Dark Heart of Magic (25 page)

He frowned. “You weren't saying that last year when you won. You spent the whole night telling the other contestants to suck it, and rightly so, especially Katia. So what's different this year? You won again, and we should celebrate. Why aren't you on board with that?”

Deah glanced at me, and my soulsight kicked in, letting me feel just how much she was struggling with this. She might have won the tournament, but she hadn't done it fairly, and it was eating at her. Her gaze fell to the gold cup in her hand, her fingers tightening around the handle.

“Come on, Sis,” Blake said, that sneer creeping back into his voice again. “Everyone knows that you're the best. I just want to make sure these Sinclair losers realize it too.”

“They're not losers,” she said in a soft voice, her fingers tracing over the snarling dragon crest stamped into the cup.

“Sure they are,” Blake said, his voice growing louder and louder. “Especially Morales. He didn't even get picked by his own Family to enter the tournament because they all know what a
loser
he is. He wouldn't have even made it through the first round. Scratch that. He wouldn't have made it through the first minute without getting bounced out of the tournament.”

“Don't talk about Felix like that,” Deah snapped. “He's never done anything to you.”

Blake's brown eyes narrowed. “And yet, you're the one who's always defending him. Why is that?”

Deah's gaze flicked from Blake to Felix and back again, desperately trying to come up with some sort of answer.

I shot to my feet. “Maybe because she's tired of you picking on him the way you do everyone else. I wouldn't want to have to listen to you either.”

Blake stepped up so that he was staring straight down into my face. “Deah might have already beaten you in the tournament, but I can do it again. Right here, right now. Where it really
matters
. Where I can really make it
hurt
.”

What he meant was where he could give me the beating he'd been itching to dish out for weeks now, ever since I'd humiliated him at the arcade by putting him in that wrist lock in front of his friends.

But I wasn't scared of Blake and his threats, and I laughed in his face.

“Please,” I scoffed. “You couldn't beat me on your best day. And trust me. Today isn't that day.”

Blake started toward me, but Deah stepped in between us.

“Hey,” she said, putting her hand on his chest. “Just calm down, okay? Let's go back to our table and forget about them.”

Blake looked down at her, his eyes glinting with a dangerous light. “Sure, we'll go back. After you show her who's really in charge around here. Go on, Deah. You beat her once. Do it again. And this time, really make it
hurt
.”

Deah bit her lip again, but she didn't automatically say no. By this point, everyone was staring at us. The other Draconis had drifted over to the table, and they'd all gathered around, along with some of the kids from the other Families. Apparently, they didn't want the tournament to end yet, or perhaps they just wanted to see a little more blood sport, because all the other kids formed a circle around us and started chanting
Fight! Fight! Fight!
in louder and louder voices, with Blake, of course, leading them.

I looked at Devon and Felix, and they both stared back at me, concern creasing their faces. But there were too many of the other kids around and not enough Sinclairs for them to do anything about Blake's suggestion of a new fight between me and Deah. So I stepped forward into an open space a few feet away from the table, my hand on the hilt of my sword. If Blake wanted a fight, he was going to get one.

Blake put his arm around Deah's shoulder and marched her forward. “Go on,” he repeated. “Show her how Draconis fight. Show her how Draconis end things, especially Sinclairs.”

He pushed Deah forward so that she was standing right in front of me. Panic and guilt flared in her eyes. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to be here, but she was going along with her brother, just like always.

To my surprise, Deah shook her head and stepped away from me. “I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to fight her.”

“Why not?” Blake said. “It's not like you're scared of her. You already beat her once. You can do it again.”

Deah kept shaking her head, making her golden hair whip around her shoulders. She had the sick, panicked look of a wounded deer being hemmed in on all sides by a pack of hungry copper crushers and about to be dragged down and squeezed to death.

“No,” she said. “I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to fight her. You don't understand.”

Blake rolled his eyes. “Why not? Just do the same thing that you did in the tournament and teach this bitch a lesson. What is there to understand?”

