward to away. I ask, “What are we going to do. How are we going to do this?” I run my hand through my hair. I thought I was at least going to have one last night of a normal evening before I jump into this new identity.


    Sit is either ignoring my reaction, or he is just oblivious to it, I am going to guess the first thought. He replies, “We are just going to jump into it, besides there is no more preparing that is needed, you’re ready.” With pleading eyes, I say nothing, and he holds me at arm’s length resting his hands on my arms. He says, “Wait here, I need to get the chains to make this look believable. I will be right back.” With a rushed walk, he disappears around the buildings.


    The thought comes to mind, should I try to make a break for it? Are his feelings for me strong enough to let me go and claim that he lost me? This is my chance, I am alone, and no one seems to be watching, no Rosaleen, or Newlyn in sight. Will they really go after my mother and two sisters if I escape? They have bigger fish to fry. I must act now. I am going for it. I turn at a walk and exit the yard, passing through the gate at a casual pace as soon as I am out of the yard I step right to get out of the site and run. It is an open field that has a gradual incline to the forest that is normally about a twenty-minute walk. I make a straight line to the cover of the forest. I hear nothing from Newlyn''s home to indicate alarm, only the sound of the wind swooshing through the grass and the soft thump of my feet landing with each stride. I may succeed! Knowing how I have come across to my captors, as laid back and loyal, I think Sit will first assume that I may have gone back into Newlyn''s home for something, if he thinks that, it will buy me time. I look back over my shoulder while keeping pace, there seems to be no signs of activity, or a chase, I will succeed, I run faster and without fatigue. My adrenaline is in full force; I am not winded from the sprint. Normally my leg muscles would be screaming at me by now. I glance over my shoulder and still nothing. I have been running for a while now and the forest is coming up fast. Wow, this is exhilarating; I am pulling this off. I reach the tree line and run straight in, not letting a second go to waste, and feeling safe, I slow to a walk. My heart rate slows and still curious about if I am being pursued, I peek through the branches to look back; weird still no action surely, they must know that I am gone it has been about ten minutes? Well, this is strange. I turn and sit down on the soft black mossy earth to regain my breath. My back is facing Newlyn''s place, I can’t put my finger on it. I had almost hoped that I would see signs of pursuit. The feeling of not seeing them is worse, at least if you see them, you know where they are and what you need to do. I lie back for a moment. The earth is cool, and my breathing slows. I let a sigh of relief escape me. Why hadn’t I had the confidence to do this sooner? The snort of a horse startles me; I turn to see a horse peering down at me and my heart stops.