𝐇𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 | 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐜

𝟏.𝟑 | 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐠𝐚

Frederick did not love Tortuga. It may have been a bold claim, but Tortuga was probably at the top of his list of places he'd never like to visit again. On the other hand, Anne was enthralled. She may have kept close to Kidd and De Soto, but her curiosity was starting to put some distance between them. The port was a whole other world she'd never been exposed to before and beyond the rank smell of liquor and poor hygiene, there was the scent of adventure just around every bend.

"What did I say about staying close?" Kidd hissed as she pulled Anne back toward the group.

"I've been forced into an arranged marriage, kidnapped, shipwrecked, and undressed over the past week," Anne skeptically retorted, pulling her arm away. "How could my life get any worse?"

"Keep asking that question, princesa, and you may just find out," De Soto answered with a knowing look as he nodded his head toward the clusters of lingering eyes that had yet to break eye contact.

Anne subconsciously folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself as a means of coping while drawing closer to her brother. He protectively wrapped an arm around her shoulders, but the gesture was done lazily as his eyes stared straight forward as if he were in a daze. Anne gently nudged his side and he quickly blinked before looking down at her.

"Are you alright?" Anne quietly asked.

Frederick swallowed, nodded his head, and lied through his teeth. "I'm fine."

"You know it would be alright if you weren't?" Anne rhetorically asked. "You've been through a lot today."

A beat of silence passed before Frederick muttered under his breath. "My life flashed before my eyes, Anne... and I realized—I realized it's amounted to nothing."

"Freddie—"

"Anne, it's true," Frederick interrupted her protest. "Now, I'm going to change all that because I'm going to get us home."

Anne silently nodded her head. She didn't contradict him nor agree because she knew the look she'd receive should she ever admit that just maybe she was alright with what happened. It was terrifying at first, but the biggest chance adventure had just been laid at her feet and she only had to walk down the path to accept it.

Having made up his mind, Frederick tried to straighten out his shirt, but the effort was wasted on his torn and muddied garments. He looked down at himself displeased, but whatever complaint was meant to be said was overshadowed by the commotion of the tavern beside them. Without warning, one of the occupants was tossed from the building, just barely missing Anne, landing in the slop of swine across the way.

Anne rushed to the man's side, quickly pulling his face out of the mud. She gently rubbed the mud away from his eyes while kneeling at his side. Slowly, his eyes opened, but his intoxicated state of mind remained. He blinked rapidly, trying to focus on merging the echoes into one figure.

"Are you alright?" Anne asked, but his reply was to pass out.

Realizing that several passers were beginning to stare, Kidd approached and pulled the princess away from the drunken sailor. They were drawing more attention than she liked. "I think it's time to go."

"But he might need—"

"Help?" Kidd interrupted, now pulling Anne to her side as she walked down the corridor of buildings. "If you stopped to help every drunken sailor in the port... well let's just say you'd have quite the reputation."

Sometime between the brief events of distraction, De Soto had snuck away and now returned with a displeased look on his face. He leaned close and whispered into Kidd's ear, forcing Anne to raise her brow with curiosity.