Twisted alliances

You have the strength to walk out of here on your own two feet. She repeated inwardly, a desperate attempt to convince herself.

"Varinthian cuisine doesn't seem to have agreed with you," Aldric remarked casually as he strolled past the crew, their formation mirroring the one from their initial welcome. The crew's enthusiasm for Adela remained unchanged, seemingly oblivious to the ordeal she had endured in the captin's room. "If you're feeling exhausted, I can carry you down," he offered, a half-smile curving his lips.

Her body visibly recoiled at the sight of his disingenuous smile. Clutching her dress tightly, she fought to conceal her trembling hands, aftershocks from his mistreatment still coursing through her. The smiling faces of the crew members presented her with two possibilities: either she was surrounded by morally depraved men or the room with the locked door possessed a soundproof quality. Both equally disturbing.