So, as dusk settled and her friends were deep in a game of bones the crew had taught them—an absolute riot of fun—Eira excused herself. She was going to dare to head straight for Adela’s cabin, but ran into Crow first. The pirate gave her a knowing look and Eira shifted course to fall into step with her as she crossed to a nearby railing.
Eira rested her elbows on the rail next to Crow. “Is she all right?”
Crow jolted upward, brow furrowing. “How dare you even suggest that she?—”
“Fine.” Eira held up her hands and took a step back, trying to signal she hadn’t been looking for a fight—or to insult Adela. She leaned her hip against the railing and gave Crow a stern look. “I won’t ask the obvious. Instead, I’ll just wait for you to tell me the answers you know I’m looking for to the questions you’re already suspecting I’ll ask.”
Crow snorted softly and shook her head, gazing back to the horizon.
“I’m waiting.” Eira folded her arms over her chest.
“You really are a piece of work.” Crow sighed. But there was a slight smile on her lips and a knowing look to her dark eyes when she turned them back to Eira. “You’re just like her, you know that?”
Eira said nothing and waited. Perhaps she was channeling some of Adela’s energy in that moment. But it yielded results. So she hardly had any reason to be discouraged from doing so in the future, despite Crow sounding frustrated by it.
“She’s fine,” Crow said, finally. “But yesterday was harder than expected on her.”
“Alyss is a talented healer. She could?—”
“No,” Crow interrupted firmly. “Adela doesn’t like an audience to her weakness.”
“I can understand that, truly.” Eira allowed some of her own insecurities to seep in so Crow would know she was being serious. It seemed to work. “But it’s sometimes necessary to depend on the people around you, especially during the hard times.”
“You try telling her that.” Crow snorted.
“I will,” Eira said quickly. “If you don’t stop me.”
Crow straightened, looking down the bridge of her nose at Eira. For her part, Eira simply waited, staring up at the woman in a silent challenge. She allowed her statements to speak for themselves.
A low chuckle rose from the back of Crow’s throat. “Well, this was a fun talk, but I think I should go to bed now.”
Eira glanced at the setting sun. It was far too early for bed.
“See you in the morning.”
Crow headed for the crew’s quarters. Eira took her leaving as permission. She went straight for Adela’s cabin—none of the other pirates even so much as looked twice in her direction—and knocked on the door. There was a faint but dramatic sigh that was heavily forced to be audible through the door.
And then, “Come in, Eira.”
The door swung open, pulled by the pirate queen’s power. It was almost comical how well they knew each other’s magic by now. All day, without consciously realizing, Eira had subconsciously noticed the absence of Adela’s magic and had made necessary adjustments on her behalf. Just as Adela had known in less than a breath that it was Eira standing at the door.
Eira didn’t bother with her usual chair. Instead, she crossed to the bed and boldly sat on its edge as the door clicked shut behind her. Adela arched a brow, but didn’t object to the proximity.
“Is it magical, or physical?” She gave Adela a hard look. “Because if it’s magical, then I will assess. If it’s physical, then I’m getting Alyss, and that’s that,” she said matter-of-factly, hoping to convey with her tone alone that it wasn’t up for discussion.
“Looking after the pirate queen, are you? What would your empire think?” Adela adjusted herself in the bed, somehow seeming taller despite still lying down.
“I don’t care.” Eira shrugged. “For all I know, Vhalla, Aldrik, and Vi all died and the Solaris Empire is in chaos.”
“They left their spare behind—what’s his name?—Romulin, I think?” Adela mused, clearly trying to deflect.
“Magical, or physical?” Eira repeated, not about to allow Adela to distract them for long.
“Magical,” Adela said with yet another dramatic sigh.
“Very well.” Eira held out her hand over Adela’s chest, as if she were reaching right for her channel. It hovered in the air. The pirate queen stayed silent, for once not scolding her for tying a physical act to the use of her magic.
Finding Adela’s channel and manipulating it was now second nature. It only took Eira a second to have a firm grasp of it. A second more and she had it widened a little. Eira positioned hermagic in such a way that it could be held open for a bit longer without conscious thought, and then retracted her hand.
