Page 58 of Virelai's Hoard
It was the night she’d gone to Calla’s quarters, but she hadn’t expected to be missed. Except Sable had, apparently. The thought sent an odd rush of warmth through her, despite Riley’s shifting under her two shipmate’s gazes, despite her discomfort. She’d been wearing Calla’s gloves since then, tight and soft and molding to her hands so well they felt like a second skin. Nothing had ever fit her better, not even when she was knee high and had the man who fathered her looking after her, seeing to her needs. Riley dismissed the thought with a sharp shake of her head. Why had she gone there?
“I didn’t really want to be around people,” Riley said. “Went somewhere quieter.” She avoided the outright lie, didn’t claim she’d been alone that night.
No one had mentioned her absence, or the gloves, and it only dawned on her now, under Kittredge’s knowing gaze and Eryx’s indulgent one, that it wasn’t because they hadn’t noticed. They knew. About Callaandabout Sable. Everyoneknew. There was no hiding on this ship. What unsettled her even more was that neither gaze was judging her. Merely teasing. And in the meantime, another roll was lost. They’d thrown her off kilter.
Eryx bumped their shoulder to Kit’s, laughing softly. “Come on, Kit. Lay off. It’s her first time living on a ship. She’s still getting the hang of it.”
Kittredge smirked. “Just thought it would be good for her to know, her being our friend now and all.” She pressed a finger beneath her eye, gaze suddenly intense. “We see more than we let on.”
With that, Kittredge laid off her, and Riley laid off the cheating. Inexplicably, the game became more fun that way.
A dull thud put a startled pause on that not long after. It came from somewhere above their heads. Earlier, Riley had heard similar sounds in quick succession and thought it might’ve started raining, so she hadn’t mentioned it, but this was bigger than drops of water. Kittredge and Eryx frowned up at the ceiling, too. They all got quiet, ears straining as they listened. Moments later, there was a scrape. A muffled grunt.
Riley’s blood ran cold. The panicked looks on the other pirates’ faces echoed her own. They all shot out of their chairs with a start, though Riley didn’t know what she meant to do. Investigate? That sounded like a terrible idea.
“Do you think they’re just… Maybe Calla and the others just came back?” Riley asked in a whisper.
Eryx shot her a doubting look. It made her feel dumb.
As Kittredge headed for the door leading out of the storage room, it slammed shut on them. The metal scrape of a bolt being slid into place followed.
Kit rushed to the now locked door and beat her open palm against it, shouting, “Hey, you fuckers! Let us out! You’re gonna regret this if you don’t go back where you came from right the fuck now while you still can! You hear me?!”
Riley looked wide-eyed at Kittredge, startled by the bite in her voice.
“What do we do?” she asked as Kit paced back and forth, muttering curses to herself, and Eryx walked around the room, looking for…something.
They both paused at the sound of another thud, somewhere on their level now. Soon after, there was shuffling, the violent sounds of rifling through cabinets and overturning crates, low, angry talking in voices Riley was not familiar with.
Were they raiding the supplies?Shit.Her fingers shook, and she tightened them into fists.
“Kit,” she hissed. “What do we–”
“Here,” Eryx called to them from a corner. “Through here.”
The noises outside got quiet.
Kittredge and Riley approached, and Eryx revealed a small hatch leading to a small passage–a tunnel. A way out.
A loud bang shook dust from the ceiling beams, startling them into inaction. They listened as several boots thudded on the floor at a run, not concerned in the least with being quiet.
“Let’s go,” Eryx urged. “Quick.”
Eryx went first, with Riley and Kittredge crawling in after them. Even on their hands and knees, they were fast, and Riley struggled to keep up through the twists and turns. Where were they going? And whatwasthis tunnel? She hadn’t been expecting anything this damned long.
Apparently, she wasn’t the only confused one. “Eryx!” Kittredge whisper-shouted. “We should go above deck! Where are you–”
“We need to check on Merrow!” Eryx whisper-shouted back.
“Merrow?! There’s no way to the officers’ rooms from here!”
“It’s an old smuggling–just–look. We’re nearly there.”
The answer gave Riley pause, and it was only when Kittredge bumped into her from behind that she shook herself out of it. “Smuggling? Who do pirates need to worry about?”
A sharp sigh blew out of Eryx. “It’s from thebeforetimes. Just–keep up!”
But that wascenturiesago. As old as the half-rotted ships in Saltmere, only still standing thanks to the Quiet Sea. How had they gotten the Moonshadow in sailing shape if it was that old? She shook off the question, and the dozen others that surfaced. Now was not the time.
