Bright Blaze of Magic (Black Blade, #3)(16)
Devon reached over and grabbed my hand. “You’ve checked and rechecked your belt and your quarters three times now. All your supplies are right where they’re supposed to be.”
“I know,” I muttered. “And I’d be checking and rechecking my sword if it wasn’t up in my room. I really want to take a weapon tonight.”
He grinned and squeezed my hand. “And you know that no one is allowed to have any weapons at the dinner. Be glad you can get away with wearing those three throwing stars on your belt.”
I squeezed his hand back, then buttoned up my jacket, hiding the belt and throwing stars from sight. “I know, but I still wish I had a sword. Or a dagger. Or something else really sharp and pointy.”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Everything will be fine, and the other Families will be on their best behavior tonight, including Victor, Blake, and the rest of the Draconis.”
He was probably right, but I still couldn’t help but worry all the same. Even if tonight’s dinner went peacefully, Victor didn’t plan on keeping those black blades locked away in his secret room forever. He’d stockpiled all those weapons and all that magic with the sole purpose of destroying the other Families. And now that he’d told Blake his plan, it was only a matter of time before Victor attacked us.
But I kept my worries to myself. If I’d voiced them, Devon would have tried to reassure me. He would have said that we’d stolen almost all of the black blades and that Victor couldn’t hurt us with them now.
But that wasn’t true. Not really. Because Victor didn’t need black blades and stolen monster magic to kill us.
Not when he’d so easily murdered my mom.
Serena Sterling had been one of the best fighters around. She was smart, strong, and had survived more battles and monster attacks than anyone I’d ever known. When I was younger, I’d thought my mom was invincible, and that nothing could ever really hurt her. But Victor had stormed into our apartment that hot summer day four years ago and killed her in a matter of minutes.
I’d always wondered how he’d done that, since I’d only seen the horrible, bloody aftermath and not the actual attack itself. Victor was rumored to have many, many Talents, and I’d lain awake countless nights, trying to figure out exactly what magic he could have used to get the drop on my mom, what power he had that had let him so easily cut her to pieces, without getting so much as a scratch on himself in return. Or maybe it had taken the combination of his magic and Blake’s strength to overpower her. I doubted that I’d ever know for sure, and part of me didn’t really want to.
Because my mom had been the best fighter I’d known, and if Victor could kill her, then he could do the exact same thing to me and my friends, black blades or not.
Devon grabbed my hand again. “Are you okay? You look like you’re about to be sick.”
I threaded my fingers through his and forced myself to plaster a smile on my face. “Never better,” I muttered. “Never better.”
CHAPTER SIX
We left the library, went outside, and got into a black SUV with the white Sinclair hand-and-sword crest emblazoned on the doors. Devon drove, while I sat in the front passenger seat, and Felix and Mo chatted in the back. Claudia, Angelo, and Reginald were in another vehicle in front of ours, along with a couple of guards.
The vehicles wound down the curvy mountain roads, and thirty minutes later we were cruising through the town of Cloudburst Falls. It was almost seven o’clock now, but people still filled the streets on this hot July evening, taking photos, buying hats and matching T-shirts, and chowing down on burgers, fries, nachos, and other treats from the food carts that lined the sidewalks.
Normally, I would have enjoyed watching all the tourist rubes, but that strange tension I’d felt back at the mansion just wouldn’t leave me. My sight magic didn’t let me see the future, not like Seleste’s Talent did, but I couldn’t help but feel something bad was about to happen. Or maybe that was just because I’d spent the last two weeks stealing weapons from the most dangerous man in town. During the last four years, I’d avoided the Families—and especially stealing from them—as much as possible. But now, I’d swiped the very thing that Victor prized above all—his magic-filled black blades—and I was afraid it was going to come back around and bite me, like a monster I’d gotten a little too close to.
Sometime very, very soon.
Devon pulled into a parking lot off the Midway that was reserved for the Families, but it was already full of cars and there weren’t any empty spaces. The surrounding streets were also full of vans, buses, and other tour-group vehicles, and he had to drive five blocks over before he found an empty spot on one of the quieter side streets.
“Come on,” Devon said, getting out of the car. “We’re on the opposite side of the Midway from the restaurant. We’ll have to hurry to catch up with the others.”
Felix and Mo took the lead, both of them still talking about Mo repainting the Razzle Dazzle and arguing about which colors were more soothing, but Devon stepped up beside me and held out his hand. I smiled and laced my fingers through his, enjoying the warmth of his skin against mine. Together, we followed our friends.
We cut through a couple of alleys and stepped out into the Midway, which was even more crowded than the surrounding streets and shopping squares. Loud, upbeat music blasted out of the restaurants, candy shops, and other businesses that made up the enormous outer circle of the Midway, with still more music blaring from the carts selling popcorn, cotton candy, T-shirts, and sunglasses that were spaced along the cobblestone paths winding from one side of the area to the other. The scents of funnel cakes, corn dogs, and other deep-fried treats filled the air, and neon lights flashed on practically everything, all of them in the shapes of swords, monsters, and other magic-themed objects. Despite their modern goods, almost all of the businesses had old-timey-sounding names like Courtly Chocolate Creations and Princely Pizzeria. It was an odd mix of contemporary and renaissance faire, with a whole lot of cheap and tacky thrown in for good measure.