“Lila let me win!” Deah screamed.

Her voice echoed through the evening air, seeming to bounce from one side of the lake and back again. Suddenly, everyone was quiet and still.

Deah looked around, breathing hard, her cheeks red, realizing that she'd just shouted her secret to everyone. But she didn't try to take it back. Instead, her spine straightened, and she lifted her chin and faced Blake again.

“I didn't win the tournament,” she said, all her heartache apparent in her choking voice. “Lila was the better fighter. She could have won, but she didn't. She let me cut her instead. Probably because she felt sorry for me. Isn't that right, Lila? Don't you feel sorry for me? The girl with the crazy mom, bully brother, and heartless dad?”

I didn't say anything, but my wince was answer enough for her and everyone else.

Deah let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah, that's what I thought. Here. Take this. You earned it. Not me.”

She shoved the gold cup into my hands, broke through the ring of kids, and ran off into the woods.

I
stood there holding the gold winner's cup, the metal strangely, sickeningly cold under my fingers. All around me, everyone was quiet, although I could feel their speculative gazes on me, wondering what had ever possessed me to let Deah win instead of taking the victory for myself. Yeah, I was asking myself that one too.

Blake gave me a disgusted glare, like he couldn't believe I'd actually let someone else win anything, then stomped off, heading back toward the fairgrounds. Obviously, he had no intention of going after Deah to make sure that she was okay. Some brother he was. I wondered if he was looking for Victor so he could tell dear old dad what she'd said. I wouldn't put it past Blake to be that kind of tattletale.

I wondered if Victor would punish Deah and Seleste anyway, even though Deah had technically won the tournament. I hoped not, but there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn't the one who'd let the monster out of the bag.

One by one, the other kids drifted away, going back to their own tables, although they all kept staring at me and whispering behind their hands.

I sighed. For the third day in a row, this was a miserable end to a perfectly miserable day. Yeah, bad things really did come in threes, and these last few days had been doozies all the way around.

Felix stared at me. “You really did let her win, didn't you?”

I shrugged.

He grimaced, then looked at the woods where she'd gone. “I should go after her. Talk to her.”

I sighed. “No, let me. Besides, I still have to give this back to her.” I held up the gold cup. “I don't want it. Not anymore.”

I'd never be able to look at it without thinking about Deah's meltdown and the anguish shimmering in her eyes, anguish that I'd felt down to the bottom of my own soul.

Devon nodded. “Go talk to her. We'll wait for you here.”

I nodded and headed off toward the woods.

We'd been sitting at a table near the front of the lawns, and I had to walk almost the entire length of the picnic area before I reached the woods. Everyone turned to watch my progress, although thankfully, the whispers died down the closer I got to the trees.

I clutched the gold cup to my chest, kept my head down, and hurried on. Even though it wasn't all that big, the winner's cup felt heavy and awkward in my hands, and I wanted to give it back to Deah as soon as possible. I wasn't even tempted by all that shiny gold, not anymore. And I didn't have the slightest desire to let Mo pawn it at the Razzle Dazzle.

I had thought that I was doing the right thing by letting Deah win, but now I wasn't so sure. Maybe I should have just finished the fight. Maybe I should have beaten her fair and square. Either way, Deah had been hurt, and now she and Seleste would probably suffer even more, once Blake told Victor about her confession.

I left the picnic area behind and stepped into the woods. It wasn't quite eight o'clock yet, but shadows already filled in the spaces between the trees, giving everything a gloomy atmosphere. It matched my mood perfectly. Because not only had Deah been hurt, but now I would always be known as the girl who had
almost
won the Tournament of Blades, the runner-up and the first loser, just like Blake had said. Even if everyone remembered all about Deah's proclamation, her name was still the one on the gold cup—not mine. I kicked at a rock and sent it skittering off through the underbrush.

I didn't think Deah had been walking all that fast, but she'd already gone far deeper into the woods than I'd expected. For the first time, I realized just how isolated I was and how far away the noise from the picnic area was.

