Frecco innocently lifted his hands. “I’m only playing, Mind Capturer. I’ve heard all about your incredible skills. I just didn’t know they were circus tricks.”
Frelina laughed harder, and she shook her head when Frecco threw a wink her way.
She knew exactly what he was doing.
“Circus tricks…” Raine’s voice sounded quite similar to Merrick’s when the latter was raging, but Frelina continued to giggle as he turned to Frecco. “I’ll show you circus tricks, boy.”
Red streaks appeared on Raine’s neck as he glared at the Fae, and Frelina started to creep up behind him, keeping one eye on the blades resting by his sides and the other on the people around them.
It appeared as if most of the progress that occurred yesterday had faded with the rebels’ attack. Humans, Fae, and shifters again kept their distance from each other, and once more, the mistrust in the air was as sharp as the many dark rock formations sticking out of the water around their ship.
Loche’s ship, which they were now on, sailed in the middle, two ships flanking it while the others had had to disperse around them to avoid sailing into the rocky isles and stones hidden beneath the surface. The wyverns who had swum far beneath the surface had come up to let them know they’d swim ahead and meet everyone at the final gathering spot—that they needed to avoid the treacherous area as it disrupted their speed.
The regent and Iviry still hadn’t returned from a meeting they’d been in since dawn, but Frelina and Raine had left early to help get the training of the day—or rather the show to create some sort of unity—started.
As more people started to understand the game she and Frecco were playing, the thick silence that had layered across every ship since last night shifted into low mumbles, a slight snicker here and there breaking through the apprehension.
Frecco’s eyes darted to hers for a second, and she knew it was the sign for her to get ready.
“Can’t get into my mind?” Frecco pushed out his bottom lip, his light eyes twinkling as he stared at Raine approaching him. “I’m a blocker, Raine. Mind magic doesn’t work on me unless I want it to. You’ll have to use your circus blades.”
An ember of worry trembled inside her at Raine’s growl, but Frecco seemed entirely unbothered as he flicked his own sword from hand to hand.
“Watch it,” Raine snarled. “You saw what I did yesterday.”
“Oh, I did.” Frecco laughed. “You took down almost all of them, and yet…”
Frelina made her every nerve and muscle focus.
“Yet what?” Raine hissed as he took the final step to reach Frecco.
Frelina leaped, one arm flying out to grip Raine’s tunic as she wrapped her legs around his waist, and the other grasping her sword, lining it up perfectly with his proud neck.
Making sure the sharp blade wouldn’t cut him, she leaned forward and whispered, “And yet a small half-Fae just killed you.”
Raine stood still as death, not even his chest moving, as the people around them started laughing, a few of the Fae clapping their hands at seeing the Mind Capturer outmaneuvered.
But just as Frelina was about to hop off, the Fae warrior moved, and she found herself with her legs locked around his back, her sword clattering to the floor with Raine’s blades as his armscircled her waist.
“Good work,” Raine purred as his eyes challenged hers. “Very. Good. Work.”
She felt the words from her toes, a rush of heat shooting through her body.
A half smile tilted his lips before he turned his head Frecco’s way again. “If you ever do that again…”
A shadow of fear crawled across Frecco’s features, and he winced as he backed away, quickly approaching a human woman who’d stepped forward and taking her to another part of the training ring.
Raine’s consuming gaze came back to Frelina’s, and she wasn’t sure if it was rage or pride that had him storm a few feet away so that they stood in the shade of the mast above them.
He didn’t release her as he halted by the railing, and she decided it was anger when he muttered, “Stupid fucking boy.”
“Come on, it was a joke.” Frelina bounced her brows at him. “It lightened the mood around here. Which was very much needed, if you ask me.”
“I didn’t like it,” Raine grumbled, his eyes narrowing.
“That I won over you?” Frelina wrinkled her nose. “I cheated, Raine. I?—”
“No,” he growled. “I want you to win. I don’t like you and him.”
