The Pirate Prince L.T

Larry?

Chapter 26

Last night was a big change out of the blue. Maybe that was the reason the mattress seemed at the softest it had ever been at since her time onboard?
Her thoughts broke at the sound of the door opening.
Immediately, she tried to brush the stray pieces of hair from her face as she sat up with an expectant look at the entrance to the room.
The moment Louis walked in, Lillian found herself breathing out a sigh lowly.
"Well, good morning to you too." Louis narrowed his eyes to the royal while walking across the room toward the rack on the wall that held his hat up.
He didn't have on neither his boots nor overcoat as usual and Lillian was able to deduce that the captain had just woken up and was coming into the room for the first time in the morning.
Lillian shook her head, "Yeah, good morning." She muttered beneath her breath before she removed the sheets from over her body to move her feet over the side of the bed.
She reached to grab her boots and she felt the edge of the mattress sink as Louis took a seat.
Weakly, Lillian attempted to speak in order to break any potential tension that could arise between them, "So another day at sea..." It was pathetically worded and she knew Louis would mock her for trying to start a conversation in that fashion.
"Hm?" Louis hummed out in his distracted tone, though Lillian knew better.
Lillian was by no means socially awkward; in fact back at the palace she prided herself in being able to charm and communicate with virtually anyone that appeared shy or closed, Ellie was a shining example of that. But it seemed that whenever it came to Louis, everything was put into a different outlook.
Especially with how their current relationship was.
How could you even be friends with someone who technically kidnapped you?
Lillian was definitely going mad.
"I said, so another day at sea. I mean, I know it's typical of pirating life and all, but I'm just saying." Her words were forced and halfway through she wondered why she was even talking, "Forget it, I'm just talking without thinking."
"Yeah, you have a habit of that." Louis remarked with a shake to his head as he got up from the bed. He began fitting his coat on and Lillian scowled, but before she could counter Louis flashed her a crooked grin, "It's charming in a way."
Whatever words she had prepared to shoot out were suddenly lost.
It took her a couple seconds to realize she was still staring at Louis, and she hoped to God her expression hadn't been too laughable while she gawked at the pirate captain. Lillian turned away, her focus returning to her shoes that were already properly adjusted.
"Interesting." She half-heartedly replied, repeating the singular phrase that the pirate captain had a tendency to state in reply to some of Lillian's own statements. Her face had a feeling of a burn as she felt Louis's gaze remain zeroed in on her.
Louis snorted, his feet moving him over to the other side of the bed in order to take a seat beside the royal, "Not really." Louis honestly said, within his hands was his hat while he kicked his feet at the floorboards absentmindedly, "How did you sleep last night?"
The question was random and the simple fact it was on her wellbeing made a strange feeling churn in Lillian's stomach.
She tried to stay casual.
"I slept alright." She settled on firmly, her eyes dancing over to watch the hat in Louis's grasp.
Louis smirked widely, "Did you dream of me-"
"You ask me a lot of questions, Louis. What about you? How did you sleep?" Lillian quickly intervened, her arms folding over her chest as she turned in the direction of the male.
The forcefulness of her words clearly had some sort of impact on Louis as his eyebrow cocked upward in what appeared to be a mixture of curiosity and confusion.
In actuality, Lillian had to keep in mind that she had no clue where Louis even slept. So hearing about how the captain went through his nights had a bit of stir in the royal's curiosity. Louis had to have been sleeping somewhere that wasn't in his own room after all.
The pirate captain mirrored the action; his hat was set to rest on his lap while he leaned back on his hands leisurely.
"Slept pretty well. The Captain breathed.
"Where do you even sleep?" Lillian inquired almost immediately after the short answer.
This appeared to take Louis by surprise as his eyes widened ever so slightly before they settled down, masking any form of emotion in them while Lillian continued staring at him, "Well?" She impatiently said when it appeared that Louis was just stuck on staring at her.
Blinking, Louis gaze didn't cease, "You care?" His tone was flat and nearly disinterested, but as always, Lillian knew better.
"Well, obviously if I'm asking." She truthfully replied, "I've been sleeping in your bed from the beginning. I'm just a bit curious as to where you've been sleeping. On the floor or something?"
When put into thought, she knew Louis had way too much pride to put himself to sleep on the floor in favor of giving Lillian his own bed. Louis had to have been going to sleep in a secret bed or something similar.
If Lillian remembered right, there weren't any extra rooms, which was why Ellie had been put to share a room with Niall in the beginning.
Louis seemed entirely hesitant to answer the question and that made Lillian a bit suspicious.
Bluntly, the royal put a hand to her chin, "It can't possibly be that serious. Unless you're part demon and spend your nights in hell, I don't think telling me should be a problem."
The pirate captain snorted instantly, "I'm not part demon. I'm full-blooded demon honey. But I'm sure you already knew that."
"Stop changing the subject. Where do you sleep?"
"Lilly, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you don't just care... I'd say you're concerned! What brought this on?" Louis taunted with a growing grin to his face.
Lillian's lips pursed in indignation, "You're getting ridiculous over a simple question."
"Am I?"
