Daggers and Deception (Smoke and Shadows Book 5) by L.L. Gray

Author:L.L. Gray [Gray, L.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Heroic Rose Publishing
Published: 2023-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

The dryad hurried to pull our knives from the targets as Diana and I settled on the rules for the tiebreaker. Diana wished to have another round of three throws each while I pushed for sudden death where we had one throw each and the one with the highest points won. Repeat as necessary. If I had my way, there wouldn’t be a need for more than one throw. Yes, I played the mortal card yet again. Why fix something that isn’t broken?

As fate would have it, the clouds Luna pushed to the side had been slowly closing back in on the moon during our first competition. By the time we retrieved our knives and settled on the rules for the sudden death tiebreaker, drifting clouds covered the moon once more. Weak beams of light barely broke through to anemically dribble down onto the wooden targets below.

Diana grimaced and shouted, “Luna! I need you!”

The dryad curtsied and murmured, “I believe she’s gone to bed.”

“Of course she has,” muttered Diana. “She’s the goddess of the moon and sleeps longer than Somnus himself!”

I shot a confused glance at the dryad. “Somnus is the god of sleep,” she whispered to me.

“Ah,” I said. I cleared my throat and started flipping a knife through the air, catching it first by the hilt and then by the tip. Thwack, hilt. Fwip, tip. Thwack, hilt. Fwip, tip. “Well, we don’t have to wait for her,” I offered.

“What about your weak mortal eyes?” Diana said snarkily.

I pretended to consider the target and then nodded. “Let me walk up and measure the distance with my stride. With that knowledge, I should be able to make a kill shot blindfolded.” Thwack, hilt. Fwip, tip.

Diana folded her arms across her chest and snorted in disbelief. “That is highly unlikely.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” I said easily. Thwack, hilt. Fwip, tip.

She narrowed her eyes to slits as she considered me. Finally, she nodded. “Agreed. But I will walk with you to ensure there is no funny business.”

Thwack, hilt. Fwip, tip. “Suit yourself,” I said.

We walked across the lush grass in silence, Diana sneaking glances at me as we neared the target. I ignored her, continuing to flip the blade back and forth. I looked over at her target. The three gouges from her triple bullseye were easy to see from this distance. I pointed at her target with my free hand. “That really is impressive,” I said. Thwack, hilt. Fwip, tip. “I mean, that type of cluster is the work of an artist. Really.” Thwack, hilt.

Diana nodded her acceptance and then pointed at my target. “Indeed. My score resulted from pure skill whereas yours was dumb luck.”

“Hey now! That’s not very ni…ouch!” I flipped the knife from hilt to tip again, but fumbled it in the darkness. The tip of the blade scored a shallow cut along the pad of my index finger. I blushed furiously as I stuck the wounded digit in my mouth and bent to retrieve the fallen knife.

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