Aksel's POV

It was hard concentrating on the numbers sitting in-front of him when all he did was replay the conversation he had with Desa yesterday late at night. Aksel could still see the weight of those red eyes staring heavily into his soul. Desa had been everything but normal since she had crashed into his life a few days ago.

Usually it was easy for him to read people, know their intentions, where they stood when it came to certain things and how they would act, but not Desa. It had became a weird habit of him to guess what she was going to say or do and almost always get proved wrong. It was the most bewildering feeling to both see every emotion on her face but feel like not completely understanding her.

The only way he could describe the feeling he got when he looked into her eyes was being on a ship in the middle of the storm in the open seas. He was perfectly positioned in the eye of the storm where he could see everything but at the same time know well enough that this calmness was just deceiving. There was a storm brewing in that elven and he was helming his ship straight into it.

Closing the leather journal on his desk after only managing to do little to no work, he got up from his wooden office desk and left his office. Checking over the wares as he went through the warehouse, he exchanged greetings with sailors milling about and came to stand beside a distraught looking Rupert who was standing looking at a stack of half filled crates, drinking a no doubt strong concoction from his brown leathered worn out flask.

Rupert didn't spare Aksel a gaze as he kept looking over the crates sitting at his feet. He admired the man and his captaining ability, the determination it had taken for him to gather up a crew to fall in line under his command despite being a forest sprite in the open sea. His grumpy attitude just added to his charm. Rupert slicked back the bright green blades of grass sitting on top of his head and straightened his navy cap. You could see a few strands had wilted to the colour of brown over the years showing how he had aged but he was as still as strong and reliable as the first time Aksel had met him.

"Isn't it a bit early to be hitting the flask?" Aksel said giving the older man a side glance with amusement. It was really more to yank the geezers chain more than anything. He knew Rupert could man the boat through shallow waters and dock on a jagged cliff while being drunk off his ass. He had seen him do it.

"How am I suppose'd to put up with 'ese youngsters with their smart ass and back talkin' without booze in my system Cairn? I swear no decent sailor is left in the market nowadays." He continued grumbling and mumbling under his breath. Aksel chuckled and patted the gent on his back in an affectionate way.

"That's why we have you to teach them the ropes Captain." He said earning a grunt from Rupert in reply. That was his way of dismissing him, Rupert had never been much of a verbal person, he was more of the silently drink side by side type of fellow and Aksel was content with that. Just as Aksel was going to side step him and continue along the warehouse, Rupert placed a hand on his elbow, stopping him short.

It took Aksel a moment to blink off his surprise and face Rupert fully to give him his attention. Rupert signalled his head towards the docks that was visible through the open giant metallic door of the warehouse. "What's the deal with the elven girl?" He asked in a gravelly voice.

Aksel's brows rose out of his own accord, Rupert had never been to initiate conversation much less about other people. He was usually content talking to himself and complaining to anyone within earshot but him bringing up a new employee was new for him.

"What about her?" Aksel said putting his hands in his pants pockets. It had been, unusual dragging her down and making her help out in the work when Mihram had suggested it but Aksel couldn't keep her cooped up like a prisoner in his home all day when he was supposed to be down here for work. No matter how fast she had found the stack of books he had stocked in the dresser in his living room, it was guaranteed to not keep her occupied for long.

Until he figured out how to sort all of this out, she was going to stay where he could keep an eye on her.

"She's no't like usual ones you hire to help around here." He said as he fiddled with putting his flask onto his belt. He was right, elves didn't sign up to help around the docks and she seemed like the furthest thing from a hire for hand on a ship. Aksel gave a sigh not wanting to delve into it with Rupert but not wanting to lie to him either. He settled on being vague.

"She needed work and I hired her." Aksel said shrugging nonchalantly. If her presence bothered any of the other workers, they didn't show it. Desa was surprisingly good at manual labour and following orders despite most of them coming from Mihram. He knew from first hand how annoying Mihram could get, if Desa hadn't started swinging her sword at his head yet, that was a sign of how resilient and patient she really was.

Rupert looked over his shoulder towards the docks and Aksel followed his gaze, Mihram and Desa was just visible down beside one of the ships, working under the sun.

