Bright Blaze of Magic (Black Blade, #3)(18)
We’d arrived a bit late and the restaurant was already packed, with folks milling around and talking to each other, including Claudia, Angelo, Reginald, and the Sinclair guards. Mo waved and went over to join them, but Devon, Felix, and I hung back, scanning the crowd.
Everyone wore a black suit, and the color of the shirts and ties represented which Family the wearers belonged to. Black for the Sinclairs, purple for the Itos, dark green for the Volkovs, and so on. I didn’t spot any red shirts and ties in the mix, though, and no one was wearing a gold dragon cuff. None of the Draconis were here yet.
My worry kicked up another notch. I’d been hoping that the Draconis would already be here so I could discreetly check on Deah. She’d texted me late last night saying she was fine, and Felix had said he’d gotten a similar text from her this morning too. But that had been hours ago, and I wanted to see for myself that she was really okay—
“Finally! There you are! I thought you guys were never going to get here,” a voice called out behind us.
We turned to find a slender, petite girl with black hair and dark eyes grinning at us. She wore a black pantsuit with a purple shirt, and she’d braided a purple ribbon through her hair. A silver cuff stamped with wisteria flowers glimmered on her right wrist.
“Hey, Poppy,” I said, grinning back at her.
I hugged her, and so did Devon and Felix. Even though Poppy Ito belonged to another Family, she was still a good friend, and the four of us started talking about the latest superhero movie that Poppy and I had dragged the guys to see last week. Poppy and I were both action-movie junkies, but instead of being totally into our conversation the way she usually was, she kept checking her watch, a worried expression on her pretty face.
Devon noticed it too. “Something wrong?”
“My dad’s getting angry,” Poppy said. “The Draconis were supposed to be here an hour early so that my dad and Victor could talk about a new treaty, but Victor hasn’t shown up yet. He didn’t even call or text my dad and tell him that he was going to be late. So rude.”
Once again, that worry bubbled up in the pit of my stomach, but I forced it aside. “Well, you know Victor. He and Blake think the world revolves around them. He’s probably just not considerate enough to call and tell your dad that he was going to be late.”
Poppy shrugged. “Either way, my dad is angry about it. I should go check on him. I’ll see you guys later, okay?”
We murmured our goodbyes, and Poppy headed over to her father, Hiroshi Ito. Poppy was training to become her Family’s broker, and all of the Itos nodded respectfully as she passed them. Poppy was as well regarded in her Family as Devon was in ours.
I looked at Devon. “Has Victor ever done that to Claudia? Set up a meeting and then been late with no explanation?”
He shook his head. “Victor and my mom don’t meet—ever. The only contact they have is at these Family dinners. That’s the one time and place they get together in the same room to talk business. The rest of the time, Victor is happy to pretend that my mom doesn’t exist, and she does the same thing to him.”
I frowned. Instead of reassuring me, his words bothered me even more, although I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why.
Devon, Felix, and I moved deeper into the restaurant, saying hello to the members of the other Families that we knew, like Julio Salazar, a guy our age that I’d beaten during the Tournament of Blades a few weeks ago. Julio joked that he wanted a rematch next year. I grinned and told him to bring it on. Julio grinned back at me, then went over to talk to Poppy.
Hiroshi Ito pinged a fork against his water glass. The crowd quieted down, and he welcomed everyone to the dinner. I glanced at a clock on the wall. It was almost seven-thirty now and the Draconis still hadn’t shown up, even though everyone was supposed to have been here by seven.
But Hiroshi pinged his fork again, and tuxedo-clad waiters emerged from the double doors at the back of the restaurant, carrying trays filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, chicken skewers, and other appetizers. Looked like the dinner was going to start without the Draconis. Weird. What was Victor up to? Was arriving late some sort of power trip on his part? Something he was doing just because he could? I didn’t know, and it bothered me.
Apparently, it bothered Claudia too. She sidled over to me and raised her water glass up to her lips, as though she didn’t want anyone to realize that she was talking to me.
“Are you sure that Blake didn’t spot you leaving the Draconi mansion last night?” she murmured. “That he didn’t realize you’d stolen Victor’s weapons?”
“He didn’t see us. I’m sure of it. Why?”
She shook her head, but her gaze locked with mine and her sharp worry pricked my chest. She was afraid that we hadn’t gotten away as cleanly as I’d thought and that Blake and Victor had realized what we’d done.
But there was nothing either one of us could do about that right now, so Claudia moved on to mix and mingle with the heads of the other Families. Devon and Felix were talking with Poppy and Julio, while Mo, Angelo, and Reginald were chatting with Roberto Salazar, the head of the Salazar Family. Everything was normal; everything was fine.
The waiters circulated with the food, which looked and smelled delicious, especially the bacon-wrapped pineapple chunks, but I didn’t eat a single bite. I couldn’t, not with the way my stomach was churning. And something else was bothering me too, something about the restaurant. I frowned. No, not the restaurant, but the temperature inside.