Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2)(68)

I didn’t respond.

“Anyway, I’ve got to get back to the tournament, and so do you.”

“Yeah,” I said. “See you over there.”

Katia moved off, heading back toward the fairgrounds.

I stood there for a few seconds, thinking about her harsh words, which hit a little too close to home. But I couldn’t do anything about them now, so I sighed, turned around, and followed her back to the fairgrounds to get ready for the final rounds of the Tournament of Blades.



I had barely set foot back in the fairgrounds when Oscar came zipping through the air, stopping right in front of me.

“There you are!” he practically shouted. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Come quick!”

Oscar buzzed around and around my shoulders, trying to herd me toward the stadium.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “What’s happened? Has someone else been hurt?”

Oscar shook his head, and his wings twitched in agitation. Even his tiny black cloak seemed to bristle with anger. “They shook up the tournament, flipped the brackets around and everything. That’s why you need to get over there right now.”

I frowned. “What do you mean they flipped the brackets around?”

“You’ll see,” he said in a dark tone.

The pixie shooed me into the stadium. I thought that most of the Family higher-ups would be back in their boxes by now, including the Sinclairs, but Claudia, Reginald, Angelo, and Mo were standing by the chain-link fence, talking to the officials. Devon and Felix stood a few feet away, watching them.

“What’s going on?” I asked, walking over to them. “Oscar said they changed the tournament.”

Felix snorted. “Oh, they changed it all right—which is what Claudia and the others are arguing about with those idiots.”

He stabbed his finger at the officials. Claudia was right up in their faces, her hands on her hips, her green eyes blazing with anger. I couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying, but her sharp tone let everyone know she wasn’t happy.

Mo looked over at us and shook his head. Devon and Felix both sighed.

“Good luck,” Felix said, clapping Devon on the shoulder, then turning and doing the same thing to me. “I know this will be tough. I’ll be rooting for both of you at the same time. No matter what happens, there won’t be a loser here today. You guys know that, right?”

Devon nodded, but I was still confused.

“How can you root for both of us at the same time—” Suddenly, I realized exactly what was going on.

I’d been scheduled to fight Deah in the next round of the tournament, with Katia facing off against Devon. But the tournament had changed, and the brackets had been flipped—which meant I had to fight someone else now, and since there were only four of us left, that meant only one thing.

“Oh,” I whispered. “Oh no.”

“Oh no is right,” Oscar said, landing on one of the fence posts.

I looked at Devon, but judging from his tense expression, he wasn’t any happier about this than I was. Because now, instead of fighting Deah next, I had to fight another Sinclair.

I had to fight a member of my own Family.

I had to fight Devon.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO


Claudia kept arguing with the officials, but it was obvious they’d already made up their minds, and this was happening.

I looked at Devon. “I don’t want to fight you.”

He shrugged. “I don’t want to fight you either, but this is what we have to do.”

“But how did this even happen?”

Felix stabbed his finger up at the Draconi box. “Apparently, his royal highness didn’t want you to be Deah’s next opponent, so he had a word with the officials and convinced them to shake up the brackets at the last minute. Claimed it would add more excitement to the tournament. We all know that Victor is just trying to make things easier for Deah. After all, she’s beaten Katia before, and you and Devon have both looked scary good during the tournament.”

I frowned. “So he wants to give Deah a better chance of winning by having one of us Sinclairs knock the other out.”

“You got it, cupcake,” Oscar said, glaring at the officials.

I looked at Devon again. “So what are we going to do?”

He straightened up to his full height, a determined look flaring in his eyes. “We’re going to fight. We’re going to show everyone that the Sinclair Family has two of the best fighters in Cloudburst Falls. And we’re going to do it honestly. No compulsion, no transference, no magic or Talents of any kind. Just you and me going sword to sword. No hard feelings no matter who wins. And whoever does win will kick ass in the final round and win the tournament. What do you say to that, Lila?”

I grinned at him and stuck out my hand. “I’d say that you’ve got a deal, Sinclair. Winner take all.”

“Winner take all, Merriweather.”

Devon grinned back, and we shook on it.



Despite all of Claudia’s arguments, the officials announced the change in the brackets to great applause from the crowd. Devon and I were up first, and we strode out to the middle of the stadium. It was just the two of us, standing in the center of the ring, facing each other down. It reminded me of the very first day I’d come to the Sinclair mansion, sparring with Devon as a test to see whether I was good enough to join the Family or not.