Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2)(86)

“I doubt that,” Deah snapped back at her. “I’ve beaten you before. I can do it again. And so can Lila.”

“You’d better believe it,” I chimed in.

Katia took a step forward. Deah and I both snapped up our swords, but Katia didn’t attack us. Instead, she raised the two daggers in her hands—both of which were glowing a familiar, sickening, midnight black.

“Oh, I doubt that,” she purred. “Considering that I have more magic in these two black blades than the two of you have in your entire bodies.”

I eyed the gleaming weapons. “What kind of magic?”

“Strength from the copper crusher and speed, courtesy of another tree troll in one of my traps,” Katia said, admiring first one blade, then the other. “I hate to use it all up killing the two of you, but easy come, easy go. That’s the only problem with monster magic. It gives you a boost for a little while, but then it burns out of your system. It’s not like human magic, like Vance’s magic. His speed and strength are mine now forever. And soon, your powers will be too.”

Katia grinned and twirled the daggers around in her hands. Deah and I both tensed, ready to throw ourselves out of the way should she decide to hurl the weapons at us, but that wasn’t her plan at all.

Instead, Katia raised the daggers high, then stabbed herself in the heart with them.





CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT


I gasped in shock, and so did Deah.

Katia stabbed herself with both daggers. For a moment, a midnight pulse of blackness flashed, casting the entire boathouse in darkness, despite the bulbs burning overhead. Then the blackness faded and the light returned, but what it revealed was equally terrible.

Blood spurted out of the wounds, coating Katia’s hands and the blades still stuck in her chest a dark, glossy crimson. But as soon as her blood touched the daggers, the blades soaked it right back up again, still glowing that eerie, midnight black.

Katia screamed in pain, and the midnight glow on the blades went out. In an instant, the weapons were their usual dull, ashy gray again. Katia gasped and gasped for breath, then doubled over.

Silence.

Then she started laughing again.

Katia laughed and laughed, the loud, wild, crazy sound bouncing around like a rockmunk trapped inside the boathouse.

Katia straightened up to her full height, and Deah and I both gasped again—because her eyes burned with magic.

The longer I stared at her, the brighter her eyes became, the color morphing from their normal hazel to a brilliant emerald green, with a spark of copper flashing every now and then. I supposed that it made sense that Katia’s eyes would take on the tint of the monster whose magic she’d stolen—green for the troll and copper for the crusher. But the magic in her gaze kept flaring hotter and hotter, until her eyes were glowing much brighter than any monster’s ever had.

Katia grunted, then pulled the daggers out of her chest. The black blades sealed up the wounds they had left behind, so it was as if she had never stabbed herself at all.

“A tree troll for speed,” she purred, holding up one of the daggers. “And a copper crusher for strength.” She held up the other dagger. “A perfect combo and more than enough magic to let me deal with the two of you.”

Deah and I looked at each other. I nodded and she returned the gesture. We both knew that we’d have to work together in order to survive this.

Just like Seleste had told me.

Katia let out a loud scream and charged at us. Deah and I split apart, with me going right and her going left. But Katia was fast—so damn fast. And since she had two daggers, she was able to attack both of us at once. She lashed out at Deah with one blade, then pivoted back around to me, her movements almost too quick for me to follow. I barely managed to get out of the way of her black blade before she laid my guts open with it.

Deah stepped up behind Katia and swung her sword, but Katia lashed out with one of her daggers, catching Deah across the arm before she was able to get out of the way. Deah yelped and staggered away.

Katia turned back to me. She let out another loud yell and charged forward. I was standing by the table, and I kicked out, sending it skittering across the floor toward her. The gold winner’s cup also flew off the top and clattered to the ground.

That incoming table made Katia stop short, but a cruel smile curved her lips.

“That’s not going to save you,” she hissed. “Nothing will. Not now that you’ve taken her side.”

“I’d rather be on her side than yours,” I said. “At least she doesn’t go around murdering monsters just because it gives her some sort of sick thrill. No wonder you couldn’t beat Deah. You were too worried about getting your next hit of magic to really focus on the tournament. Your dad might be a drunk, but you’re nothing but a magic junkie loser.”

I was deliberately taunting her, calling her the one word she hated most. And it worked. Katia screamed again and threw herself forward. This time, she slammed her fists into the table top, cracking it down the center and wading through the remains to get to me. Then she raised her daggers and slammed them into my sword as hard as she could.

I grinned because the second her weapons rammed into mine, my transference power kicked in, and that cold burn of magic filled my veins. Katia had stolen the tree troll’s and copper crusher’s magic. Well, I was going to take it away from her, blow by blow, bit by bit, piece by piece. This first attack was already enough to make me stronger.