Page 46 of Virelai's Hoard
She’s going to challenge you. She wants to take your place. Don’t you see it?
Calla closed the distance between them until they stood inches apart. Sable stiffened as Calla looked up at her. “Oh, you want to lead, don’t you?” she asked, her voice smooth and composed.
Sable took in a sharp breath, knuckles white around her weapon’s handle as she searched her gaze. It took so little to push her first mate off-balance that Calla almost considered taking pity on her and dropping it. But she couldn’t. Not with the others watching.
“Calla…” Sable’s voice went soft, gaze still searching, until she realized that whatever she was looking for wasn’t there right now. Not finding it seemed to pain her. She kept it off her face, but couldn’t keep it out of her eyes. Those deep black eyes had always been so telling if you knew where to look. “Yes. That’s what I’mherefor. Please.”
Thepleasemade Calla blink. The haze of anger and frustration and fear that had been clouding her head cleared. Where had that voice come from? It had sounded like her own, but wrong. Like her thoughts had teeth. Calla looked at Sable again, not seeing a first mate angling for her title anymore, but rather someone that, no matter how much she’d been pushing away, was trying to wrangle a dangerous task out of her hands.
That’s what I’m here for.
Sable really thought that her brawn and her life was all she had to offer this ship. Calla. Was all she had to offerCalla.
She was stilltrying, after all this time.
With a deep sigh, Calla conceded, “Very well.” Sable’s eyes widened, her posture relaxed. “The island is too big for a singlegroup to tackle alone in one day. So we’ll split the crew in two halves. One under my command, and one under yours.”
“Wait.” Sable frowned. “That’s not what I–”
Calla raised an eyebrow at her. She was perfectly aware thatthiswasn’t what Sable had in mind. But this was what she would be getting. “And since you’re so adamant to be leading, I will issue you a little challenge.” At this, the rest of her crew perked up, making Calla smirk. “Whichever group first finds the next clue will get that barrel of aged rum Thorian has been keeping under lock and key.”
Thorian’s indignant scoff was drowned out by the crew’s gasps.
Sable’s frown only deepened, but then she glanced around her. The rest of the crew was suddenly whispering about the challenge, an excited ripple in the air as discussions of those dreary dreams got shoved in the past, where they would hopefully remain. When her gaze settled on Calla again, a muscle twitching in her jaw, Calla knew she had her.
They shook on it, then they each stood on opposite sides of the deck as the pirates picked who they were going to side with.
Venn and Draven faced each other head-on.
“I’m going with the captain,” Draven said.
Venn scowled. “No.I’mgoing with the captain.”
“Why don’t you both just-”
“No!” they both snapped at Kittredge, then glared at each other.
While the others picked their groups, the two brothers arm-wrestled to settle the issue. By the way Sable looked at them, Calla suspected her first mate was trying really hard not to knock their heads against each other’s and send them scrubbing every inch of the deck instead.
In the end, Venn, Ignatius andThorianwere amongst the pirates siding with Sable.
Calla arched an eyebrow at Thorian, and he just rolled his eyes at her. She supposed that was fair for setting the prize without discussing it with her quartermaster first.
Gadrielle, Draven, and Nyxen buffed up Calla’s group.
Draven and Venn started making faces at each other from across the deck, making a few pirates chuckle.
Eryx looked between them, then they simply took a step back, pulling out of the expedition altogether.
Someone was missing.
Calla looked around the remaining pirates, and her eyes tripped on Riley, where they eventually settled with a silent question.
Riley shrugged, her shoulders slumped as she rubbed at her arm. “Think I’ll stay out of this one, captain, if you’ll allow it. Those dreams spooked me. I’d really rather not set foot on that island.”
Where just a few moments earlier almost half of Calla’s crew shared Riley’s apparent reticence, her words were now met with a few amused, indulgent laughs. Riley further shrunk in on herself, and something about that was so perfectly acted that Calla saw it for exactly that. An act. What was she playing at?
“You’ll stay guard with the others, then,” Calla said dismissively. “The rest of you, it’s time to head out!” She nodded at the deckhands. “Prepare the dinghies.”
