Page 41 of Virelai's Hoard
Sable, still kneeling, followed her with her gaze, trying to settle down her breathing and heartbeat. Heat pulsed between her legs as she licked her lips and still tasted Riley on them.
Things might’ve just gotten more complicated than they needed to be.
But Sable couldn’t say she regretted it.
13. To Stand Alone
Riley
“We won’t be holding a funeral because he’s not dead.”
“Eryx, yousawhim 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 justlistenedto me, I could’ve been there to save him in time!Thisis onyou.Marenis onyou. You think I don’t see right through you, but Ido, and all of your pretending to care about us is just that. Pretending. It should beyougrasping 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.Nowit 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 feelwrong.
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. Theotherslooked 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.
