Dark Heart of Magic

  Like getting revenge on Victor Draconi for murdering my mom.

  Devon sat down beside me, his shoulder brushing mine in a silent show of support. I didn’t look at him because I didn’t want to see or especially feel the soft sympathy that was surely shining in his eyes right now. It would just make me like him more than I already did. I might be a sucker for a cute guy, but I was no fool. And since I planned on leaving the Sinclairs and Cloudburst Falls as soon as I could, there was no point in starting something up with Devon when it would just end all too soon.

  Especially when I already cared way too much about him.

  Devon pressed his shoulder against mine again, then slid a couple of inches away, giving me the space he realized I needed.

  We sat there, munched on our apples, and watched the flow of tourists. The tense, awkward silence between us slowly eased and mellowed, and the white stars and bad memories faded away. Yeah, I wished that my mom was still alive, but she would have been happy that I was here with Devon. My mom had worked for the Sinclairs before me, and she would have been proud to see what a great guy Devon had become—and that her saving him, sacrificing herself for him, hadn’t all been for nothing.

  Ten minutes later, Devon and I finished our apples and tossed the sticks into a nearby trash can.

  Devon looked over at Felix, who was still chatting up that Salazar guard. “If he keeps that up, he’s going to get in trouble with his girlfriend.”

  “What girlfriend?” I tried to make my voice light, but it didn’t quite work.

  Devon snorted. “The one he’s always sneaking off to see. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. Felix is always slipping out of the mansion with a rose or some chocolate or something else he thinks she’ll like. The boy’s got it bad.”

  I shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll move on to someone else soon enough. Look how he’s flirting with that guard. Do you really think any girl—much less a bona fide girlfriend—would put up with that?”

  Devon shrugged back. “Depends on the girl and how she feels about Felix. I don’t know why he bothers flirting with other girls when it’s obvious how crazy he is about her.” He drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I know exactly how he feels.”

  He didn’t look at me, which was a good thing, considering the tomato-red blush staining my cheeks. A couple of weeks ago, Devon had told me how he felt about me, but I’d shot him down, saying we should stick to being friends. This was the first time he’d directly mentioned his feelings since then. I wondered why he was bringing them up now and how much longer I could keep turning him down, instead of giving in and seeing if he kissed as good as he looked—

  “Oh, look,” a snide voice called out. “It’s Tweedledum and Tweedledee.”

  A shadow fell over me, blocking out the sun, and I looked up to find a tall, blond guy with cold brown eyes standing in front of me. He wore a red T-shirt with a snarling gold dragon stretched across his wide chest, and a gold cuff with the same dragon crest flashed on his right wrist.

  Blake Draconi, the Draconi Family bruiser, Victor’s son.

  And the guy who’d helped murder my mom.

  CHAPTER THREE

  White-hot rage surged through me, burning away everything else.

  Blake was Victor’s second-in-command, and he was just as dangerous and depraved as his father was. He’d been in our apartment the day Victor had tortured my mom, leaving nothing behind but her bloody, broken body.

  This time, I couldn’t stop my hand from curling around the hilt of my sword. Devon put his arm across the back of the bench, cupping his hand around my shoulder, his fingers pressing into my arm in a faint, but clear warning.

  “Blake,” Devon said in a cool voice. “Where are your friends? It’s odd to see you without your entourage. Or did you give them the day off?”

  Blake smiled, but it was an ugly expression. “I don’t need my friends the way you do, Sinclair. I see you’re out with your bodyguard again.” He turned his gaze to me. “If you ever want to see how a real man would treat you, honey, just give me a call.”

  Blake puckered his lips and blew me a kiss. I focused on his smug smile instead of his eyes. I had no desire for my soulsight to kick in and let me feel all of Blake’s perverted imaginings.

  “Sure,” I replied. “And the next time you want someone to make you whimper and bring you to your knees, just give me a call, honey. I’ve got lots of practice doing that. Or don’t you remember that wrist lock I put you in a few weeks ago?”

