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God love Brian, but Bo needed a fucking break from talking about the final seasons of Game of Thrones. “Hey. Hon. Listen. I gotta take a leak.” Bo pinched Brian’s cheek and flounced off (she did enjoy flouncing in this dress, which was good for flouncing and nothing else) to the nearest exit.

It was so much quieter out in the hall. Bo looked up at the towering ceilings painted with little naked babies and flowers and stuff. She wandered down the hall a bit, distracted by all of the details somebody decided to cram just into a dumb hallway--stopping short of bumping right into someone. “Oh, sh--” No cussing! “sshhoe strings, I’m so sorry!” Bo recognized the mousey woman in front of her instantly. “Molly! You remember me?”

Unity Gala; Who What Wear

Send a number and I’ll answer… Who. 1. Who I’m most excited to see... Maddox. Lecia. Molly. Brian with an i. Tierney. In that order. 2. Who I’m least excited to see... Everybody else. 3. Who I’d be seen on the dance floor with... Brian with an i.

What. 4. What my acceptance speech will say, if I win an award tonight... Thanks, I’ve never won anything before. 5. What I’m wearing... This 6. What drink I’m going to order first... Pepsi.

“I am being glad you are here!” said Lecia. Both princesses spoke at the same time, but Lecia’s voice won out in regards to sheer volume. Sofia’s softer approach was lost somewhere underneath - adding to the overall din of the room, but not quite decipherable. With the secret drawer safely nestled back in place and the wardrobe doors shut, Lecia took the lead in ushering the group back to the hall. Off to the Butterfly Garden and the delicacies that would await them there.

Sofia sought out a place next to their guest. While Lecia practically bounced down the hall, Sofia’s steps were precise. Each one measured to match that of whom she was walking next to. In this case, a task that required some effort. Bo was model tall with a stride to match. 

“Your accent is American, yes?” asked Sofia, “Or no? It is hard for me hear the difference of American and Canadian. Where are you from, Boh? What sort of work do you do?”

The youngest Cardoza sister smiled pleasantly. The fact that their visitor had been picked up from the docks, specifically from the New Dawn, suggested exactly what kind of work was involved. But she was not here to judge. Only to learn. Then report back to her father.

Conspiratorial whispers from Lecia earlier erased all suspicion that the elder princess was trying to pull something on Bo by keeping her here. Lecia wanted to get out of the palace as much as Bo if it came down to being ‘grounded’. The younger princess seemed too nice to have any sort of angle by being there, even though Lecia was emanating some sort of anxious energy ever since the appearance of her sister. 

Much like the royals on the island, Bo was in enemy territory at the palace, even if she had a trusted ally in Lecia. Anything could change. She had to be smart about this and get out the first chance she got, with or without Lecia.

Best not to let on that she had her suspicions, so Bo kept an easy grin on her face as she kept an eye on her surroundings while they walked. “Yeah, I’m from the American South.” At no point in her life did Bo ever think she would make friends with a princess or set foot in a palace. If only the experience wasn’t rife with possible danger. “I gotta B’n’B in Savannah. A bed ‘n’ breakfast. Like a hotel. Do y’all got those over here?” She left the B&B with Aunt Sandy, but she still technically owned it, much more legally than the ship she was currently sailing.

The timing could not have been worse. Lecia pushed the drawer back in at a snail’s pace. Lips pursed. She thought about how she might get rid of her sister without seeming too obvious. Of course, the problem was that her sister might have been sent here specifically to accompany them. Since she was the official pirate envoy for Papai. Lecia’s hands curled into tight fists at her sides. If anyone should have had that job -

“Her name is Bo. Not Boo,” said Lecia.

“Oh, I apologize. Bo-o?”

“Bo. Bo-OHH.”

“Bão?”

Lecia nodded. Close enough. Then she grinned at her sister. Maybe this was better timing than she original thought. Bo knew the ship. She and Sofia might wish to talk about their acquaintances in common, and Lecia would finally hear what was happening down at the docks. She pulled a wispy scarf out of her wardrobe, and wrapped it around her neck.

