arm back, preparing to throw my spear, but even if my aim was true and my velocity stellar, my pointy stick would probably glance off the compact wall of muscle coming at me. When I was younger, Iba had taught me that the best way to disarm your enemy, when outnumbered or outpowered, was by using the element of surprise. He’d demonstrated this when we’d jousted with reeds in place of swords. As I went for the final blow, Iba had dusted his face to look like Pappy, and although we weren’t supposed to use any magic, and I knew it was a trick, it halted me long enough for him to sweep my legs out from underneath me and pin me under his play sword.
As my strategy firmed up, the tigri launched itself at me, gilded fur rippling around its protruding haunches. I flexed my fingers around my spear and transformed it into a net of barbed wire, which I tossed at the animal. It snarled as it made contact, then howled as it became so tangled in the spiky mesh that it smacked into the ground. Remo, who’d raced behind it, jumped and plunged the spear into the beast’s neck. Right before my companion’s body could land on the prickly metal, I summoned my dust back.
Scowling, he yanked his weapon out of the beast’s neck, the flesh squishing wetly around the whittled wood. Remo’s gaze was so full of anger and anguish and a hundred other murky emotions that I felt like I’d done something wrong even though my only wrong move had been displaying my magic.
Hopefully, no one had been privy to the little show.
“What the fuck was that?” Baldie asked, popping out from a yellow thicket with two spears and a machete.
Remo’s lips were a thin line on his chiseled, blood-streaked face.
I feigned innocence. “What was what?”
“The fucking wire thingie. Where did you get it from?”
“What wire?” I asked.
“The thing that took down the cat!” Baldie’s tall forehead glowed with exertion and annoyance.
I frowned. Although Nima could see right through my lies, this man didn’t know me from Adam or Eve. Maybe he’d fall for my subpar acting skills. “Remo took down the cat with his spear.”
Remo’s biceps tightened as he readjusted his grip on his bloodied spear. “I’m not sure what you saw, Quinn. Besides my companion acting like a reckless child,” he bit out under his breath as he turned away from me. “How many tigers left?”
“One. Next to the train site.”
“Let’s go.” Without a backward glance at me, he stalked away, shoving past the leathery plants.
Stunned by his attitude, I stayed planted in my spot almost a full minute.
“I’m not crazy, little girl. I know I saw something,” Quinn growled before going after Remo.
Grumbling, I took off after them, unhooking my sash before grappling with the edge of the tunic. That Quinn acted hateful was one thing; that Remo did . . . well that pissed me off.
“Remo, wait!”
He didn’t.
I got in front of him, pulled off his sodden top, and slapped it into his arms. A muscle feathered his jaw as he flung it over his shoulder and brushed past me.
“Are you mad because I chose to die?” I wasn’t one for letting things fester.
He halted, then slowly, turned. “I could’ve protected you,” he gritted out.
More shouting rang through the jungle. Muttering under his breath, Baldie hastened, vanishing behind the dense vegetation.
Remo hinged around and took off again. Although his pace was hurried and he pointedly ignored me, he held up the tawny lianas longer than was necessary. Was it because he’d noticed the mark on my forehead and didn’t trust me not to get walloped upside the head a second time?
At some point, I cinched his wrist, forcing him to stop again.
“This isn’t the time, Trifecta. They need our help.” He still wouldn’t look at me, as though he’d looked his fill and could no longer stand the sight of me.
“You might’ve been able to protect me, but injured as I was, I couldn’t protect you. So I apologize for leaving again, Remo, but I needed to heal.”
His gaze finally slammed into mine, just as feral as the purple wildcat’s. “Protect me?” His lips curled as though he found a princess protecting a faerie guard ridiculous.
Although I recoiled, I didn’t let go of his wrist.
“What I need is for you to stop choosing death, Amara! What if the next time, you don’t come back?”
“They said we always come back.”
“Because you trust