  Blake’s cheeks flushed with anger. His hand dropped to his own sword, and he stepped forward—

  “Blake! There you are.”

  A beautiful girl with golden hair and dark blue eyes rushed up to Blake. Deah Draconi, his younger sister, who just happened to be the Juliet to Felix’s Romeo.

  Deah realized that her brother had stopped to talk to someone, and she turned and smiled, ready to greet whoever it was. Then she realized that it was Devon and me, and the smile slipped off her face.

  “Devon. Lila,” she said.

  “Deah,” Devon and I replied in unison.

  Deah looked at Devon and me; then her gaze flicked left and right, searching for Felix. She spotted him, still talking to that pretty Salazar guard. Anger sparked in her eyes, and her mouth pinched in a frown.

  Felix must have felt Deah’s hot stare because he glanced over at her. He froze, then shot the Salazar guard a quick smile and scurried over to us. Devon and I both got to our feet so that we were standing in front of Blake and Deah. Felix took up a position by my side. He shrugged his shoulders to Deah in a silent apology, but he didn’t dare say anything to her. Not with Blake around.

  “Oh, look,” Blake sneered again. “There’s another Tweedle to add to this collection of stupid.”

  Felix’s hands clenched into fists, and a muscle ticked in his jaw. I sidled forward so that I was closer to Blake than he was. Felix could throw a few punches, but Blake had a strength Talent and would hurt Felix just because it amused him. Devon stepped up beside me.

  Blake looked back and forth between the three of us. He scoffed and opened his mouth—

  “Hey! Felix! Devon! Blake! Deah!” a cheerful voice called out.

  Startled, all five of us turned to look at the girl who came bouncing up to our hostile group, wondering who would dare to include Devon and Blake in the same sentence.

  The girl was gorgeous. Seriously, model gorgeous, with dark red hair and the biggest, brightest hazel eyes I’d ever seen. She was one of those petite people you’d describe as a whirlwind of energy—a real dynamo, despite her small size. She smiled at Devon, revealing a perfect set of dimples that made her even prettier.

  I didn’t know who she was, but the others did because they all nodded at her, even Blake and Deah.

  The girl wore a green peasant blouse and black shorts with cute, strappy black sandals. An emerald solitaire pendant glinted in the hollow of her throat, the stone sparkling in a way that told me how real and expensive it was. Oversize sunglasses perched on top of her head, while a green handbag dangled off her right arm.

  I focused on the sword belted to her waist, admiring the wolf scrollwork that covered the hilt. A black blade like that was worth even more than her necklace. And the girl carried herself in a confident manner that said she knew exactly how to use the weapon.

  Devon smiled back at the girl, and the two of them exchanged a quick hug. “Katia. It’s nice to see you again.”

  Deah noticed me frowning at them. She raised her eyebrow and smirked, clearly realizing that I was jealous. I ignored her.

  Katia turned to Felix and gave him a slow, lingering smile that deepened her dimples. “Hey, Felix.”

  “I . . . uh. . . .” Felix’s mouth kept opening and closing, and opening and closing, as though the sight of her stunned him so much that he couldn’t form a single coherent thought.

  Something that made Deah frown and me smirk at her.

  “Hey, Katia,” Felix finally mu
mbled.

  Despite the fact that his clothes were still slathered with persimmon pulp from our encounter with the tree troll, Katia went over, opened her arms, and enfolded Felix in a tight hug that went on . . . and on . . . and on . . . before she pulled back and kissed his cheek.

  Deah’s expression cranked up from frown to all-out glower. I smirked at her again, and she focused her glare on me for a moment before turning it back to Katia.

  But Katia didn’t seem to notice the other girl’s hostile expression, and she nodded at Deah and Blake. A wink of light caught my eye, and I realized that Katia was wearing a silver cuff stamped with a wolf’s head. So she belonged to the Volkov Family. Weird. I’d never seen her around before, and I’d made it a point to know all the guards and important members of the Families, so I wouldn’t be tempted to steal from the wrong person when I was picking pockets on the Midway.

