Page 23 of Virelai’s Hoard (The Dagger & Tide Trilogy #1)

Riley

“We won’t be holding a funeral because he’s not dead.”

“Eryx, you saw him jump overboard,” Sable said, a pained expression on her face.

“That doesn’t mean he’s dead!”

The crew stood silent behind Eryx, and Riley looked at the people gathered around.

Thorian had an anchor wrapped in a bundle of Pip’s clothes, and he shifted on his feet, more uncomfortable by the moment–as if he didn’t know whether he should go through with the ceremony or just take everything back below deck and forget about it.

Calla was uncharacteristically silent, her face blank as she stared at Eryx.

Eryx looked… young. And hurt. And heartbroken. Their shoulders shook with suppressed sobs.

Riley tried not to look at them too much, or to resent them for not doing anything to hide the pain twisting their normally smooth features. With their strange warnings and connection to the sea, it’d been easy to forget they weren’t much older than Pip had been. But it was obvious now.

As silence settled among the crew, the captain gave Thorian one sharp nod.

Thorian himself looked doubtful, but he squared his shoulders and walked past Eryx.

Or tried to.

“No!” Eryx rushed past Thorian and stood right in his path, raising their head up at the man with a hard look as tears streamed down their face. Not afraid at all of the part-giant who could snap their neck single-handedly if he wanted to.

Thorian tried to side-pass the younger crew-member, but Eryx was determined, blocking his path at every turn.

When Thorian tried to gently push through instead, Eryx started beating their fists against his stomach. “ He’s. Not. Dead. I won’t let you!”

Thorian stopped moving. He threw Calla a helpless look as Eryx kept beating at him, with less and less force in every strike.

“Calla-” Sable started, but Calla cut her off with a look.

It was a cold, sharp look that sent a shiver down Riley’s spine, and she wasn’t even the target of it.

The captain roughly caught one of Eryx’s fists before it connected to Thorian’s jacket again.

“ Eryx ,” she snapped. “Cut it off.” At their flinch, Calla closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

She let Eryx’s hand fall back at their side as she said, gentler than before, “I’m sorry your friend died.

I really, truly am. But you’re not the only one on this ship who cared about Pip.

He deserves the decency of a burial, and the crew deserves a chance to mourn.

He’s gone. He’s not coming back. You saw it with your own eyes. No one comes back from that.”

Fists clenched at their sides, Eryx took in deep, controlled breaths.

It took a moment for Riley to realize they were seething with barely suppressed rage.

When their features smoothed, she had to stop herself from intervening, preventing them from doing something they would regret later. This had nothing to do with her.

“You’d better be sorry,” Eryx said, curling their upper lip.

“If you’d just listened to me, I could’ve been there to save him in time!

This is on you . Maren is on you . You think I don’t see right through you, but I do , and all of your pretending to care about us is just that.

Pretending. It should be you grasping that anchor as we throw your body overboard. ”

With the silence that followed, Riley realized the crew hadn’t been silent before.

No. There had been hushed breaths and shuffling feet and uncomfortable scratching at arms and faces and necks.

Now it was silent. Riley held her breath as she stared at Eryx–who challenged the captain with a furious look on their face.

Riley wasn’t sure what measures pirates used to accuse someone of being a mutineer, but she suspected Eryx had long crossed that line, and this had nothing to do with her, no, but standing there just watching started to feel wrong .

Calla’s back was rigid as she stared back at Eryx, a flinty look in her eyes.

“I will pretend I misheard you, because I’d be loath to hold two funerals in one day.

It would be bad for morale. But next time you think about going around flinging blame, remember.

” She stepped closer to them, lowering her voice, but still loud enough for everyone to hear.

You could hear a pin drop–her voice carried.

“He was your only friend on this ship, and you never thought to double-check on his bindings. You weren’t impacted by the song, but you didn’t think to keep him under watch.

You’re claiming we don’t need a funeral, but how long did you stay underwater before you needed to come back up for air?

How much longer did Pip stay?” A fresh stream of tears wet Eryx’s cheeks, and their shoulders drooped with the blame Calla threw on them, but she was unmovable.

“Next time you go flinging blame around, remember how this feels.”

