Asher stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Can someone explain this dodging of daggers?”
Emon sighed. “It’s an initiation for new recruits. The new initiate has to throw a dagger at their superior while blindfolded. If they hit them then they are able to ask their superior any truth and become an initiate, if they miss them, then the superior may either deny the initiate to join or ask then for a truth. It’s been modified to a drinking game to kill the boredom.”
I elbowed him hard and he grunted. “You missed explaining the reasoning.” I turned to Asher. “It tells you several things about them.” I raised three fingers up, counting down. “One, their weapon skills past sight and aim. Two, their inquisition skills. And three…the most important one of all, if they could ever catch a wisp for you.”
“You gotta be shitting me.” Xi sputtered through her white hair covering her face. “I’ve seen you determine those first two within meeting new recruits in seconds. Which means you have been testing all of us this whole goddess damn time to see who can catch a fucking wisp?”
I shrugged with a small smile. “Like gnomes, wisps are incredibly useful. Why do you think you and Riley were promoted so quickly?”
Xi grinned. “My life is a lie.”
Riley shook his head next to her chuckling.
Tyr grinned and gave the air a large sniff. “Let’s do this. One of you two old timers has a strong-smelling sort of spirit in that cellar. Let’s all drink when someone fails, to make this more interesting.”
“That would mean all of us will be drinking since one of us is always going to fail.” Riley pointed out.
Tyr licked at his fang, grinning. “Exactly.”
Penina practically bounced in her seat, her brown eyes as well as her personality back to their normal warmth. “I volunteer to dodge.”
I raised a brow at her. “You think you can dodge me, shifter?”
Her brown eyes sparkled with the challenge. “I know I can, shadow fae.”
Chapter 64
Thelargewoodentablewas shoved to the far wall. Asher ordered Bane to bring up multiple bottles of spirits he called Dragon’s Breath from the cellar—Bane’s own sadistic brew he had been creating while in exile.
One sniff of it made my eyes water. It wasn’t easy for a fae to get drunk but it seemed Bane found a way to make it possible and I wondered if it was because of the one shifter in the room he continued to watch with simmering anger.
I glanced at Penina who stroked the throwing knives on the table, ignoring Bane’s blatant stare. “Why silver?”
I picked one up and raised it in the light. The metal gleamed and I studied my own reflection within its metallic depths. “Silver is symbolic of feminine tranquility, awareness, and intuition. Wisps are particularly attracted to these attributes.”
I passed her the throwing dagger which she took eagerly, testing its balance in a series of spins and flips.
I continued. “But more importantly silver represents strength, clarity, and persistence, the wisdom of self reflection.” I snatched the dagger she tossed mid air and balanced the pointed tip on my finger to hold it at eye level. “Every fae must be able to look at their reflection one day and live with the blood that stains their blades. If you cannot, then you don’t deserve the silver you killed with.”
“I need a set.” She whispered reverently.
I laughed, shaking my head. “Your king has already pointed out that I don’t believe in coincidences. I have eight blades. There are eight of us here. One of these has your name on it, Penina Sythe.” I reached for her hand and placed the silver knife into it. Curling her fingers around the sharp blade. “May you always accept who you are in your reflection.”
I glanced up at Emon and realized that this was what he had done for me. He destroyed the mirror, the horrible reflection of myself that I had defined myself by and then he made it anew. Piece by piece he stole my shattered heart, glued back my soul, and then forced me to look in the mirror again—to see that the darkness was also the most beautiful part of who I was.
I studied those golden eyes so full of warmth while he spoke to his father and I swallowed down the burning gratitude I felt for the shifter that had stolen a piece of me I didn’t realize I had left.
Penina’s boney elbow shoved into my side and whispered. “Asher is convincing Emon to take you somewhere. I suggest you go with him tonight. You won’t get another chance to be alone once we set out for the Sanguine.”
Startled, I looked down at her still flipping the blade. “How do you know that?”
She shrugged, her look far away from anything happening in this room. “Shifter hearing.”
I hummed, studying her profile with scrutiny. She couldn’t fool me. I knew that distant look. I had seen it many times reflected in the turquoise eyes of my last lover. The seer sight had plagued Deirdre too and from Penina’s cryptic words and actions, her sight was extremely powerful. She saw timelines…not just glimpses of the future.
I dropped my voice. “Care to take your own advice and make amends with Bane?”
Penina's lost look snapped to me with surprise.