"She's trouble." Rupert said with his accent thick. It wasn't a question but a statement. Like he felt the need to warn Aksel to reconsider his hiring. He knew the old man was just looking out for him but he couldn't help getting defensive over the girl who was pleading for her death.

If you were really sorry, you would kill me.

Her words still haunted Aksel. He could see the truth in those words as she said it. She really believed no other choice was left for her but death and the sorrow in those mesmerising red eyes took his breath away.

"I'm good with trouble you know that Rupert." Aksel said but couldn't bring himself to toss a smile to play it off as a joke because the truth was that he didn't know what he was doing. Mihram was right, keeping her close and alive was just begging more trouble to come knocking on his door.

Aksel walked away from Rupert and this time the old man didn't stop him. Aksel stopped at the metal doors of the warehouse and leaned on the archway looking down at the docks. His gaze was following the dark haired elven out of their own accord. She was considerably more pale than any other workers lined up around her. Like she hadn't been under the sun in a very long time. Her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail, and her soft curls were falling over her right shoulder as she knelt in front of a crate and lifted with her knees.

She looked concentrated on the task at hand as she slightly bit on her bottom lip. Aksel's elven sight was useful as he saw far better at this distance than a goblin or an orc. A slight sheen of sweat was covering her forehead as she came to stop before the walkway of the ship but didn't step on the ship. Aksel frowned wondering why she was putting the crate down instead of carrying it rest of the way to the ship.

Mihram stepped down from the ships's gangway and stopped beside Desa and crouched down to pick up the crate she had just placed down. Desa said something to Mihram but it was too far away even for Aksel's ears to pick up but he saw Mihram throwing his head back and laughing at whatever she said. Desa cracked a small smile in response and Aksel straightened from his leaned position. The corners of her eyes crinkled and the slightest dimple formed on her right cheek. This was not a grin or a smirk or whatever she did when she was trying to rile someone up as he had came to notice. No she was truly smiling and her whole face brightened because of it.

Desa swiped a loose curly strand of hair behind her ear and then the shy smile was gone. A breath he hadn't noticed he was holding left him. She looked so different to the girl who was drunk and talking about cutting her finger off at age thirteen. She seemed like the first blooms of the spring with their ray of colours and intoxicating essence. Her happiness, however fleeting it was, had been enough to convince Aksel that smiling suited her far better than the silent sadness she tried to hide behind her eyes.

He wished he could have been down there with her instead of Mihram so he could have seen that smile up close. His feet had started moving before he realised he was moving them. Before long, he was standing a few feet away from them. "Mihram are you good for the rest of the day on your own?" Aksel asked as both of them turned around to look his way.

"Yeah sure Ax." Mihram said as he shouldered another crate from the ground and turned to the ship. Aksel directed his gaze to Desa and signalled his head for her to follow him.

"Come on, we have work to do." He said and watched as Desa nodded and silently fell in step beside him. There was significant space left between them as they walked back and it was hard to keep that distance as it was. He felt the need of his body to be closer to her as the right side of his body tingled from awareness like an electrified tension sizzled between them, binding invisible bonds between their bodies.

He knew how hard it is to live with the fact that your body's actions were not your own, that they could turn on you the second you let your guard down and he wasn't about to make it any harder on her by caving in to his need to be closer to her. Fae knows she already had enough on her plate.

As he lead them to the back of the warehouse and then up the stairs leading to his house, he could hear her faint footsteps following a few paces behind. She was oddly quiet this morning and he wondered if Desa was also replaying the conversation they had yesterday.

Did she regret talking to him? He knew he wasn't, but he couldn't stop that nagging feeling that maybe he was forcing her to open up too fast too soon. Still he couldn't bring himself to regret it because he wanted to know everything there was to know about her. Everything that made her tick and the thoughts that swirled around her head late at night when she couldn't sleep or lost somewhere far away gazing into the darkness.

Aksel turned the knob to his apartment and stepped in, "Just wait here, I'll be right back." He said as he continued down to his room and stepped in. Gathering the books he had stacked onto his small desk, he went back into the living room.

