Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2)(39)

Victor had chronicled every person’s Talents, cataloging them as minor, moderate, and major, and listing all the things that person could do with his or her magic. The more powerful a person was, the thicker the file and the more notes crowded into the margins, ones that I was betting Victor himself had written in blood-red ink.

Devon’s file was on top of the Sinclair stack, and I held my breath as I opened it and read through the notes.



No strength or speed Talents, and no obvious magic at all. Although I still believe that he has to have some sort of power. More careful study is needed.





I exhaled. Victor didn’t know about Devon’s compulsion magic. Good. That was good. Compulsion was the sort of rare, special Talent Victor would do anything to have for himself, including kidnapping and killing Devon—just as he’d tried to do when Devon was younger. Victor would have succeeded back then, too, if my mom hadn’t intervened.

I put Devon’s file back and scanned through some others. The longer I looked, the more I realized that Victor’s notes were different when it came to the various competitors. For the folks in other Families, he’d just jotted down observations about their magic. But for the Draconis, he had gone a step further, almost as if he were planning how to best use their magic for something.



Moderate Talent for speed. Would benefit from TT29.

Major Talent for strength. Augment even more with CC2.

Minor Talent for sight. Possibly use RM55?





The notes on the Draconi competitors went on and on, and I had no idea what any of them meant. I didn’t dare steal any of the files, so I pulled out my phone and snapped several photos to show Claudia and Mo. Maybe they’d be able to decipher Victor’s code.

I spotted a file with Deah’s name on it. Curious about what Victor had written on his own daughter, I pulled it out of the stack and opened it up.



Major mimic Talent. Will have to find right combination to make her truly exceptional. Possible experiments needed to maximize her potential.





The notes chilled me more than any others I’d seen so far. Victor wanted to experiment on his own daughter? With what, exactly? And why?

I snapped photos of her entire file, concentrating on Victor’s notes, then put it back in the stack where I’d found it. Below Deah’s file was one with Blake’s name. I took pictures of it as well, although Victor had only written a few notes in it. Apparently, he wasn’t nearly as interested in Blake’s magic as he was Deah’s. Then again, her mimic power was a much rarer Talent than his strength magic.

I worked as fast as I could. Dinner had to be winding down by now, and Victor could come back here any second. I put Blake’s file back where I’d found it and was about to move away from the desk when I spotted a final folder sitting off to the side all by itself. The name on the tab caught my eye.



Lila Merriweather.



A chill slithered down my spine. Victor had a file on me too? I snorted. Of course he did—because I was in the tournament and finally worthy of a bit of his attention. I opened the file.

Name, age, height. All of it was listed there, and there was even a photo of me that had been taken at the tournament sometime today, since I was wearing the black T-shirt and shorts I’d had on during the obstacle course. I hadn’t noticed anyone taking my photo, but there had been tons of people with phones and cameras. I shivered at the thought that someone had been watching me.



Hard to tell what, if any, magic she has. Rumored to have a sight Talent. Perhaps a bit of strength as well?

Something familiar about her, though. Must keep an eye on her and see how she progresses through the tournament.





I exhaled again, longer and louder than before. Victor didn’t know about my soulsight and transference magic, and he hadn’t realized who I really was—the daughter of his old enemy, Serena Sterling. I didn’t know what he would do if he ever found out the truth, but it wouldn’t be anything good.

I took photos of my file as well, thin though it was, and put it back where it belonged. My time was up, and I was about to head over to the doors and slip out of the office, when I realized that I was shivering in a way that only meant one thing.

There was magic in here—and a lot of it.

I stopped and looked around the office, scanning the fine furnishings and wondering what might be emanating enough magic for me to feel it so strongly and at such a great distance in this huge room. I moved out from behind the desk and headed toward one of the bookcases, thinking that maybe Victor had a black blade stuffed back on one of the shelves.

But the farther I moved away from the desk, the more that chill of magic lessened. So I turned around and found myself staring at the dragon carving in the wall, the ruby eye still fixed on me.

Hmm.

I had been a thief long enough and had watched enough of those old Scooby-Doo cartoons in the library where I used to live to realize that there might be more to the carving than I’d first thought. So I went over to the ruby and looked at it—really looked at it—using my sight magic to peer through the gem’s many winking facets.

There was something behind the wall.

Some space, some room, some sort of open area. And that’s where the magic was coming from—the entire stone carving was cool to the touch. Now, I just had to figure out how to get in there and see what Victor thought was important enough to hide—