Page 106 of Winterveil

It really was for Nadiya, then. Klaudia could provide no help here.

Nadiya began to pace around the clearing, squinting up at the sky. The false sun filtered through the fog, just bright enough to cause a glare. Klaudia wasn’t normally inclined to attribute malice to what could be explained by coincidence, but Deckard seemed to truly enjoy tormenting them.

“Deckard has to be kidding,” Julian said, as if reading her thoughts. “You can’t make that shot.”

Nadiya turned toward them, dark eyes smoldering. “Watch me.”

As Nadiya cocked the pistol and raised her arm, Klaudia wondered if Julian had actually meant to provoke her. Spite and defiance were powerful motivators, and it appeared that he knew Nadiya well enough to work her levers. There was something both admirable and unsettling about it—the subtle skill of social manipulation Klaudia could never acquire.

Nadiya’s arm extended in a perfectly straight line. Her movements were graceful, almost balletic. The world seemed to slow as the shot fired, bullet cracking the air. In that moment, it seemed almost more like an art than a means to an end, a beautiful form of violence.

The branches quivered overhead. Pine needles rained down, and the supply bag plummeted to the ground.

Somehow it felt appropriate to observe a moment of silence—or perhaps Klaudia was simply at a loss for words. Giselle said, awestruck, “You did it.”

“You doubted me?” Nadiya arched a brow.

“No,” Giselle said. “Not really. But I can still be amazed, can’t I?”

A smile lifted the corner of Nadiya’s mouth. “I guess I’ll allow it.”

Something passed between them, something even Klaudia’s wanting social skills allowed her to perceive. It was a fondness beyond friendship. It made her feel a sense of both warmth and loneliness. That sort of connection was something Klaudia would never be permitted. Would never permit herself.

Julian was watching them closely, too. His gaze lifted briefly and met Klaudia’s. Neither of them spoke, but her pulse skipped. Her own moment of weakness.

“Let’s see what’s inside,” Klaudia said, shaking off the slipup. “Maybe Deckard has been unexpectedly generous.”

She picked up the supply bag, which was surprisingly heavy, and spilled out its contents. The four of them gathered in a tight circle, Crispin remaining at the periphery, and examined what Deckard had provided.

Three more pistols, all of them ringed with that signature Auric gold. Several cartridges of bullets. Nadiya picked up one of the pistols and peered down its barrel.

“Please tell me these are foam bullets,” Julian said. He looked vaguely ill.

“No,” said Nadiya. “They’re real.”

Julian exhaled shakily. “And I suppose there’s no chance you’re going to grow two extra arms and use all four of them at once.”

“Not unless Deckard has also included some kind of experimental enhancement drug.” Nadiya held out the gun to him. “I think there’s one for each of us.”

Klaudia’s heart sank. The implication was obvious. Real humans, like the man in the bowler hat, and now real bullets. Giselle looked even more nauseated than Julian.

Nadiya cocked her head. “Didn’t you have to take a basic weapons management course at Valeran?”

“I may or may not have bribed a first year to do my shooting for me when the instructor wasn’t looking.”

“Bribed them with what?”

“I wrote a military history paper for them.” Julian grimaced. “And . . . I may or may not have told them I’d have my father mail a check.”

“You’re impressively dishonorable,” Nadiya said, “even for Valeran.”

“You’d be surprised by how many options you have once you stop caring about things like honor.”

Julian had said something similar during the confrontation with Carter. Maybe he was being truthful when he claimed he no longer valued such lofty ideals. The actions that had led him to Valeran in the first place certainly seemed to suggest that.

But . . . he could have walked away. Or worse, taken Carter up on his sickening proposal. Instead, he had protected her, risked his own reputation, his own standing at the academy, to help her. That was not the behavior of a boy without honor.

“Yet you draw the line at firing a gun?” Nadiya asked. “Seriously? Don’t you want revenge against Deckard? Don’t you want to make him feel afraid?”