We spent the rest of the day in our rooms. William and I both shared a room that consisted of two small beds, a fireplace and a large desk. Above each bed was a window overlooking a well kept and beautiful garden. I realized in the moment that my mother would’ve loved joining us in this adventure. She would’ve quietly adored the strict but gentle ways of the captain, Serah. She would’ve loved Elizabeth’s spunky attitude and Lydia’s peppy personality. She would’ve loved to sit down and study the maps of the ocean with Tanner and built stuff with Henry.

I sighed quietly.

William looked up from his bed where he was reading a book that he had found in Henry’s large library, “What?” He asked.

I shook my head, “My mother would’ve wanted to be here. To get away from the castle.”

William quietly agreed, “Your mother would make a great pirate.”

Suddenly, a loud knock came from the door. I quickly scrambled to my feet and opened the door. A young servant girl stood in front of me. She blushed as I opened the door, “Erm…the Lord Black requests your presence in the dining room…it is time for supper.”

“Uh…” I glanced at William who stood to his feet and joined me at the door, “Can you show us where it is?”

The girl flushed and we followed her down the hallway, down some stairs and through the first living room again. We walked straight across it to a door and when we went through, we saw a large table. Everyone was already seated, except for Serah, Tanner and Cedrick; they were missing from the room. I sat down quietly beside Philip and William sat beside me.

“Serah and Tanner will be here in a second.” Lydia explained as servants filled the room with plates of steaming food. Henry sat at the head of the table, looking surprisingly like the lord he was. He held a type of power in the room. Normally, I would think that Serah, Tanner or even Elizabeth were in charge. But now Henry seemed to grandly tower over everyone. As we began to eat, the door flew open again and Serah and Tanner strode in. I felt Henry’s power diminish as Serah sat on the other head of the table. Tanner took his seat between Henry and Lydia.

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I realized something: Even though Henry was the leader in this household, the boss of us and the other pirates, he couldn’t beat Serah. She didn’t say it out loud, but it was clear to everyone that she was the leader and no one was to mess with her authority.

The dinner was silent. Everyone ate in comfortable silence. I noticed that Cedrick wasn’t there which was a relief.

“So…question.” Leo said suddenly.

“For who?” Tanner asked, not glancing up from his plate.

“Uh…anyone who can answer it. Are you all rich but you just act poor and choose to live like pirates?” Leo asked quickly.

Elizabeth snickered, “Sure. Being a pirate makes you rich from all the ships that you loot. Henry’s the only one who just decides to use his money on servants, houses and a fancy garden.”

“I like the garden.” Henry said grumpily.

“Yeah, me too.” Elizabeth replied, “I just don’t like the bugs, so I’m confused on why you would use money on a garden.”

“Because it looks good!” Henry protested, “Why does Serah use her money on upgrading the ship? Because it looks good!”

Tanner laughed, “First of all, Serah uses most of her money on whiskey and the local bar. Second, she upgrades the ship so that we don’t sink every time that Colten smashes us into some rocks.”

“Yeah.” Serah agreed, “You owe me about ten thousand gold coins for the damages, Colt.”

Colt grunted unhappily, “Lydia has caused the most damages to the ship, especially while you were trying to show her how to steer. She’s a terrible driver but she’s your favorite so you blame it on me!”

Lydia choked on her food, “I do not cause the most damages!”

“I love how you don’t even deny that he said that you’re Serah’s favorite.” Elizabeth grumbled.

“I can’t help that everyone loves me.” Lydia said, grinning at Elizabeth.

Serah sighed, “I don’t have favorites.”

“Oh, no!” Tanner exclaimed, “You do too! Remember that one time when Elizabeth and Lydia were out pick-pocketing…”

He said it so casually, I noted.

“And Lydia got caught by that old lady who started yelling at her, so Liz just ran away and left her so you yelled at her even though that’s the exact thing that you do to us?!”

The other pirates laughed and the tip of Serah’s lips curled into a smile, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk that much in your entire life.”

The rest of dinner molded into quiet conversation between us and the pirates.

As I glanced around the table, I noticed something. We were royalty, and they were not. But our differences weren’t that extreme. They laughed, talked and acted a lot like us. I didn’t understand why my father had always wanted to be wary around people like them. Their attitudes were a bit on the rotten side, but their hearts were the same as ours.