"I don't see what's so difficult about answering."
The looked just about ready to say something in retort, but Lillian intensified her warning glare on the brunet to show that she wasn't joking around. Louis paused at this before sighing heavily and shrugging his shoulders, an uncaring expression flashing over his features while he gazed away, "With Harry."
The words came out ever so easily and for a moment, Lillian had trouble deciphering if she heard right.
She blinked her eyes and leaned forward, "Excuse me?"
That made no sense whatsoever. Sleeping in Harry's room was another thing to say but he said he'd slept with Harry...If he hadn't hesitated so much in answering Lillian would assume it as a bad choice of words but...
"I best be going out to help outside. We should be docking not too long from now." Louis simply remarked, not giving Lillian any attention as he rose off of the bed.
Lillian's eyebrows scrunched downward in confusion as she stood up along with the male who began his way to the door,
As Louis made it past the door and into his study room, he slipped his hat on his head and didn't give the following princess a second glance.
From his position trailing beside him, Lillian could see that there was truly no sign of a smirk or a grin on the pirate's face but that didn't say anything considering that Louis was known to kid around with the most serious expression ever. Lillian had no clue if this was a joke or not.
But it had to be considering why would Harry share a bed with Louis anyways?
They got out of the room and went their different ways.
Louis had said something about docking soon... If she looked out forward hard enough, past the light fog up ahead maybe she'd catch sight of something.
"Hey, Lilly!"
The dreaded nickname that appeared to have grown as a normal for a majority of the crew aside from namely Liam and Niall probably wouldn't ever leave the mouths of the rest of the crew much to Lillian's aggravation.
She turned over her shoulder to see Sofia bounding over to her, within her hands were two boxes and on her face was a bright smile, one that made the royal's eyebrows furrow in bemusement.
The female pirate grinned up at her as she stopped her steps, "You look like you're in a good mood." She acknowledged teasingly.
Lillian shrugged, "Shockingly, I was in a better one until the Captain completely took it down."
Sofia gave a chuckle that made Lillian shake her head before she dropped her boxes to her feet to gaze out into the ocean with her, "I fell asleep before the end of your match with Captain Tomlinson... But would it be completely dumb of me to assume you actually won?"
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Lillian leaned forward on the ledge, "Assume whatever you want. I don't care. You saw that I can hold my own against him already and that'll be enough until I challenge him to a rematch..."
"A rematch? Ohh. So maybe I should apologize for underestimating you earlier." The brunette offered a slightly sheepish, but overall good-natured smile her way and Lillian found herself able to return the beam with a nod,
"It's alright. I guess I can see why you'd think I didn't know how to use a sword." She admitted simply before Sofia sighed heavily, "Yeah, but as a pirate I should know better than to underestimate anyone. I mean, I'm a girl already and I already get that enough."
Curiously, Lillian turned to face the female as she glanced out into the water more intently, "There aren't exactly a large number of female pirates out there. I mean, we're not totally rare, but there's so little of us already out there to the point where it's not uncommon for some other male pirates to sneer at us and all."
Lillian cocked a brow, "You're discriminated against even as a pirate?"
"Not discriminated," She held up a knowledgeable finger, "More like, underestimated to the extreme. They think because I'm a girl I'm afraid of getting some blood on my trousers even though I've probably taken down more men in a single raid than they could ever hope to take down in their lives." Sofia folded her arms over her chest with a huff.
"Some pirates are such idiots." Lillian snorted out making Sofia nod before her fist was suddenly hitting Lillian in the shoulder.
Unprepared for the attack, the royal's hand shot to where she had been hit as the pirate grinned at her, "So, I'm properly apologizing for being so hypocritical before! Just because you're royalty and all, I guess I shouldn't automatically assume stuff about you."
Rubbing her shoulder with squinted eyes, Lillian nodded her head, "That's your way of apologizing?"
Sofia laughed, "Toughen up, Lilly! My way of apologizing to the people I have to show tough love to!"
Sofia was warming up to her and she was pretty close enough to Harry as it was, so maybe she could ask...
"Sofia, out of curiosity, do you know if Harry shares his room with anyone?" She tried to vaguely question.
Sofia slowly shook her head, "Eh, not that I know of... I mean, from what Liam tells me, Harry is a shitty sleeper and takes up so much of the bed it's hard to have more than one other person on a bed with him... Why do you ask?"
So she had back-up on her theory that Louis and Harry didn't share a bed.
"What's the extent to Harry and Louis's relationship, if you don't mind me asking you?"
"That, I'd probably never be able to tell you. They're extremely close; I can tell you that but Harry and Louis are the two most closed up people onboard so I can't necessarily describe their relationship to you or anything. I mean, it's no secret that the two sometimes spend too much time together, even at nights, so calling them good friends may be putting it light...My guess is that it was more than just sharing a bed to sleep, Ya know..."
Lillian found herself about to choke on her spit at the sudden words given to her ears.
"Sofia! Get the fuck over here, you lazy ass! We're not done moving the boxes!"