“I hope you can forgive me,” said Sofia, addressing their visitor with a gentle smile, “A name is an important thing. Where are the two of you dining for lunch? I would love to join you both if you would not mind?”

Pale eyes bounced back and forth between the princesses as Lecia made a point of correcting Sofia on how to say ‘Bo.’ The pirate didn’t mind the improvisation herself, Bo wasn’t even her real name, anyway--although it had finally started to feel that way after 8 years.

“S’okay,” Bo said quietly with a smile when the younger princess apologized. She seemed like a sweet thing. Genuine. Not like girls Bo knew from back home who would pile on sickly sweet honeyed words only to talk behind your back. She expected as much from royalty, but Bo hadn’t encountered that kind of behavior from the pirate princess, and her younger sister had the manners Bo would have expected of a royal.

“Sure, why not? We were gonna eat by the butterfly hut, weren’t we?” Bo asked Lecia with a shrug of one shoulder. “That’s about as far as we got. I’m starvin. I stopped by the docks hopin Carmen would whip up somethin quick, but then I ended up... here.” Possibly imprisoned? Or grounded? Bo wasn’t sure yet. She needed to eat before she could figure all that out.

“There is a house for keeping the butterflies, but when it is the right time of the year they are everywhere. If you are having a piece of fruit they are landing at your plate to eat with you,” she answered, glancing over her shoulder at João. He was already tapping away at his phone. Presumably to make arrangements for lunch.

“You wish to see my room? Come.”

—

“Not this one,” she said, passing a golden gilded door on their left. Maddox’s room. She had not gone inside since it had been designated such, but Sofia had forced her to look from the corridor. All new furniture had been ordered. Monogrammed blankets. Her sister had said something about photo albums, but Lecia cut her off, certain that she would be physically ill if she had to listen to any more talk about Maddox.

“That door is… a room. My brother’s room.”

Her jaw clenched. Resentment grew like a shooting pain up the sides of her neck. Because… of course. That asshole could have picked any empty room in the entire palace, but he had to have the one next to hers. According to Sofia, he had never once even stayed there. Clearly he had picked that room just to irritate her, and it was working.

“But this one is mine,” she said when they reached the next door. Lecia threw it open with some fanfare. Directly inside was a small sitting room, and beyond that the actual bed room. It was not quite an entire wing, but more of an exceptionally large suite.

“I move into this room when I am old enough for school. Before that my room is in the nursery which is where our nanny lives also when we are babies. Come. There is one interesting thing to see in this room, I think.” She fiddled with a locked drawer in her wardrobe. It popped open to reveal a collection of sharp, shiny knives. She smiled down at them.

She flinched when someone knocked at the open door.

“Hello?” called a soft voice. Standing in the doorway was a younger, and yet somewhat taller Portuguese princess. “Lecia? I heard you had a guest. Oh, hello! You are Boo, yes? I am Sofia.”

Bo wasn’t a huge fan of the hovering assistant man, but it wasn’t going to be easy to try and ditch him without tipping him off first. Bo pressed her lips together as she thought about their options. They could go into the bathroom area together to do girl-type-stuff and then sneak out. Maybe something else would come to her if she saw more of the palace.

“That butterfly hut sounds cute.” Really cute. Bo didn’t mind bugs, especially butterflies. The thought of sharing fruit with one brought a smile to her face. 

Lecia pointed out the door to her brother’s room, stiffening like a hissing alley cat as she did so. The door was pretty as far as Bo could tell, but maybe the princess didn’t like her brother. Royal squabbles were oh-so interesting to Bo when her life was dull at the B&B, but for the moment things were exciting enough. She wouldn’t open her big mouth and pry.

The idea that the tiny princess/pirate was born out of a nursery full of royal brother and sister babies wasn’t so hard to believe, but the mind picture she painted was an amusing one. Bo was about to ask how many siblings Lecia had when the princess showed her a drawer full of knives. “Ooooh!” Bo reached out but ultimately hovered her hand over them.

