“It’s hard not to rush when a Giant is swinging a ten-foot-long spiked club at you.”
I roll my eyes. “You got too close.”
“I couldn’t hit it otherwise!” He rakes his hand through his hair, spiking it into an even wilder mess.
I bat Flynn’s hand down. “You’re going to turn yourself bald. ‘Don’t rush’ doesn’t mean you can’t move, or fight. Just relax, and don’t rush the release. Wait until it feels right.”
His mouth flattening, he concentrates and throws again. The knife sticks a good two feet below the knot and a little to the right. Flynn shouts in triumph.
“Good!” I say. “You got him in the stomach. Belly wounds are the worst.”
He glances at me. “Speaking from experience?”
I arch a brow. “As if I’d let some idiot impale me.”
Flynn makes a strangled sound.
“What?” I ask.
“You’re right, Cat.” Coming up next to me, Kato seems terribly serious all of a sudden. “Don’t let just anyone impale you. Only someone special.”
My mouth falls open. It’s possible to turn kalaberry red, and if the heat in my face is any indication, I do. They’re ridiculously pleased with themselves, grinning like sirens with sailors on the horizon. I shake my head, but the corners of my mouth jump up in an involuntary response that has nothing to do with my having fun. Because I’m not. At. All.
“Concentrate!” I snap, turning back to the target. If I had a whip, I’d crack it. Or maybe not. They’d have too much to say about that.
Chuckling, Kato picks up a knife, draws back, and then throws. The hilt bounces off the base of the tree, and his lips purse in annoyance. “This is harder than it looks.”
“That’s one of the lighter knives, a floater. It’s not as stable, and the target is too far for it. Try this one.” I hand him a heavier blade and then guide his hand around the hilt as if he were holding a hammer. “Remember, stiff wrist or you can’t control the rotations.”
His blue eyes narrowing on the target, Kato takes a deep breath, getting a feel for the knife in his hand. When he throws, he hits the bottom of the knot and lets out an ear-shattering whoop. I can’t help smiling—a huge, idiotic, smeared-across-my-entire-face smile. Three days ago, neither of them could hit a tree.
Beta Sinta wanders over, ruining my mood. “It’s good that you’re teaching them, Cat. You’re good at that.”
“At teaching or at throwing?” Instead of looking at him, I release one of my daggers, burying it to the hilt in the center of the knot. It’s so close to my other knife that the two vibrate against each other in a metallic song.
“Both,” he answers.
“And I’m supposed to care what you think?”
His jaw works like he’s grinding his teeth—or chewing up an irritated response. “I’m glad you’re working with them,” he says evenly. “It was a compliment.”
I put my hand over my heart, inhaling dramatically. “That makes abducting me and threatening my friends so much better.”
A frustrated sound rasps in Beta Sinta’s throat. “You never let up, do you?”
I glare at him, my voice cold enough to sprout icicles. “Why would I? I’m neither a guest nor a friend.”
A muscle bounces in his cheek. He takes a knife from his belt, buries it in the birch next to my two, and then walks away.
I huff. At least he doesn’t need throwing lessons. “Why didn’t he blind the Giant?”
“He got the other eye.” Flynn shrugs. “And I needed the practice. You shouldn’t goad him, you know.”
I snort. “It’s the only fun I have.”
Flynn sighs, a gusty sound full of censure. “You helped us with the Giant. You’re teaching Kato and me to throw. You’ve told us things about magic and the north, things we never would have known. You’re part of this team now, and half the time you even act like it, whether you mean to or not. It’s not a bad place to be. We watch each other’s backs.”
“I watch my own back.” I always have.
“It’s better to have friends doing it,” Flynn says.
“I have friends! They’re at the circus.”
His lips mash together. He can’t argue with that. “You’re not a guest, that’s true. Whether you’re a friend, though, Cat…that’s up to you.”
My whole body goes still. My heart rate accelerates. Flynn is extending an olive branch. I can practically see it in his hand. I can also think of about a hundred nasty things to say, but they just won’t shove past the lump in my throat. Gods, I’m such an idiot.
“We worked hard and fought bloody battles to be where we are,” Kato says. “People will be jealous of how you just danced into the inner circle.”
“I didn’t dance here. I was dragged.”
He hands me a knife, grinning. “I keep forgetting that.”
Even if it’s a joke, his lie still ignites an inferno in my bones. Pain roars through me, and I shudder. Hiding it seems pointless now.
“Sorry,” Kato murmurs, frowning at the blast of internal fire he knows he inadvertently caused.
I shake off the burn and throw the knife, hitting the target again.
“You’re an asset,” Flynn continues, sweeping his big hand toward the knot with my blades dead center. “Good for more than just your magic.”