Sofia cringed at the calling to her name while whipping her head over her shoulder, "Who the fuck are you calling lazy ass!? I do way more work than you, fucking twat!" Grunting, she moved downward to pick up the two boxes on the ground into her arms before giving Lillian a sigh, "Sorry, duty calls."
Sofia's back disappeared down to one of the lower decks, her figure bouncing while she shouted at the crew member who ranted off at her.
Sofia wouldn't just lie to her like that, would she? There was absolutely no reason for her to anyhow... She asked herself.
Harry and Louis shared a bed and the two of them were having sex?!
It strangely made sense but at the same time it didn't.
Well, Harry had gotten upset at Lillian for 'messing' with Louis's heart.
The two of them were always so close though, the more Lillian thought about it.
Why was this topic even circulating throughout her head? She shouldn't even care... But she knew a part of her no matter how insignificant did care for some odd reason.
Knowing she'd have to clear her head, she began her way down to the lower deck.
She could go talk to Ellie to get her mind off of this rather peculiar topic.
When she reached Niall's and Ellie's room, she was a bit surprised to see Ellie in there with a few other crew members, all of them sat on the floor in a circle with cards all spread out amongst them.
Confused, Lillian halted at the door, "Uhm..." She unsurely voiced out with furrowed eyebrows.
Ellie glanced over her shoulder to view Lillian and when she spotted her, she smiled with an excited wave, "Hey, Lil!" She greeted happily causing the royal to cautiously leave the door a bit more open while she walked in slowly,
"Good morning, El..." Lillian cleared her throat, "So... What exactly are you doing...?"
"We're teaching her how to play a card game, Lilly."
"It was bloody fucking ridiculous how the poor gal had no clue how to even shuffle a deck of cards!"
Josh proudly started, "Well, at least now she knows! I'm such a good teacher, right El?"
Ellie giggled wildly, "Right! Don't even think I'm going to lose this round either, Josh. I think I finally got the hang of this~" She sang out confidently before pushing out one of her cards to the center of the circle.
All the men gave a chorus of 'Ooohs' from her play before Lillian unsurely took a seat on the bed to watch.
How it is that shy, sweet, and innocent little Ellie was seriously in a room alone with all these men? Wasn't she scared?
One look at her friend's amused expression as she slipped down another card signaled to Lillian that it was exactly the opposite... She looked genuinely happy.
Her gaze softened down at her considerably. She was happy for her. Having Ellie constantly in fear and anxiety wasn't something she wanted. If she found herself comfortable on the ship and even making new friends, she had to give it to her.
"Okay, so I didn't win this round. Can we play again, please?" She questioned with a pout when their game finally came to an end.
The men laughed and Josh shrugged his shoulders with a grin, "Why not?" He then turned his attention up to Lillian, "You wanna join?" He offered out.
Lillian found her eyes widening in surprise as everyone's notice flashed up to her expectantly.
The royal's eyes flickered to Ellie who smiled at her warmly as though showing she'd support her answer no matter what it'd be.
Shrugging, Lillian glanced away, "No, thanks."
"Pft. She's too good to play a card game with us."
A few chimes of agreement filed after this statement and Lillian didn't even stop herself from rolling her eyes.
It wasn't that she didn't want to play exactly... She didn't want to look like an idiot because the only card game she knew to play was the one that Niall had taught her a while back when Lillian had been evading Louis.
"Don't say that." Ellie defended with a scolding glare at the one who spoke up, "If she doesn't want to play, she doesn't want to. Don't be rude!"
"She's right, mate. Don't be such a cunt about it." Josh leisurely added in, he glanced at Lillian and gave the female a supportive nod before turning his attention back to the game, "So what should we play now-"
A rap came to the side of the room entrance and immediately everyone was glancing up to see who was there.
Liam stood pointedly, "We're scheduled to be docked up at the port within the next five minutes, lads. Start packing it up and get ready to head off if you want to. Captain says we're not staying here for more than a few hours."
Instantly, everyone was up and gathering themselves out the room until it was only Ellie and Lillian left.
Liam fully entered the room with a smile Lillian's way, "You were getting along with the other crew members. That's real good!"
Slipping her hands in her pockets, Lillian shrugged, "I think Ellie had more luck with that than me actually."
Blushing, Ellie shook her head with her eyes suddenly pasted to her feet, "Not really. I was hanging out and helping Sofia and Niall earlier this morning and I met up with Josh and then he offered to show me how to play cards. The other guys aren't scary at all! They're all actually kind of nice! Loud... But nice." She smiled sweetly at Liam, who chuckled,
"Do you plan on coming out to the town with Niall, Sofia and I? Niall told me to ask you so the moment we dock we can go off together since Louis is only stopping here fast."
Ellie hummed while glancing down at her clothing, "Well, I guess this is acceptable to go out in? Sure! I just hope with Niall here with us, we won't try going into those places again..."
The First Mate of One Direction cringed, "Let's hope." He paused before giving Lillian an apologetic look, "I... Uhm... If you want, I think Louis may let-"
"Let's not kid ourselves, Liam." Lillian sighed out with her arms folding over her chest, "We both know Louis isn't letting me off this ship, so I won't even bother."

Love U All.