Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2)(9)

“You seem to know an awful lot about the tournament, Morales,” Blake sneered, “for someone who’s never actually entered.”

Felix’s hands clenched into fists again, and an embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks.

“And you talk a lot for someone whose kid sister beat him out at the tournament last year,” I shot right back.

Blake opened his mouth to make some snide remark, but Deah put her hand on his arm.

“Let’s go,” she said. “We’ve wasted enough time with these losers. We need to practice for the tournament, remember?”

“Yeah. Right.”

But Blake wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about the contest as he’d been before. He glowered at me again; then he and Deah headed down the path away from us.

Devon, Felix, and Katia all relaxed as soon as the Draconis vanished from view, but I kept glaring at the spot where Blake had disappeared.

Katia wrinkled her nose. “Um, what’s that smell?”

Felix winced. “Oh, that’s us. We were dealing with a tree troll earlier.”

“We were just on our way back to the mansion to get cleaned up,” Devon said.

Katia nodded. “Maybe we can catch up tomorrow then.”

She might have been talking to Devon, but she looked at Felix as she said the words.

“Sure,” Felix said. “That would be great. Just text me.”

“I’ll do that.”

Katia leaned over and kissed him on the cheek again. She gave him another bright smile, waved goodbye to Devon and me, and moved off into the crowd.

Devon and I waited until she was gone before we both looked at Felix.

“What’s your girlfriend going to think about Katia?” Devon asked in an amused voice.

“Shut up,” Felix growled and stomped away.

“What was that all about?” I asked.

Devon grinned. “Felix and Katia spent a lot of time together during the tournament last year.”

“Ah. Summer love?”

His grin widened. “More like summer lust. Felix said that it was fun while it lasted. But now with his new mystery girl, I don’t know what he’ll do.”

“Probably just talk faster so he can juggle both of them at once,” I said, knowing full well that Deah Draconi would never, ever let herself be juggled any more than I would.

Devon laughed, and we went after Felix.



We left the Midway behind, cut through an alley, and entered a parking lot reserved for Family vehicles. Each one of the expensive SUVs and sports cars boasted some sort of crest on its doors, and for the Sinclairs, it was that hand holding a sword, done in white against the SUV’s black paint.

Felix was leaning against the side of the vehicle, his arms crossed over his chest. “Took you long enough,” he muttered.

I made a big show of scanning the parking lot. “Why? Because there weren’t any pretty girls around to keep you company? However did you make it five whole minutes standing here by yourself?”

“Shut up,” Felix growled again.

“So,” I drawled. “Let’s talk about you and Katia. She seems . . . nice.”

Devon snickered. “Felix certainly thought so last summer. Or at least he thought her lips were nice, since he spent a fair amount of time studying them up close and personal.”

I waggled my eyebrows. “And it looks like Katia wants to pick up right where they left off.”

Devon laughed. Felix gave us both a sour look, but his lips slowly twitched up in a sheepish smile.

“I doubt Katia will have time for me,” Felix said. “She was really upset she lost the tournament to Deah last year. She’s probably going to spend all her time training.”

“And being with you would, what, sap her strength?” I snarked.

Felix glared at me again, so I decided to be merciful and quit teasing him—for now.

“Tell me about her. What’s her Talent?”

“Katia is fast,” Felix said. “Like, superfast. She has a major Talent for speed. That’s one of the reasons she got to the final round of the tournament last year.”

Speed was a hard magic to defend against because by the time you realized what was happening, your opponent had already gutted you. In my experience, the best way to deal with someone with a speed Talent was to knock them on their ass. Hard to be superquick when you were scrambling around, trying to get back up onto your feet.

“Just speed?” I asked. “Nothing else? No other magic?”

Felix shook his head. “Nothing like Devon’s compulsion or your transference power, if that’s what you’re asking. But she’s a good fighter, one of the best in all the Families. She always wins the tournament up in New York every year, but she’s come up short against Deah twice now.”

“Well, maybe this will be her year.”

“I doubt that,” Devon chimed in. “Not with Deah’s mimic magic. It makes her almost impossible to beat. She’s won the tournament two years in a row, and she beat Katia in the finals both times.”

I frowned. “Deah’s a mimic? What does that mean?”

“Deah has the ability to mimic anybody she meets,” Devon said. “The way they walk, talk, move. So when she’s battling someone, she can mimic their fighting style, whatever it is, and use it against the other person. And that’s not all. It’s almost like her mimic Talent actually lets her tap into and use the other person’s magic too.”