Page 22 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal

“He’s a friend,” I said.“And for whatever reason, I agreed to the bargain.I have to do something.”

“No.You don’t.”She turned back to the target.“And I can’t help you.I don’t know anything about djinn.”

“But you know the fey.”

“I know you shouldn’t break a bargain with them.”Her last dagger soared through the air and hit high.“Did you talk to Jared about this?”

“I tried calling before I came down here.He’s too busy doing ‘important things’”—the air quotes were obvious in my tone—“and couldn’t spare a second to talk.”

Nora retrieved the knives, then returned to her spot.

“Can I try?”I asked, motioning to the blades in her hand.

Ice-blue eyes studied me a moment before she shrugged, then handed one over.

I squared off to the target, lifted the knife to my ear like Nora had, then I let it fly.It bounced off the board just outside the paper target and clattered to the floor.My mouth tightened into a frown.

Nora launched two blades.Both hit within the blue circle.Show-off.

“You have to give the token to the night king.Jared will tell you the same thing.”

“There has to be something we can try.”

“We”—she bull’s-eyed her next dagger—“won’t help you do anything that might threaten your well-being or the stability of the Null.”

“Garion’s given me until dawn tomorrow.Twenty-six hours.If you won’t—”

“Even he knows you can’t fix this.Take his advice.”

She handed me another knife, and I launched it harder than necessary.It ricocheted off the board and then skated across the cement floor, spinning for a surprisingly long time before it finally came to a stop.I glared at it.I wanted to stab or strike something, and these blades weren’t cooperating.

“Thordis taught me to throw,” Nora said.“She’ll teach you if you ask.”

“I’d do better with ninja stars,” I grumbled.

“Over there.”Nora waved a hand toward the mini-bar.I hadn’t been serious, but sure enough, severalshurikenwere set next to the open bottle of wine.

Well, why not?

I walked to the mini-bar.Four identical “stars” rested on top of a flat, black faux-leather case.Carefully, I picked one up.The blades curved out from the center like wolves’ claws, ready to rip and tear and maim.Only the tips were sharp though, which allowed me to hold it closer to the center without slicing my fingers open.

I picked up a second star, then returned to the middle of the basement where Nora waited.

Nora bull’s-eyed yet again.

I lifted my first ninja star and launched it.It struck the forehead area of the paper and stuck—

The star dropped to the floor.

Annoyed, I pressed my lips together and waited for Nora to let fly her next knife.

We alternated turns again, her throwing twice, me once, her once, then me again, then her twice more before we gathered our weapons.Eventually my stars did embed and stay.Most didn’t hit the paper target, but it was still strangely satisfying to slice into the wood.

Tension began to ease from my jaw and shoulders.For close to ten minutes, we flung our respective blades.My arm was beginning to hurt, and my aim worsened.When I missed the board completely and embedded theshurikeninto the wall, I decided to call it quits.This had cleared my mind, but I needed to fill it with ideas to save both Garion and myself.

“You could always tell my father you’re meeting a royal fey.”Nora placed her knives on the mini-bar beside my ninja stars.

“I don’t want to kill anyone.”Kill anyoneagain, I added in my head.I was directly responsible for the deaths of at least three paranorms within the same number of months.I didn’t regret ending Arcuro’s life, but ending Shelli’s a few days ago and one of her werewolf allies several weeks before?Those didn’t sit right.Both had been defenseless when I killed them.The first had triggered the magic that protected my family from paranorms whointendedto do us harm.I’d ended the werewolf’s agony with a blade through his heart.I’d ended Shelli’s with one slice across her throat.Because Lehr hadinsisted.