Ethan laughed, smiling at me for the first time. “Good girl.”

Next to me, Shay swung and dipped the sword, trying it out.

“What do you think?” Adne asked, descending from the ladder and walking toward him.

“I’m not sure,” he said wistfully. “I wish I knew what the Elemental Cross was like. It would be nice to practice with something similar.”

“There’s nothing similar,” Connor said, hurling daggers at a practice dummy. Every blade landed squarely in the target’s chest. My stomach flipped over. Where will those blades lodge when we attack Eden? In the hearts of wolves I used to know? That I once fought beside?

“I guess.” Shay eyed the wall. “But none of these will be as good. I just wonder if practicing with them will be all that useful.”

“Stop insulting our weapons, Chosen One,” Connor said, whirling two swords rapidly before him. I took a couple steps back from the deadly flurry of blade strokes that Connor produced so casually. “They aren’t so bad.”

“I’m sure they aren’t.” Shay laughed. “I only meant . . .” He spread his hands helplessly. “Never mind.”

“I know what you meant.” Connor grinned. “And practice won’t hurt you, even if it’s not with your holy of holies Elemental Cross. If one-on-one is boring you, maybe you’re ready to try your hand against two of us at once?”

Shay looked at him and then at Adne. “I guess.”

“Don’t taunt him, Connor.” Adne shook her head. “Ignore him, Shay. You don’t have to try fighting both of us. That’s crazy.”

“I’m sorry,” Connor said. “Do your enemies usually stand in line waiting their turn?”

“Connor.” Adne put her hands on her hips.

“No,” Shay said, frowning. “He’s right. Let’s try it.”

“Are you sure?” Adne asked, though a smile crept over her mouth.

“Yeah,” Shay said, suddenly grinning. “Toss me another sword.”

“Let him try out the tsurugi,” Connor said. “Its hilt kind of looks like the Haldis.”

“Got it.” Adne went back to the wall, reaching for a slender, slightly curving sword.

“And what will my lady be using?” Connor asked. The casual way he twirled the swords in front of him demonstrated the fatal control he held over the weapons.

“Let’s see how he takes to qi jie bian,” Adne said. “That’s something different.”

“The chain whip?” Connor asked. “Not a bad idea.”

“He’s pretty good with whips.” I shivered, flashing back to the night of the union. The dark forest and Flynn’s wicked smile. The way she screamed when I tore her hand off, how Shay had snatched the shadowwhip from her severed limb’s grasp, in the next moment turning her own weapon against her.

“Is there anything you’re not good at?” Adne’s smile was blinding. I laced my fingers behind my back so I wouldn’t choke her.

“Golf,” Shay said with a grim smile. “I have no patience for it.”

The air hissed as he swept it with his blades.

Adne rolled her head back and forth, stretching her neck as she moved toward him. In each hand she held a wood-handled whip made of seven metal links. The end of each whip was tipped by a sharpened dart. They were frightening, appearing almost alive as they twisted through the air, guided by Adne’s graceful strokes.

“Those are whips?” Shay asked, gazing at the snaking metal Adne swirled easily before her body. The weapons didn’t look like any whip I’d laid eyes on.

“They are indeed,” she said, flicking her wrist. The silver links shot out, and before I could blink, the dart was impaled in the throat of a nearby practice dummy.

“Whoa,” Shay said, taking a step back.

“Not bad,” Adne said, jerking the whip free.

“And what are those?” I asked, watching as Connor strapped the short blades to his belt.

“Get close with those big teeth of yours and I’ll show you.”

Ethan snorted, raising his crossbow. “I’ll never understand why you like kataras.”

He fired four successive bolts into a dummy with startling speed.

Shay walked to the target. “How do you shoot that fast? I always thought crossbows were slow. Powerful, but slow.”

“You’re thinking of European crossbows,” Ethan said, coming to Shay’s side and jerking the bolts out of the dummy. “This bow is based on the Chinese design. Built for speed, not force. It has a magazine that loads a new bolt after each shot.”

I clasped my fingers over my chest, remembering too well how quickly Ethan’s bolts had lodged in my chest. He glanced at me, nodding. “If you can’t hit Guardians fast and often, you’re dead.”

Connor was eyeing Ethan’s bow disdainfully. “I’d get bored as hell using that thing.”

“Brute force isn’t the only way to fight,” Ethan replied.

“You’re just afraid of getting your hands dirty.” Connor pulled one of the kataras from his belt. His fingers wrapped around the handle, which ran horizontal to the short, wide blade.

“Bloody,” Adne said, gazing at the weapon. “The word you’re looking for is ‘bloody.’”

Connor cast a sidelong glance at her, drawing the other katara. In the blink of an eye his body blurred. He leapt through the air, twisting around the dummy, landing on the balls of his feet in a crouch behind the target.