  Devon realized that I didn’t know who the girl was, and he held out his hand, pointing to her, then me. “Katia Volkov, this is Lila Merriweather. Lila, Katia.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Katia said, smiling.

  I nodded. “You too.”

  “Katia lives up north in New York, near Bigtime,” Devon explained. “Carl, her dad, is Nikolai Volkov’s brother. Carl and Katia head up the Family branch where they live.”

  “A much smaller branch, from the rumors I’ve heard,” Blake piped up. “It’s just you and your dad now, right?”

  Katia’s smile slipped a bit. “Yeah. Just us now.”

  “Come to town for the tournament?” Devon asked.

  Katia’s unease melted away, and her face warmed again. “Yep, representing the Volkovs. Are you competing again this year?”

  Devon nodded. “I am.”

  Blake snorted. “Not that he has any chance of winning.” He slung his arm around his sister’s shoulder. “In case you all have forgotten, Deah is the defending champion, and she’s the favorite to win the tournament again this year.”

  Deah shrugged off his arm, then looked at Katia. “But you gave me a really good fight last year.”

  Her voice wasn’t unkind, but Katia’s smile vanished, and she didn’t respond. Nobody liked to be reminded that she’d lost.

  I hated to be a totally clueless tourist rube, but I had no idea what they were talking about. “Um, what tournament?”

  All five of them looked at me like they couldn’t believe I’d asked that question.

  “The Tournament of Blades,” Devon said. “The Families sponsor it every summer.”

  “Yeah,” Felix added. “Several people are picked from each Family, and they all compete out at the fairgrounds until there’s just one person left.”

  “Oh. That.”

  I did know what they were talking about—I’d just never actually gone to the tournament. I’d asked my mom once if we could go, the last summer she’d been alive, but she’d told me no, that there was too great a risk of someone from one of the Families recognizing her. She’d left the Sinclairs and Cloudburst Falls before I’d been born, and she had never let anyone except for Mo know that we came back to town every summer.

  After she’d been murdered, I’d been so busy getting shipped from one foster home to another, then striking out on my own and trying to steal enough to make ends meet, that I hadn’t paid much attention to the tournament, except for all the extra tourists it brought to town, giving me more phones and cameras to swipe and take to Mo to fence.

  “You seem to know an awful lot about the tournament, Morales,” Blake sneered, “for someone who’s never actually entered.”

  Felix’s hands clenched into fists again, and an embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks.

  “And you talk a lot for someone whose kid sister beat him out at the tournament last year,” I shot right back.

  Blake opened his mouth to make some snide remark, but Deah put her hand on his arm.

  “Let’s go,” she said. “We’ve wasted enough time with these losers. We need to practice for the tournament, remember?”

  “Yeah. Right.”

  But Blake wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about the contest as he’d been before. He glowered at me again; then he and Deah headed down the path away from us.

  Devon, Felix, and Katia all relaxed as soon as the Draconis vanished from view, but I kept glaring at the spot where Blake had disappeared.

  Katia wrinkled her nose. “Um, what’s that smell?”

  Felix winced. “Oh, that’s us. We were dealing with a tree troll earlier.”

  “We were just on our way back to the mansion to get cleaned up,” Devon said.

  Katia nodded. “Maybe we can catch up tomorrow then.”

  She might have been talking to Devon, but she looked at Felix as she said the words.

  “Sure,” Felix said. “That would be great. Just text me.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  Katia leaned over and kissed him on the cheek again. She gave him another bright smile, waved goodbye to Devon and me, and moved off into the crowd.

  Devon and I waited until she was gone before we both looked at Felix.

  “What’s your girlfriend going to think about Katia?” Devon asked in an amused voice.

  “Shut up,” Felix growled and stomped away.

  “What was that all about?” I asked.