He stepped closer to the dining table and out of the corner of his eye saw as Desa hurriedly step out of his range and it took everything in him to not just close that distance between them and crush their bodies together. He didn't care if she attacked him, he could handle it. What he couldn't handle was the fact that she evaded him like he was the plague. Losing a breath to center himself, he placed the books down on the wooden table and opened and closed his fists.

Don't make it harder for her. He kept repeating to himself.

"What are these?" Desa's low but calm voice brought his attention back to the present. Her voice was slightly deep and always like a running water, smooth and cascading over the wind, with occasional wind chimes in certain parts of her sentence. Simply hearing her speak brought a calming feeling from deep inside him.

Aksel turned his attention to the two stack of books he had placed down, putting one of his hands on top of a stack. "I thought we could try to find out more about what binds you." He said gently patting the hard cover of the book sitting at the top. Desa looked at the book he tapped and then up at Aksel from beneath her thick lowered lashes. Her piercing red gaze was something out of a fairytale, like the warmest of the dawn before the longest summer day. She took a tentative step forward as if in question.

Aksel understood her motive and took a couple of steps back to the other side of the table and gave her the space to inspect the books. Desa came over and picked one of the books holding it in her hand. Aksel had spent the rest of his evening yesterday after work, going to every being he knew that had an ounce of magic in them. Or the knowledge to cast spells. Gathering books and tomes that could give an insight to what she was suffering from. It wasn't much but it was a start.

Desa looked over all of the books and ran her fingertips gently over their covers, a misty look falling over her eyes. Aksel didn't have the heart to interrupt her inspection as she looked over every single one. After she was finished, she cleared her throat gently and said, "Thank you."

The two quiet words wrapped around Aksel's heart and squeezed until there was no more room to give. He simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He pulled the chair before him and settled into it. "We can spend the afternoons researching and try anything useful we might find in these books." Aksel picked the book closest to him and opened it. "I'll keep asking around and gathering more sources but these should be a good place to start." He said turning open the cover to start reading the book. It was a basic casting spell book written by a forest sprite that was most definitely going to be about growing sprouts and oaks but it was a start.

Desa mirrored his actions and settled into the other end of the table, away from him, picking a book for herself. "Be careful about who you talk to." Desa said as she flipped over a page and skimmed the contents. Aksel didn't need the warning, he knew how important it was to keep secrecy when they didn't know who controlled her and wanted him dead, but he replied anyway, if so just to ease her.

"I will." He said and they fell into a comfortable silence reading over the books between them and searching for clues. The magic controlled her body and her ability to speak certain things so it must have been elaborate, most of these spells and potions he read was enacted on inanimate objects or lower energy beings like plants. To control over the free will of a being required much more intricate power. He thought about the ring Desa talked about removing from her finger. Some of the magic Aksel knew involved enchanted items being imbued with power so they acted as a power source that continually affected the bearer of the item. But if that was the case, she would have been free when she removed the ring.

Aksel cast a glance over to Desa who was looking over the book lying open in front of her with deep concentration. He traced a look over her body but he couldn't see any jewellery or item in sight. No necklace, no ring, no earrings, no piercings. Was it a piece of clothing? But she had showered and taken her clothes off. The thought back to waking up and seeing her wrapped up in one of his blankets fresh out of the shower, naked underneath made his muscles tense. Some places tensed more than others.

He swiped a rough hand through his hair and tried loosening a breath. This made Desa look up from her book and cast a glance in Aksel's direction. "You okay?" She asked. He very well couldn't admit where his train of thoughts had taken him so he just said, "Never better." He saw Desa's lip just tilt the tiniest bits as if she was holding back a smile, like she knew he was lying. High fae have mercy on him, how was he supposed to concentrate on anything when she sat right across from him and looked at him with that taunting look. All he wanted to do was play right into that game her eyes promised.

With great difficulty, Aksel turned his attention back to the book before him, reading through chapters on how to accelerate pine tree growth and not think about how another wood refused to stop growing under the intense gaze of a certain beautiful elven.

Aksel's POV! I had been going back and forth trying to decide if i should write from his perspective and finally decided to do it!

Thanks for reading!
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