Bright Blaze of Magic (Black Blade, #3)(63)

Victor kept circling around me. Every tap-tap-tap-tap of his polished black wingtips on the concrete sounded like a nail being driven into a coffin—my coffin.

Finally, he stopped circling and stood in front of me again. “So,” he said in a cold voice. “You are Serena Sterling’s daughter.”

There was no point in denying it, so I lifted my chin. “Yes, I am. Lila Sterling. That’s my real name.”

Blake’s eyes narrowed with confusion. “Sterling? But that’s Seleste’s last name.”

I looked at him. “Seleste and my mom were sisters. That makes Seleste my aunt and Deah my cousin.”

His lips twisted into a sneer. “So Deah betrayed her Family for you and Morales? I always thought she was dumb, but I didn’t realize she was such a complete idiot.” He glanced over at his dad. “Did you know about Seleste and this Serena Sterling person?”

“Of course I knew,” Victor said. “The sight magic that runs in the Sterling Family is the only reason I married Seleste. I wanted her visions without the trouble of taking her magic and actually experiencing them myself.”

He shuddered a little, as if the thought of doing and saying all the odd things that Seleste did made him ill. My hands curled into tight fists. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to punch Victor in his smug face for daring to mock Seleste, even if he would electrocute me with his lightning magic on the spot. Part of me was wondering why he hadn’t done that already, why he hadn’t just gone ahead and killed me when I’d been unconscious. Or maybe he had something worse in mind. I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. I didn’t know what could be worse than being electrocuted, but I’m sure Victor had thought of it long ago.

His gaze flicked over my face, then my long, blue coat. I stayed absolutely still, not even daring to flex my hands under his intense scrutiny.

“Yes, yes, I see it now,” he murmured. “Same features, same black hair, same Sterling blue eyes. I would know those eyes anywhere.”

He bent down, his face so close to mine that I had no choice but to look him directly in the eyes. His golden gaze was bright yet cold and empty at the same time, as though I were looking at a picture of a handsome man instead of at an actual real, live person. I could see the monster lurking underneath, though. I wondered what Victor saw when he looked at me. Part of me didn’t want to know.

“Tell me, girl,” he said. “What kind of magic do you have?”

My stomach clenched at the eagerness in his voice, but I shrugged. “Sight magic, like my mom. And a bit of strength. Moderate Talents, at best.”

Victor stared at me, but I looked right back at him, keeping my face flat and blank, even as my stomach churned and churned. He was going to kill me, no matter what kind of magic I had, but I couldn’t let him guess anything about my soulsight or especially my transference power. Otherwise, he would rip the Talents out of me and make himself that much stronger, which was the last thing I wanted.

He arched an eyebrow as if he didn’t believe me. “Ordinary sight and strength magic? That’s it? Those are all the Talents you have?”

“That’s all I’ve ever seen her use,” Blake said, although Victor wasn’t paying any attention to him.

I shrugged again. “What were you expecting?”

He started circling around me again. “Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps something like Devon Sinclair’s compulsion magic.”

My hands curled around the arms of my chair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Victor let out a soft, sinister laugh. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Very noble, the way he kept screaming at my guards, trying to compel enough of them so that he could save you. I imagine that’s the reason Claudia took you in. So you could protect Devon from me. Did you know that I tried to kidnap him years ago to determine exactly what kind of magic he had? But of course, your meddling mother was there, and she killed all my men before they even had a chance to bring Devon to me.”

“I know,” I snapped. “I was in the park that day too.”

“Hmm. Yes, I suppose you were. I always thought it was stupid of Serena to come back to Cloudburst Falls. I was rather surprised to learn that she’d been doing it for years.” He paused. “Before that final summer, of course.”

I didn’t respond, but my hands clenched into fists again. Victor moved so that he was standing in front of me again.

Blake frowned, looking back and forth between his dad and me. “Wait a second. Are you talking about that woman in that ratty apartment a couple of years ago? That was her mom?”

I stared at him, my face as cold as Victor’s. “Her name was Serena, and you should remember her. You were there when your dad killed her, when he cut her to pieces.”

“And where were you, Lila?” Victor asked. “Why, I would think such a loving, devoted daughter would have immediately come to her mother’s defense, but you weren’t there. I’d heard rumors that Serena had a child, and I was always so disappointed that I didn’t get the chance to kill you in front of her before I finished her off. Why weren’t you there that day?”

Every word out of his mouth was like a knife to my heart, which was exactly what he wanted, but I kept my face blank. I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of realizing how guilty I felt that I hadn’t been with my mom that day, even if I would have died right alongside her. White stars winked on and off in front of my eyes, but I forced them away. I couldn’t afford to think about my mom right now or how Victor had hurt her. Still, I had to clear the emotion out of my throat before I could speak again.