  Devon grinned. “Felix and Katia spent a lot of time together during the tournament last year.”

  “Ah. Summer love?”

  His grin widened. “More like summer lust. Felix said that it was fun while it lasted. But now with his new mystery girl, I don’t know what he’ll do.”

  “Probably just talk faster so he can juggle both of them at once,” I said, knowing full well that Deah Draconi would never, ever let herself be juggled any more than I would.

  Devon laughed, and we went after Felix.

  We left the Midway behind, cut through an alley, and entered a parking lot reserved for Family vehicles. Each one of the expensive SUVs and sports cars boasted some sort of crest on its doors, and for the Sinclairs, it was that hand holding a sword, done in white against the SUV’s black paint.

  Felix was leaning against the side of the vehicle, his arms crossed over his chest. “Took you long enough,” he muttered.

  I made a big show of scanning the parking lot. “Why? Because there weren’t any pretty girls around to keep you company? However did you make it five whole minutes standing here by yourself?”

  “Shut up,” Felix growled again.

  “So,” I drawled. “Let’s talk about you and Katia. She seems . . . nice.”

  Devon snickered. “Felix certainly thought so last summer. Or at least he thought her lips were nice, since he spent a fair amount of time studying them up close and personal.”

  I waggled my eyebrows. “And it looks like Katia wants to pick up right where they left off.”

  Devon laughed. Felix gave us both a sour look, but his lips slowly twitched up in a sheepish smile.

  “I doubt Katia will have time for me,” Felix said. “She was really upset she lost the tournament to Deah last year. She’s probably going to spend all her time training.”

  “And being with you would, what, sap her strength?” I snarked.

  Felix glared at me again, so I decided to be merciful and quit teasing him—for now.

  “Tell me about her. What’s her Talent?”

  “Katia is fast,” Felix said. “Like, superfast. She has a major Talent for speed. That’s one of the reasons she got to the final round of the tournament last year.”

  Speed was a hard magic to defend against because by the time you realized what was happening, your opponent had already gutted you. In my experience, the best way to deal with someone with a speed Talent was to knock them on their ass. Hard to be superquick when you were scrambling around, trying to get back up onto your feet.

  “Just speed?” I asked. “Nothing else? No other magic?”

  Felix shook his head. “Nothing like Devon’s compulsion or yo
ur transference power, if that’s what you’re asking. But she’s a good fighter, one of the best in all the Families. She always wins the tournament up in New York every year, but she’s come up short against Deah twice now.”

  “Well, maybe this will be her year.”

  “I doubt that,” Devon chimed in. “Not with Deah’s mimic magic. It makes her almost impossible to beat. She’s won the tournament two years in a row, and she beat Katia in the finals both times.”

  I frowned. “Deah’s a mimic? What does that mean?”

  “Deah has the ability to mimic anybody she meets,” Devon said. “The way they walk, talk, move. So when she’s battling someone, she can mimic their fighting style, whatever it is, and use it against the other person. And that’s not all. It’s almost like her mimic Talent actually lets her tap into and use the other person’s magic too.”

  “She’s amazing to watch,” Felix said in a dreamy voice. “She can throw around the biggest guard like it’s nothing.”

  My frown deepened. That almost sounded like a version of my soulsight—like Deah could see the way people moved so well that she could copy their style. And if she could use their own magic against them as well.... That sounded suspiciously like my own transference power—the Talent that let me absorb other people’s magic and then use it for myself. Weird. I wouldn’t have thought that Deah and I had anything in common.

  “What about the Sinclairs?” I asked. “How did you guys do in the tournament last year?”

  Devon shrugged. “Katia beat me to advance to the final round. I thought I had her at one point, but she got the better of me.”

  I eyed the muscles in Devon’s arms and shoulders. He spent his free time working out on one of the roofs at the Family mansion, so I knew how tough he was. Beating him in a fight was no small task.

  “Katia and Deah must be really good.”