Bo whirled around at the knock on the door. The girl who entered was obviously a princess, and obviously Lecia’s sister. Who called her Boo. A giggle was hidden behind one hand while she performed a half-hearted curtsey. “Nice to meetcha, Princess Sofia. Lacey and me--” Bo glanced over at Lecia, suddenly nervous about the drawer of knives. “We were gonna do lunch?”

To say Papai was not too happy was an understatement. Mostly, he seemed convinced that Lecia was in danger on Jacob’s ship. Which was ridiculous. She had been in danger on the island. In the dungeons. At a dockside bar in America even. On the ship there were plenty of weapons to keep her safe, and worthy allies to fight alongside her.

“Of course!” she chirped. Lecia didn’t know what grounded meant, but lunch plans excited her, and quickly pushed those thoughts aside. She waved her hand, motioning for Bo to come with as she turned back toward a long hallway. Gold and more gold had been the color scheme whenever the wooden arches had first been been built into the ceiling of the hallways. Tradition kept it that way.

“Mostly there is rooms for meeting with guests on this level. There is parlors. There is a library, but it is a long walk from here. The games room is not so far. I will show you,” she said. Joao continued to hover, no more than a step behind as she made her way down the hall.

“You are liking to be inside or outside for refreshments? I think we dine in the blue room for inside or the butterfly garden for outside. Either of these will be nice, yes?”

Bo felt like some kind of elephant at the IKEA in this huge palace. Her boots were worn out, her clothes weren’t fancy, and she knew this was the kind of place that would serve food with more than one plate and multiple sets of forks. She recalled the princess-pirate requesting a clean menu at the dock bar and smirked to herself. She doubted they’d be eating deep fried hush puppies and shrimp for lunch.

“This place’s huge,” Bo murmured as she looked up and down the hallway. “And I don’t mind walkin.” Who needed all of this space? Did royal families host entire counties all at once? “How big’s your room? Is it a whole floor? Or like a ‘wing’?” Lecia had siblings so maybe it wasn’t possible for all of them to have that kind of space, but it wasn’t like they had to share a room like Bo did as a kid. 

She glanced over her shoulder at their shadow and then looked down at Lecia as the choices for lunch were given. “Butterfly garden! Are there really butterflies or is it just kinda like a name?”

He so wanted to tell Bo the latest chapter in his fucked up life. Maddox was a pirate with royal ties other than his boyfriend. All tangled and inextricably knotted up with Lecia. Imagine if the discovery had been made when they were working for Roman. “We could make sure he gets fired. Which might be overthinking it and take up too much of our time. But yes. A side trip to this marina sounds like fun to me.” What else could Maddox get a hand in? At least he had options. Sitting on a boring island or in a prison cell there were zero. 

Nothing ever changed then. No one could blame him for jumping at opportunities now. 

“I’ll make a call when we get to port and take care of as much as I can. Then all we have to do is hop on your boat and sail off into the sunset.” With a playful squint he smiled. “It does help the ego to know someone would trust me with such an important mission. That’s new, isn’t it? Although I was in charge of a ship’s armory at one point.” And the tactical decisions of a gunner, but Roman and his minions couldn’t deny his skill. As much as they liked to try.

A thought occurred to him. “This ship of yours– can it handle an anti-aircraft gun? I can get you one for a discount.” Maddox doubted but it was a fun bit of nostalgia to kid around about. “No one to rain on our parade if we wanted to shoot something out of the sky, like here.” 

“I trust you,” Bo insisted with an equal squint of her eyes. Bo had a real problem respecting most authority, including the Tierney captain she and Maddox both sailed with. She avoided the man as much as possible. Maddox had always been fun to bitch with. And learn from. The time since granddaddy’s death was riddled with confusing and dangerous events that left Bo wanting to make her own way, and her own rules. No more sailing with dumb asses at the helm, if she could help it.

And so few people in her life weren’t dumb asses.

