Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2)(37)
Just like Victor killed anyone who displeased him in the slightest way.
Maybe it was stupid, but I skirted around the stained glass crest, not wanting to step on any part of it, especially since the dragon’s red eyes seemed to follow every move I made. I crossed to the far side of the open space and ducked behind another stitch-sting bush, ready to cut through the rest of the greenlab and find Victor’s office— “What do you think you’re doing?” a voice hissed.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I froze, my breath caught in my throat, my heart hammering in my chest, my fingers curling around the hilt of my sword. I thought I’d been so careful, so quiet, sneaking around and keeping to the shadows like the perfect thief, but someone had spotted me. Now, all I could do was hope that I could fight my way out of the greenlab, make a mad dash for the woods, and disappear into the trees and the mist—
“I wanted to see you,” another, deeper voice murmured.
Wait a second.
I knew that voice and the first one too. I sighed. Seriously? They were meeting here? Did they not know how stupid and dangerous this was?
I hunkered down, crept forward, and peered around a white marble dragon planter full of sprigs of stitch-sting. Sure enough, Deah and Felix were standing in the middle of the open space, right in the center of the stained glass dragon. The glimmering bits of red and gold glass made it look like fire was licking at their feet and that the snarling creature was about to erupt out of the ground and gobble them up. Well, that’s certainly what Victor and Blake would do if they ever found out what was going on. Felix and Deah were taking their whole Romeo-and-Juliet romance to new extremes.
Felix grinned and held out a single red rose. Deah slid her phone into her pocket, then crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. So Felix was the one who’d been blowing up her phone at dinner. I should have known. I wondered how she’d managed to get herself excused from the meal to come here.
“And why would you want to see me now that Katia’s back in town?” she snarked.
He winced. “Um, I don’t know what you mean?”
“I just bet you don’t,” she snapped back. “Funny thing, though. I remember you and Katia being all over each other during the tournament last summer, especially at the after-party at the lake. Don’t you remember? Oh, wait. You probably don’t, since the two of you were sucking face the whole time.”
Felix opened his mouth, but Deah cut him off and kept right on going.
“And from the looks of things today, Katia is ready for round two.” A note of bitterness crept into Deah’s voice. “She kissed you. Yesterday, when we all met on the Midway—she kissed you right in front of Blake, Devon, and Lila, and I had to keep my mouth shut, stand there like an idiot, and watch her flirt with you. Just like I had to do at the tournament again today.”
Felix winced again, but his face turned serious. “Listen, Katia is cool, but you’re the one I want to be with, Deah. Not her. You know how I feel about you. How I’ve felt about you for months now.”
He held out the rose to her again. Deah stared at the flower, and I shifted to one side so that I could look into her dark blue eyes. Her emotions slammed into me a second later.
Lingering, numbing boredom from dinner. Pinching hurt from her father’s harsh words and high expectations. Rock-hard confidence that she was going to beat Katia and win the Tournament of Blades again. Sharp worry that someone was going to catch Felix in the greenlab. But most of all, I felt how much she cared about Felix. The hot spark of her feelings for him was like a firecracker exploding in my heart over and over again.
Despite her longing, Deah didn’t take the rose. Instead, she shook her head and stepped back. Her eyes dulled and dimmed, and that hot spark was snuffed out.
“You should leave,” she said in a sad, tired voice. “This is never going to work. Not with you being a Sinclair and me a Draconi. You should go before one of the pixies sees you—or worse, Blake or my dad. Maybe it’s a good thing that Katia’s back in town. So we can make a clean break now, before things get any worse than they already are.”
Felix’s smile wilted, and he dropped the rose to his side. “You don’t mean that. Not really.”
Deah shrugged, her face blank. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing does except the fact that my father and brother hate your Family. There’s no getting past that, Felix. No matter what you think.”
“But—”
“No,” she said in a firm voice, shaking her head and making her blond hair fly around her shoulders. “Don’t tell me again that nothing matters but us. That’s not true and you know it. Too many other things matter. And how we feel about each other isn’t one of them.”
Felix kept staring at her, his eyes dark with hurt, pain, love, and longing.
Deah sighed again. “Just leave, okay? And don’t come back. That’s what’s best—for both of us.”
She turned to go, which spurred Felix into action. He dropped the rose, stepped forward, pulled her into his arms, and planted his lips on hers.
Deah stiffened, her hands coming up to his chest as though she was going to push him away. But then, her fingers curled into his shirt, and she swayed forward and melted into the kiss. Her arms snaked up and around Felix’s neck so that she could pull him closer. They broke apart and stared into each other’s eyes, both of them breathing heavily.