Page 75 of Virelai's Hoard
“Does it do what they say it does? Does it grant wishes?”
Alaric cocked his head. “Does it matter? If you take the deal, you become one of its guardians. If you don’t, then you’ll likely be dead.”
“Like,deaddead,” Jamie explained helpfully.
“Either way,” Alaric continued. “You won’t be getting anywhere near it.”
That sounded like a challenge if Riley had ever heard one.
Lips pressed tight together and mind racing, she followed Eryx back into the mirror room.
“We shouldn’t take the deal,” Eryx blurted as soon as they were alone, giving Riley their back as they braced themselves. “I don’t like this place. They’re–they’re not right.”
“They’re ghosts,” Riley deadpanned. “Of course they’re not right.”
Eryx glanced over their shoulder. “It’s not that. It’s the hunger. I’ve never felt anything so hungry for destruction. I don’t think any of them ever moved on from their betrayals.”
Despite herself, Riley shivered. She’d felt that too. “They say it’s either this or we die.” Butwordswere meaningless. Something about Alaric said a different story from the one he’d tried to sell them, but she didn’t have the pieces to put it together. What if the alternative was worse than death?
Finally, Eryx turned to face her. Their arms fell by their sides, and they visibly straightened their back, lifted their chin. “Can you trust me on this? Please?”
For a moment, Riley was speechless. No one had ever appealed to her like that. And Eryx was asking fora lot. But she looked at them, and at Patch sitting on their shoulder, resolute and so sure of himself. The rat’s whiskers twitched as he sniffed the air in her direction. Riley just stared at her companion for a while, then she gave Eryx a slow nod.
Between Eryx and a crowd of dead, vengeful pirates, she knew whose side she’d rather take. Between certain death andprobabledeath, the choice was obvious. If what came after was worse, they would figure it out then. Together. Her eyes lingered on Eryx. They were in this together.
Maybe Patch was right. Maybe something had changed, after all.
She tried not to think about Alaric’s words when they walked back in the room, about his certainty there were far worse afterlives than this one, how denying the ghosts their hunger for revenge might set them off.
“They’re still my crew,” Eryx said softly. “I don’t want them to die. I’m not doing this.”
Eyes widened, mouths hung open. Alaric controlled his shock better, though a twitch of his lips made Riley think he was pleased. Which wasodd. Riley schooled her features before the captain’s eyes settled on her.
“And you?” he asked.
Riley swallowed. Then she shook her head slowly, more sure of her choice by the moment. She couldn’t explain it other than a feeling. Dead people weren’t much different from living ones, and Riley knew how to read people. Something didn’t add up here.
“Impossible,” someone murmured from the crowd.
“Did they hear anything we said?”
“What’s wrong with them?”
“They’re fucking mad.”
Alaric held his hand up, and the murmurs stopped. He approached Riley and Eryx, his expression not betraying anything. He turned to Riley, and she forced herself to stand still as his hand rose and he pressed his fingers to her forehead. Something heavy slipped into her pocket. Everything went quiet. Everything went dark.
Only his voice echoed.
“Tell Sable I’m sorry. Tell her to move on.”
23. Unsteady
Sable
Sable hesitated before entering the galley, but she steeled herself and pushed past the door. Her footsteps echoed in the chamber as she strode past rows of iron prison bars until she came upon the one occupied cell.
Calla’s cell.
