Anger flashed through her. The insufferable prick! Of course she didn’t have everything she wanted! It was late autumn now, she’d been working for him for months, and she was still working with the basic tools she’d bought out of her own wages. She’d bought all the canning supplies out of her own wages, was still buying cleaning supplies out of her own wages—and was still waiting for him to broach the subject of a household budget. Oh, he’d told her often enough that she could put anything she needed to buy on his accounts at the stores in Riada, but he only indirectly benefited from her having all the tools she’d like to have, and she didn’t feel easy about running up a bill without first getting his consent, and if he wasn’t observant enough to see what was going on in his own home, he’d hardly understand why having extra casserole dishes would be helpful.

“The kitchen could use a few things,” she said, working hard to keep from yelling at him.

He nodded. “I’ll make a deal with you. You hit the target three times out of six tries, you can buy everything you want for the kitchen. If you can’t find something you want in the shops in Riada, I’ll take you to Amdarh. Buy everything you’ve wanted but have been doing without and put it on my accounts.”

She stared at him. At home, she’d had to beg and plead to get anything that would have made her work easier. That was part of the reason she’d been reluctant to say anything to him. She hadn’t wanted him to think she was greedy or extravagant, especially when he was so generous with her wages. But now he was offering to let her fill the kitchen, like paying off a wager. All she had to do was win and she could buy more casserole dishes so she could make extra meals and store them in the freeze box so she could just heat them up during her moondays.

She took the skillet from him, swung, and threw it. Grim pleasure filled her when the skillet hit the hay bales before bouncing to the ground. It flew back to her, slowing and turning to present the handle to her hand.

More baking sheets so she wouldn’t have to waste time waiting for one batch to bake and cool before she could prepare the next. More pie plates so she could make a fruit pie and a steak pie to serve at the same meal.

She threw the skillet and hit the hay bales.

A good set of kitchen knives. Utensils that were actually designed for different functions. More wooden spoons.

She swung and threw.