I wondered if Vance had noticed these same things before he'd been murdered out here.

The image of Vance's body and all the hideous cuts that had been inflicted on him filled my mind. I'd never been afraid of being alone before, not even in the bad parts of town where there were more monsters than shadows in the alleys, but a shiver went up my spine, and I found myself lowering my hand to the sword strapped to my waist.

And that's when I realized that the woods were quiet—too quiet.

It wasn't all that late, but here in the gloom, monsters should have already been stirring, waking up to hunt their dinner. But no brightly colored eyes flashed from the bushes or high up in the trees, and I didn't hear so much as a rockmunk rustling around in the underbrush, searching for nuts and berries. I shivered again. The silence was creepier than anything else—

A low moan sounded.

I froze, wondering if I had imagined the sound. But the moan came again, and then again. Someone was out here, and they were hurt, from the sound of things. Normally, I would have rushed forward to help the injured person, but so many bad things had happened over the past few days that I decided to be extra cautious. So I drew my sword and slowly approached. Besides, just because those moans sounded human, didn't mean that they actually were. Many a monster had suckered in an unwary tourist or guard that way.

I crept deeper and deeper into the woods, searching for the source of the sound. Even though the shadows grew darker by the minute, I was still able to see everything around me clearly, thanks to my sight magic.

Including the body.

A crumpled form was sprawled in the middle of the trail up ahead, and the red shirt and golden ponytail told me exactly who it was—Deah.

I quickened my pace, scanning the woods around her, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Just trees, trees, and more trees.

I reached her a few seconds later. Deah was lying on the ground, bleeding from an ugly gash in her forehead. Her sword was clutched in her hand, as though she'd tried to defend herself against whoever or whatever had attacked her. Worry shot through me. Deah was an excellent fighter, something she'd proved during the tournament. If something could get the drop on her, that meant it could do the same to me—or worse.

My head whipped left and right, but I still didn't see or hear anything moving in the trees around us. I'd have to take the chance that I could get her out of here before whatever—or whoever—had done this came back.

I dropped to my knees beside her, the gold cup tumbling from my hand and rolling away. “Deah! Deah! What happened? Are you okay? Who did this to you?”

She looked at me, her eyes hazy and unfocused, but she managed to croak out a single word. “Run. . . .”

She moaned, and her head lolled to the side.

“Deah! Deah!”

I shook her, but she was out cold. More worry filled me. I didn't have any strength magic, and she was too heavy for me to carry back to the picnic area. I'd have to call Devon and tell him what was happening. I reached for the phone in my pocket—

A branch
cracked
behind me.

“I did it to her,” a familiar voice called out.

I froze, then got to my feet and slowly turned around.

Katia Volkov stood behind me, her arms crossed over her chest. A bit of sunlight streaming down through the trees highlighted the wolf stamped into the cuff on her wrist. Seleste's voice whispered in my mind.

I'd been so focused on
bones and blades
that I'd forgotten about the first part of Seleste's warning. Suddenly, I knew that the wolf was Katia, although I had no idea why she would want to hurt Deah or me.

Katia strolled toward me, and my hand tightened around the hilt of my sword. She wasn't going to take me by surprise like she had Deah.

But Katia walked right on past as if she didn't care about me at all, instead leaning down to pick up the gold winner's cup I'd dropped. Katia held up the cup in a fading patch of sunlight, admiring her reflection in it. Somehow, the glint of the gold made her green eyes seem even bigger and brighter than ever before.

I frowned. Wait a second. Why were her eyes green? They were hazel . . . weren't they?

I thought back to all the times I'd seen Katia over the past few days. Her eyes had been hazel the very first time I'd met her in the Midway. I was sure of that. And they'd been hazel some of the other times I'd seen her around the tournament too. But they'd also been green at times, just like they were right now. Why would her eyes change color so often?

But even weirder than that, there was something so . . .
familiar
about the bright, emerald-green glaze to her eyes. I'd seen that exact same color somewhere before, sometime recently, and I knew it was desperately important for me to remember, just as I knew how important it was to keep myself between Katia and Deah.

