Page 7 of Virelai’s Hoard (The Dagger & Tide Trilogy #1)

Riley

Gadrielle’s calloused hands shoved a coarse brush at Riley’s chest. “This is your new best friend. You’re gonna get real close today.” The older woman smirked as she dumped a bucket of soapy water at her feet too, her steel-gray eyes sharp enough to get cut on.

Aelion’s first rays accentuated her high cheekbones as she walked a perimeter of the raised deck in slow, precise strides.

Her dark brown skin contrasted with the light gray of her short-cropped hair, and several tattoos of ropes and knots crept up her forearms and under her short leather coat.

They resurfaced from her collar, coiling around her neck.

“Seeing as you’ve never been on a ship before, I’m gonna assume the worst and start you on the very basics.

” Gadrielle stopped walking, crossing her arms. She was short and stocky, with broad shoulders and lean muscles.

“The area I just walked is part of the quarterdeck, or back deck. See the wood of the deck’s planks? ”

Riley looked down at the wood, shifting on her feet.

It creaked under her boots, and her stomach lurched at a sudden moment of weightlessness that made her head spin.

Everything felt unsteady, as if the ship was breathing.

She gave a slow nod of her head. Anything faster than that and she might get sick.

“Sturdy and smoother than half of you bastards who walk on it.” The pride blooming in her voice was unmistakable, if brief.

In the next breath, the sharpness was back.

“That’s what a well-sanded, well-oiled and well-sealed deck looks like, so let’s keep it that way, yeah?

When you’re scrubbing, make sure to do so in the same direction as the wood grain.

If you don’t, you’ll damage the wood fibers, cause splinters and give way for water to seep in and cause rot.

” Gadrielle paused then, and caught Riley’s eye as she punctuated her next words.

“Damage my deck and sore fingers are gonna be the least of your worries. You got me?”

“I got you,” Riley said, her back straightening just a fraction.

Even her nausea faded under Gadrielle’s intense scrutiny.

Her gaze flitted to the back of the ship, beyond the railing, catching Saltmere growing smaller in the distance, barely recognizable anymore along the Varethian rocky coast. There were no routes of escape here, no going back.

She had to play her part. The dutiful new recruit.

Her ungloved thumb rubbed against the brush clutched in her hand as she brought her eyes back on deck. She frowned. “But it looks clean already.”

Gadrielle raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t remember asking for your opinion.

But I’ll dumb this down even more for you.

” The woman stepped close enough that Riley had to tilt her head to look down at her, which just felt wrong.

Warm breath puffed against her face as Gadrielle bit down on every word.

“You don’t question orders, you follow them.

I say jump, you jump, I say climb, you climb, I say squeak like a mouse, you squeak like a fucking mouse.

Your life will depend on your ability to obey orders unquestioningly, and you’ll scrub the same dozen planks one hundred times over if I tell you to. Do I make myself understood?”

Riley tried not to gulp. “Yes, ma’am.”

Gadrielle smiled, slow and measured. “Good. Now get to work.”

When the boatswain gave no signs of leaving, Riley locked her jaw tight, dropped to her knees, plunged the brush in the soapy water, and got to scrubbing.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

Riley’s head snapped back up. “What?” she asked, just barely keeping the bite from her voice. It wasn’t possible she was already fucking this up. She was barely through the very first stroke. “I’m not going against the grain, am I?”

Gadrielle inhaled sharply and held her hand out.

Riley stared dumbly at it for a moment. Then, slowly, she handed over the brush, heart pounding.

Were they going to throw her overboard already?

Did Gadrielle decide this task wasn’t humiliating enough to start with?

She was clearly at the bottom of the food chain on this ship, but what could possibly be worse than this?

“Watch.”

Her brain took a long moment to catch up when she saw the boatswain drop on her knees right next to her and start scrubbing in even, long strokes.

By the time Gadrielle handed the brush back, Riley’s confusion reached an all-time high.

“Now you.”

Riley tried again, wholly aware that Gadrielle was still on her knees, and the sailors passing by didn’t even react to it.

Gadrielle adjusted her posture and her grip with a few firm pokes as she scrubbed, explaining, “Elbows loose, not locked, or you’ll feel it in your back by sundown. And work with your shoulders, not your wrists. I can’t have you injuring yourself on your first fucking day. Again.”