Maddox was erring very close to being an idiot with all of the consorting with royals he’d been doing. At least it made for interesting stories, and maybe he wouldn’t get burned too badly by it all. Times were changing, of course. And Bo would genuinely hate to see Maddox get thrown in jail. Again. Next time she didn’t think she could stand it, she’d have to bust him out.

“Anti-aircraft? Hell no, but I’d like to get some firepower. Whatever’s legal. Just for defense, I ain’t plannin on sinkin or boardin no ships. Maybe I’ll take up fishin.” Bo laughed. What a ridiculous thought. But not one to write off completely, if she was in the right region at the right time and had the means to do it... why not?

“No one’ll rain on our parade here so long as we ain’t makin too much noise. Like we can find Brian’s hidden snacks and eat em while he’s sleepin. He’s got Doritos and Cheetos.” Did Maddox know what those were? Whatever, he’d learn. Bo slid out of the booth and motioned for Maddox to follow. “C’mon, we need to practice our sleuthin skills anyway.”

Any entertainments Lecia had to offer paled in comparison to their adventure in America. Her family’s private bar downstairs held zero percent chance of putting them in the middle of a gunfight, and probably around eighty percent chance of Nicolau wandering in, fretting incessantly over what topic he wanted to use for his thesis. But the conditions of her being allowed to leave the palace were clear: accompanied and with prior approval. She would not be getting that today.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t show Bo a good time. Maybe hear how things were going with the rest of her shipmates - Papai had not been forthcoming with the information - and enjoy the company of someone who had been outside of the palace walls recently. Lecia strolled right up to Bo with(out) a hat with a lanky man on her heels. When she stopped, he hovered near the princess’ right shoulder. Lecia grinned at her guest. The man also offered a friendly smile, but his gaze lingered on the outfit in dire need of pressing and then the hair.

“Having a nice day!” Lecia insisted, by way of explaining why the pirate woman had been escorted to the palace, “You are visiting the docks. Now you are visiting me also, yes? I am imprisoned, but - ”

“Imprisoned is not… she isn’t… this is Her Royal Highness’ home,” interrupted João, waving the claim away with both hands. Lecia’s face twisted up. A soft, high-pitched hmm suggested she disagreed. A look passed between the princess and her minder. Lecia broke away from the silent argument with a huff. That was a conversation for later, in private.

“I want you are being my guest for this afternoon. Do you want a tour?”

Bo found herself distracted, looking over the top of the short princess’s head at the man with her. He seemed overtly interested in her presence. Bo bristled and glared at him to return his smile. He seemed hapless with bright eyes and curly hair, but she wouldn’t take any chances, already calculating if she could break him over her knee. Probably.

Remembering the princess-pirate’s similarly cautious attitude, if Lecia allowed the man to accompany her, then maybe he was okay. For now. Bo looked back at Lecia and blinked once to reset the scowl on her face. Lecia seemed... excited? To have her here. But she also mentioned she was imprisoned, in her own palace? What the--

“You mean you’re grounded,” Bo concluded flatly. Pieces started to come together. “Your daddy ain’t too happy bout you hangin around Jakey’s ship, huh?” A little grin crossed her face and she nodded, allowing herself to relax 0.05%. She trusted Lecia. To a degree. But being well outside of her normal territory (Walmarts, gas stations, dockside bars) meant needing to be on her toes.

“Okay, hon. I’ll be your guest. Show me around, and maybe we can grab some food?”

Bo smoothed down the wrinkles in her skirt in an attempt to bring the hem a little closer to her knees. She was not expecting to go to any royal palace, and her outfit was less than appropriate. And that was the judgment of someone who used to wear pajamas to her shift as a manager at Walmart.

Her jaw clenched and she refrained from taking out her phone. Perhaps if they didn’t know she had a phone, they wouldn’t take it, and it was in her bra so if they even tried then she could probably get away with self defense.

Footsteps approached and Bo jumped to her feet, fists clenched at her sides. “You.” Pale green eyes narrowed into focus on a very short pirate-princess. “Can y’all explain what I’m doin here?” For sure, Bo Bellamy was no high class visitor.