Katia admired the gold cup a moment longer, then set it down on the forest floor and faced me again.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “Why did you hurt Deah?”

She shrugged. “Because I wanted to. I've been wanting to blindside her for
days
now. I tried to knock her out in the first round of the tournament when I cut the rope ladder, but she got on the platform before the ropes came loose. I was so disappointed. But when I saw her run into the woods, I knew it was too good an opportunity to pass up—that I could finally finish things with her.”

I sucked in a breath at her casual confession. I'd been right when I thought that someone had been trying to knock people out of the tournament by cutting the ropes. But I'd blamed Vance, when Katia had been targeting Deah the whole time. I'd just been collateral damage that day—and I might be again tonight, if I didn't figure out a way to stop her.

Katia glared at Deah's still form, then looked at me again. “Did you know that she's the other girl Felix has been seeing?”

“How did you find that out?” I asked, trying to keep her talking, even as I slid my hand into my shorts pocket again, reaching for my phone.

She snorted. “I saw them making out behind the Draconi tent before one of the matches. They were so busy sucking face they didn't even notice me.”

I'd always thought all that sneaking around was going to end badly, and it looked like I'd been proven right, just not in the way I'd expected.

Katia shook her head, making her dark red hair swish around her shoulders. “I can't imagine what Felix sees in
her
. Not that it matters. If he can't see how special I am, then he doesn't deserve me.”

“Okay,” I said, trying to speed-dial Devon. Kind of hard when I couldn't see the screen. “I know you're upset that you and Felix aren't together, but that's no reason to take it out on Deah.”

Katia laughed. “You think I'm doing all this for a
boy
? Please. I thought you were smarter than that, Lila. I do things for
me
—nobody else.”

I tapped my phone screen, hoping I was calling someone who would pick up, hear our conversation, and realize that something was wrong. “Okay. So what exactly
are
you doing then?”

She shrugged. “Deah beat me in the tournament. But it's the last time she'll ever beat me at anything.”

“Why do you say that?”

She looked at me like I'd just asked the stupidest question ever. “Because I'm going to take her magic and make it my own the way I should have all along. I took Vance's power, thinking that would be enough to beat her, but obviously, I was wrong and he wasn't nearly as strong as he bragged he was.”

I froze, my blood turning to ice in my veins. “You killed Vance? You took his magic?”

Too late, I remembered running into Katia the night Vance was murdered. I hadn't thought anything of her being in the woods at the time, just thinking she'd been hiding out there from Felix the same way I had been from Devon.

“Of course I took his magic,” Katia said, her voice cold and hard. “Why else would I ask him out here last night? It certainly wasn't to make out with him like
he
wanted. He thought he was going to get lucky. Heh. You should have seen the look on his face when I zip-tied his hands and slapped that duct tape on his mouth and he finally realized what I was up to. It was
priceless
.”

She laughed, but the sound made goose bumps crawl across my skin because it was the same sound I'd heard when I'd looked into Vance's dead eyes last night. And it was the same evil laugh that had echoed in my mind when I'd found that dead tree troll beside the dumpster.

“The tree troll. . . .” I said. “You killed Vance for his magic, but what about the tree troll in the Midway? Why did you murder it?”

“Yeah, that was one of mine too. I also whacked one of them up at the Draconi estate a couple of nights ago. I wanted to get more than one, but Blake and Victor had already killed all the others they'd trapped.”

My mind whirled and whirled, trying to put everything together. “But why? I still don't understand
why
.”

Katia gave me another of those you're-the-biggest-idiot-ever looks. “For its magic, of course.” Her face turned sly. “You wanna know a secret?”

I didn't respond, but I didn't have to.

“I don't actually have all that much magic of my own,” she said. “I have a very minor Talent for speed, but I found a way to increase it, to have all the magic I want, whenever I want it.”

My stomach twisted. “By killing monsters and people and taking their power.”

She shot her thumb and forefinger at me. “Bingo.”