Lisbet folded the embroidery she had been working on and tucked it neatly under the bed. She paused for a moment and sighed.

The room was stuffy and she didn’t like the way it smelled. It smelled like Cordell. She supposed it wasn’t such a bad odour really but the fact that it belonged to him was enough for her to despise it. How had she ended up here? She had hoped for so much more. As a young girl Lisbet had eagerly listened to the romantic stories her mother and sisters had spoken of and known that in her future lay a great love story. She had wanted it all, and waited to be swept off her feet by a knight in shining armour. She had got her knight but that was all. Now all that was left was a dusty drawer in the back of her mind where she had folded her dreams and packed them away as neatly as the embroidery.

She slowly stood and began her preparations for bed. She did not want to be awake when Cordell arrived. Unfortunately for her, they had not been able to have two seperate rooms onboard the ship, space was limited as it was. How she hated sharing a room with that man.

She stood before the mirror and undid her hair. As always as soon as it was released from its tightly woven confines it returned to its natural wild state. She knew there was nothing that could be done to change it, she had cried for hours and hours when she was a child, pulling her brush through the tangles, trying to tame her messy hair.

Now she was happy her hair was the way it was. She thought that it made her appear unattractive to Cordell and was glad for it. He had often called her many names, a harpy, a banshee or a witch and she knew that they all referred to her hair. But it suited her well, she would not make an effort to look nice for him and she wanted him to know it.

She pulled her nightgown over her head hurriedly, always concerned that Cordell might chose that moment to retire, got into bed and pulled the covers up to her neck. She shivered as a cold, dank breeze blew through the hull of the ship. She had to admit it would have been nice to snuggle up to a warm, manly body on those nights, but not Cordell.

Cordell walked quietly into the room. He knew Lisbet would be sleeping already and the last thing he wanted to do was wake her up. Then there would be hell to pay and he didn’t feel like a screaming match tonight. He paused at her bedside transfixed by the sleeping figure.

She seemed so vulnerable when she was asleep, like a worn out child with all the days fury gone. He knew she would hate that he sometimes watched her sleep. But it was at these times he could imagine that things were not the way they were and this was his soft, warm wife he could curl up next to. She was his wife, but he did not know whether she was soft and warm, the only time he had touched her was to share a chaste kiss at their wedding.

How he hated her during the day, but in her sleep she seemed somehow lovely, even more so because he knew he did not have permission to look. Her wild hair flowed out around her face onto the pillow. He liked her hair, particulary since he knew he was the only one who got to see it like this. Every day she tortured it into a bun for the benefit of others, but only he could see it in its natural state.

Suddenly she opened her mouth widely and began to make snuffling noises. A surge of irritation rose in him as he realised he was going to have trouble sleeping because of the noise she made. Her face seemed ugly to him again in his anger and he turned away and began undressing, quietly so she would not awake and see him.

He silently slid into bed and pulled the covers up, listening to her gentle snoring. It wasn’t so bad really, and he was lulled to sleep by the waves rushing onto the sand outside.

Lisbet awoke to the sound of loud snoring. She bristled all the way to the tips of her untameable hair. That man! How could she be expected to get any sleep when she had to share a room with him. She pushed the bed sheets back violently and clambered out of bed.

It was pitch black in the room so she lit the candles. She quickly straightened her nightdress which had ridden up while she slept, put her hand on her hips and stamped her little foot. This did not achieve what she had hoped so she coughed loudly in an attempt to wake Cordell. But he was sleeping like the dead, although his snoring proved that he was very much alive.

She stomped over to his bed and shook him awake.

“You were snoring so loudly, I couldn’t sleep… you know I hate it when you do that!”.

She turned to blow out the candles and go back to bed but Cordell’s voice calling her back stopped her in her tracks. She had not expected him to say anything and she really wanted to get back to bed.

“Why do you have to be so cruel to me Lisbet?”, Cordell asked angrily.

She turned back to him in exasperation. “What am I to do but wake you when you make such a raucous. I cannot sleep. Am I to lie there and take it. I must be married to a man such as you, but I am now not allowed to have my sleep either?”.

“Sometimes you are so loud I just want to smother you with a pillow. Do you have any idea what you are like? Well I suppose you do since the other day you snored so loudly you woke yourself up. If you didn’t drink that ale before you slept you wouldn’t snore so. Why can’t you be more considerate?”.

Cordell was so angry he thought he would explode and consume Lisbet in fiery rage. He pointed a finger at her that was trembling with barely controlled hostility.

“Why can’t I be more considerate? I? Considerate? You are my wife! I should be sharing a bed with you and yet I do not force you. Many men would! I have tried to be a husband to you despite your rages, and your tantrums, your sulking and your evident hatred of me. From you I have got nothing. Nothing!!!! You were supposed to make me happy but you make my life a living hell… you are a witch sent to destroy me. And you are! I hope it makes you happy. I am nothing.”

“So here it is”, he said, trying to control his emotions, “You are my wife and as such you should behave as one. I will not force you to do anything, but perhaps you could treat me with some respect. I will build us a big house and we can sleep on rooms on the opposite sides and you may never hear me snore. But for now, you will not wake me again, even if my snores are so loud they are tipping this ship over. Do I make myself understood?”.

Lisbet did not answer him, she only scowled and turned away stalking back to her bed, leaving him completely drained of emotion.

They both quietly retreated into their own beds and pulled the covers up to their chins. Neither would admit it, but they were both trembling with the effort of not crying.

It was a long time before either could sleep or snore as they lay in their separate beds, shivering from the cold of the room and the chill on their hearts.