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“Astrid,” she said to the dusty-blonde, “you’re with us.”
Which meant we got Chantal. Dread churned in my stomach. She was the last person I wanted, but I had no choice and waved her over.
“Okay, we have six tasks available. Does anyone have skills that would—”
“I speed skate,” Chantal offered. “They’ll put up Gwen, and I’ve beat her every time we’ve gone head-to-head. Plus, I’m highly motivated to win.”
Blair scoffed at the last part. “Aren’t we all?”
Chantal offered no other explanation, but I sensed there was more to what she was saying. Blair wanted the one-on-one time with Fitz, but Chantal needed it for some other reason.
“Anyone else volunteering for anything?” I couldn’t let us get derailed by infighting.
“I snowshoe with my father,” Sadie’s voice was hardly loud enough to be heard. “I can do that.”
“Great.” I looked at the only member of our team I didn’t know. “Minerva, any hidden talents?”
“Call me, Minny.” She shook her head. “I’m generally untalented, but I think I can sled down the hill.”
I liked her honesty. “Dagny, what do you want?”
She dropped the fistful of snow. “Target practice. I’m great with snowballs.”
Was there anything she didn’t put in her mouth? “How about the obstacle course? I’m afraid you’ll eat all the ammo in target practice.”
She saluted with gusto. “As you wish, ma’am.”
That left two final slots, lighting the fire and snowball target practice. “Blair, what are you thinking?”
“I want the fire,” she said with confidence. “I know I’m a good shot and everything, but I want to be the reason we win.”
I understood her motivation, but I also knew the risk. When I was little, we camped almost every weekend. My dad loved being outdoors. I hadn’t gone much since I was a kid, but I understood the difficulty of starting a fire from nothing in freezing conditions.
“You can do it? With the temperature, it’s going to be harder to get it to—”
“I can do it,” she snapped. “What would you know about it anyway? It’s not like you’re from here.”
She had a point. If we were going to have a chance, I needed everyone playing to their strengths. At least I knew how to throw a snowball.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Let’s get into position.”
The other group had already started for their places. It didn’t bode well that we were behind before we even started. Chantal left for the ice rink without a word, but at least she allowed Sadie to walk with her. Minny turned and started to climb the towering hill behind us. She had to be at the summit by the time Sadie snowshoed up there.
I faced Blair, doubts still lingering.
Asking Blair to defend herself again felt over the line. If she thought she could do it, then she could do it. I needed to trust her in order to build her trust in me. More than winning this competition, getting to know the competitors had to be my focus.
I trudged through the snow to the edge of the children’s playground and the start of the target course. As expected, Dagny was already playing on her obstacle course, aka the playground, while her competitor, Astrid, watched with a disapproving frown. I might have yelled for her to take things more seriously, but she needed to be familiar with the equipment. Maybe it would be a benefit to have her goof off until she was needed. Astrid, with her perfectly braided crown and snow bunny outfit, didn’t exactly look the type to crawl through a tunnel in the snow, let alone traverse the monkey bars.
“Oh, splendid,” a feminine voice sounded from my left, “I have the American.”
Nothing about Esmerey’s voice conveyed excitement. In truth, I wanted to be snarky right back at her, but, for whatever reason, Fitz had kept her and I needed to understand why. Was there something I couldn’t see or was she simply manipulative enough to fool him?
“Lady Esmerey,” I gave a Dahlia-like short curtsies to placate the noble, “how lovely to be paired with you.”
Her dark eyes narrowed with suspicion, as though she knew it couldn’t possibly be true. Like Astrid, she wore an outfit that had been tailored not only to fit her to perfection but designed to accentuate her features. The white jacket with black fur framed her face and added to her stunning beauty. As a bonus, she also blended in with the environment and made me feel like she was some Nolcovian black ops sniper ready to take me out with snowballs.
“Here.” She extended a leather bag toward me. “Fill it with snowballs. It makes the course easier.”
