Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2)(29)

Especially given all the Talents he had.

Magic radiated off his body, the sensation cold and strong enough to make me shiver, despite the hot, humid day. Claudia didn’t know how many Talents Victor actually had or what he could do with all the magic he’d stolen from other people over the years, but I could feel exactly how powerful he was.

Most of the time, someone had to use their strength, speed, or other Talents against me in some physical way—punch me, shove me, restrain me, whatever—before my transference power flared to life and let me absorb their magic. In a way, anyone who attacked me with his Talents was just hurting himself, since all the magic that soaked into my body made me stronger. But Victor was so powerful that just standing next to him was enough to make my own transference magic stir to life and my body chill with magic.

Normally I welcomed the surge of strength that went along with my Talent, but right now, it made me sick to my stomach.

Victor realized that I was staring at him, and his gaze met mine.

The icy knives of his hate stabbed into my heart, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from gasping in shock or showing any sort of emotion. Victor stared at me a second longer, then swung his golden gaze back to Claudia, dismissing me as unimportant. The feeling of his hate lingered, though, even colder than the invisible waves of magic rolling off his body. I ground my teeth together to keep them from chattering.

“Claudia.”

“Victor.”

The two of them stared at each other, their faces hard and flat. All around us, the whispers faded, and everyone leaned forward, eager to hear every single word they said.

“The officials are telling me that it’s an accident,” Victor said in his deep, rumbling voice. “It’s unfortunate that both of our Families had competitors who were injured.”

“Indeed,” Claudia said, her voice as smooth as his. “I was on my way to check on Henry. How is your guard?”

Victor shrugged. “Just a broken arm. She’ll live. Although I’ve already given her spot in the tournament to someone else.”

Claudia frowned. “Why would you do that?”

He shrugged again. “She shouldn’t have fallen.”

“Or once she did, she should have gotten right back up and started climbing again,” Blake chimed in. “Not sat on the ground crying like a little kid who scraped her knee.”

He scoffed, as though he couldn’t believe one of his Family members could be so weak. I looked at Deah, who winced and stared at the ground. She might not agree with Blake and her dad, but she wasn’t going to stand up and tell them how wrong and cruel they were either.

“Funny, I remember you moaning and crying,” Devon drawled. “I’m sure you remember too. It was back in the arcade a few weeks ago when Lila put you in that wrist lock.”

Blake glared at Devon, who smirked back. Even worse, Victor stared at me again, his eyes narrowed in thought as he studied me far more closely than he had before.

“Well, please give my regards to your guard and tell her that I hope she feels better soon,” Claudia said.

“Of course,” Victor murmured, still staring at me.

His gaze locked with mine. Once again, his icy hate for Claudia and all the Sinclairs surged through me, along with cold curiosity about who I was and what I’d done to his son. This time, I couldn’t hold back my shiver.

Victor looked at me a moment longer, then turned his attention back to Claudia. “I’ll be interested to see how your guards do in the tournament.”

“And I yours,” she replied. “And my congratulations to Deah for finishing second today. She really gave Katia Volkov a run for her money on the course—before the incident.”

Victor’s mouth flattened out. “Yes, well, second place is really only first loser, isn’t it?”

Deah winced again, but she finally spoke up. “I should have beaten her. It won’t happen again. And I’m still going to win the tournament. Don’t worry about that.”

“We’ll talk about that when we get home,” Victor said, his voice as cold with his daughter as it had been with everyone else.

Hurt flashed in Deah’s eyes, and her shoulders drooped. She fixed her gaze on the grass again, as though that would hide the embarrassed blush in her cheeks.

“Until tomorrow then,” Claudia said.

“Until tomorrow,” Victor replied.

He and Claudia tipped their heads at each other; then Victor turned and headed out of the stadium. Blake glared at Devon and me one more time and followed his father. The guards fell in step behind them.

Deah nodded at Claudia, then turned to go. I don’t know why, but something urged me forward, and I stepped up, reached out, and touched her shoulder.

“You really did do a great job today,” I said. “You flew through all the obstacles like they weren’t even there. I couldn’t have done that. I didn’t do that.”

Deah gave me a cold look. “Don’t be an idiot. I lost to Katia, just like my father said.”

She shook off my hand, whipped around, and hurried after Victor and Blake.

Deah fell in step beside them, but Victor and Blake were talking to each other, and they didn’t so much as glance at her. Her shoulders slumped again, but Deah kept walking right beside them.

I frowned, wondering at the tight, twisting sensation in my own chest. It took me a second to realize that it was pity.