Maddox wasn’t quite exactly expecting to hear what he did from her. Most pirates called their home the sea, same as he did. The island existed as a respite from long voyages. Even so, not a spot he wished to be overrun by royals.
The gunner couldn’t let her comment go unaddressed. If he was missing something in the equation, he wanted to know. “What do you mean, Bernie? It’s not exactly your home?”
The movie was entertaining. Plotting against the royals proved to be much more. And she posed an excellent question, one that Maddox didn’t have to think too long on. “I try to avoid the royals for the most part.” Newly landed ones tended to want to kick him in the balls, beg to be thrown to the sharks, and otherwise metaphorically thumb his nose.
Knowing what he did, from being on land with them the last few months, the opinion came easily. “Rhianne. Princess of Australia.” A breath was needed because fuck, so much to cover, how to provide a summary? In fact, Maddox reached for the bottle to wet his lips in order to formulate the thoughts. “She knows how to fight. A bit. Skill wise– more than the average royal. But she’s willing to go for the throat. To take advantage of openings that come her way. Which tells me she’s always thinking a step ahead.” Maddox’s job was combat. Distantly, or hand to hand. Fighting an opponent was also mental. Rhianne distracted by insubordination, and in some ways it was genius. “I’d easily put my money on her right now. And you? Got a favorite for an exploding collar around the neck?”
Bernice had once found home with a person. The sea came in second to the feeling she once felt. She act as if she was too invested in the scene as she decide if she really wanted to be honest with Maddox. It was not a matter of trust, rather exposure on her part.
“Lex was home,” she said with no further explanation. Lex had been a mentor of Bernice’s when she was young. Then much later, a partner. But they [Lex] had been captured and killed by the monarchs who never stopped to wonder what exactly they were taking from the world when they signed the execution order. Bernice’s eyes blinked for a moment, rage flaring up for a second as she contained it and buried it back down. There would be a time and place to release it all.
By the time Maddox was done talking up the Princess of Australia the feeling had dulled enough that Bernice could smirk a little at they way Maddox talked about Rhianne.
“Favorites? Hardly. Although...” Bernice scoffed at first and then took a moment to think about it.
“Crown Prince of Australia,” her smirk got bigger.
“A bit of a newcomer, but I like a good gamble. He was a soldier,” Bernice looked away from the screen and at Maddox when she mentioned the royal’s past occupation, raising an eyebrow as she did.
“And what’s more interesting that pitting two sibling against each other?” Bernice told him. She smiled and then looked back at the screen.
“Aaaand he’s the only one I can remember the name of...” Bernice said. She then grimaced when she realize she’d already forgotten her captive’s name.
“I think it was... ah, doesn’t matter.”