Injuring myself? Gadrielle cared about her form ?

Riley blinked at her, then tried again. Soon, the movement started feeling natural rather than punishing, which was when Gadrielle finally stood and walked away.

She paused her scrubbing for a breath, following the woman with her eyes.

At first, she’d been convinced the task was supposed to be humiliating, to show her place, but the boatswain hadn’t hesitated to get down on her knees with her for no better reason than to prevent Riley from injuring herself.

What was she supposed to make of that?

With a shake of her head, Riley turned back to scrubbing. The work was slow, tedious, and humbling.

The soapy water splashed against the deck, and as she moved forward, inch by inch, her knees became damp and bruised.

Despite the adjusted form, the strain in her shoulders, arms and back was quick to settle in, and her fingers soon cramped around the brush.

Her one gloved hand was protected from its coarseness, but the other scraped against it with every movement, and the salt water stung.

And the fucking heat.

Riley had thought the weather at sea would be chilly, but she was wrong.

Nivros’ and Aelion’s combined heat beat down on her back and heated the wood beneath her until there was no escape from the stifling warmth.

Sweat trickled down her back and neck. Was she really expected to work through the midday heat?

She’d had it right the first go around. This was meant to beat her down.

But she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

She concentrated on the overwhelming scent of saltwater, soaked into the wood.

She breathed the bitter smell of pitch and the damp odor of wet ropes through her nostrils.

And she kept scrubbing. Riley didn’t know how long she’d been at it, just that Gadrielle made the rounds more than once, snapping at her whenever she went even a hair against the grain.

The other pirates weren’t giving her any breaks, either.

She tallied up three jabs about her bony arms, one about how she held the brush, and two pertaining to missed spots.

If she got to ten by the end of the day, she’d reward herself with visions of stabbing everyone in their sleep tonight. Because this fucking sucked.

But she persevered, if only out of sheer stubbornness.

A pair of boots planted themselves in front of her just as Riley started considering flinging the cursed brush overboard and jumping right in after it.

“You didn’t do a half-bad job,” Gadrielle said, her tone losing its earlier bite but not its sharpness. “Go stretch. You earned yourself two bells.”

With that, she was gone, and Riley took a deep breath as she uncurled her aching fingers from the brush and sat on her haunches.

Why in the world did she think boarding a pirate ship was a good idea?

A small shadow fell over her. “You Riley?” a young-sounding voice asked, and Riley looked up at the kid.

He stood short and slight and all gangly limbs.

Not much older than twelve, probably. His bright green eyes looked at her curiously, and a tightly tied bandana was attempting and failing to contain his wild, copper-red curls.

A tiny knife was tucked at his hip, in full view, and he bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited for her to say anything.

“Yeah. And you are?”

His hand shot forward in greeting. “Pip!” he said, grinning.

“I’m Boarley’s assistant. The cook. He doesn’t talk, but the crew says I talk enough for the both of us!

” He thrust his chest out, as if that was an achievement to be proud of.

“Captain said to show the new recruits around today, so I’m here to show you around.

I already met the others, but you seemed real busy here, so I’ve been waiting.

Wouldn’t wanna piss off Gadri. She sneaks me sweets when no one’s looking, so not stealing you away from the deck was the least I could do. ”

“Lucky me,” Riley muttered, standing on shaky legs and stretching her back as the kid yammered on. “Alright, Pip. Lead the way.”

“Aight!” the kid clapped his hands, his eyes darting from one place to another as he considered which direction to lead her.

“How about we start with where the food is?” Riley suggested, using her sleeve to wipe the sweat off her forehead. “I’m starving.”

“That’d be the galley,” Pip said, self-importantly.

A doubtful look crested on his face. “You en’t allowed to eat outside of mealtimes, captain says, but rules also say you’re supposed to get two meals and you haven’t eaten yet since you got on the ship…

” His forehead crumpled in a thoughtful frown, then he looked at her suspiciously. “Have you?”

Riley frowned back. She didn’t even do anything yet for everyone to be so suspicious of her. “I haven’t.” A fierce growl resounded from her stomach, supplying her with helpful evidence.