“I-” Eryx’s lower lip trembled, and they just looked lost now.

Calla nodded to Thorian again, and he walked past Eryx. They didn’t try to stop him anymore.

Riley stared between Calla and Eryx, and caught Sable’s gaze for just a moment. She looked shaken. The others looked shaken, too. Riley wrapped her arms around herself, the breeze suddenly making her shiver.

Looking at Eryx’s empty eyes, she wondered if it would’ve been better to just throw them overboard for the way they lashed out, instead of lashing back.

Riley didn’t stay for the rest of the funeral. She couldn’t stand it.

***

Riley shuffled her feet in front of Calla’s door. This was it. She was going to get Patch back and breathe a sigh of relief.

And yet she debated knocking on the door at all.

The captain hadn’t been spotted on deck since the funeral. What mental state was Riley going to find her in? How would Sable react if she went to her empty-handed after all the effort she’d spent on coaching her?

Riley still had that sketch, but she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Eryx about it yet, and she didn’t really trust asking anyone else.

Haddock would likely know something about it too, he liked spending his spare time on deck recounting stories to anyone who would listen, but that was just the issue.

If whispers of the Heart suddenly started sprouting up around the ship, Calla would know .

Double-crossing both the captain and the first mate was not an option. Not this far from the treasure. If she didn’t pick soon, there would be no one to protect her if either one got suspicious.

With a sharp breath, Riley gathered her courage and brought the hand holding two empty cups to knock the back of her wrist against the door.

When the door opened, Riley offered a tired-looking Calla her best charming smile and held up both her hands, with the cups and a generous pitcher of rum.

Skipping this cycle’s party in favor of hanging out with Calla had seemed like a sensible choice, especially as there seemed to be nothing festive about the rest of the crew today.

And maybe, just maybe, some strong rum would be enough to loosen the captain up.

At Calla’s frown, Riley said sheepishly, “Thought we could, uh, celebrate Patch’s release. And me finally getting out of your hair.”

With a quirk of her eyebrows, Calla stepped aside and allowed Riley into the room. After she closed the door behind them, the captain walked to her bed and plopped down on it unceremoniously.

Tonight, it was unmade. There was a disoriented look to Calla’s normally dark, composed features, and her silky black hair was gathered in a messy bun.

Had the thing with Eryx affected Calla more than she let on? Or was this something else?

She still hadn’t said a word since Riley had knocked on her door.

Riley hid a frown and walked past Patch–sitting on Calla’s locked chest–to grab the guest chair from the desk and drag it near the bed.

She used the locked chest to set down the tankard and cups, and Calla’s gaze regained some of its usual sharpness.

Matched by a similar look coming from… Patch .

Riley blinked at him, at his barely hidden indignation as she set the cups near where he was sitting.

What the hell?

She’d already suspected there was something of interest in the damn chest, but what could make Patch get territorial over it? This just got several degrees more interesting. What was in there?

“Something the matter, Riley?” Calla asked, her voice husky as if she hadn’t talked to anyone else all day.

Riley drew her gaze away from Patch and filled the two cups.

“He’s acting strange,” she said. She didn’t even have to fake her pout as she added, “I thought he’d be happy to see me, but I guess he has a different favorite human now.

” As she spoke, she handed over one of the cups, and Calla was stiff as she reached for it.

Their fingers brushed briefly, and Riley’s skin tingled at the contact.

She tried to remember whether she and the captain had ever touched before, and came up empty. “How did you win him over?”

Calla looked down at her cup. She flicked a finger against it and watched the liquid ripple.

Then she drank. “I didn’t,” she said eventually.

“I’m not sure if rats hold grudges, but he might just think you’re the one responsible for that .

” She gestured to the bird cage under the porthole.

“I’m sure he’ll be back to himself once he’s out of here.

And I’m sure you’ll keep him from getting into more trouble.

” Calla raised her eyebrows at Riley, daring her to say anything to contradict those expectations.

Riley downed the contents of her cup and grinned. “Of course, captain. I’m not sure your next punishment will be as pleasant as this one.”

She had the distinct pleasure of watching Calla nearly choke on her drink, though she tried to pass it off as a scoff. “The first isn’t even done yet and you’re anticipating a second?” she deadpanned.