Cold Burn of Magic(36)

“You know when we went to pick up Lila yesterday, I’d forgotten how cute your new bodyguard was going to be, Devon,” Felix drawled in his typical, flirty voice. “Please tell me that you don’t plan on keeping her all to yourself.”

Devon’s hand tightened around his fork, but he didn’t respond to his friend’s teasing. Instead, his lips pressed together and his face looked even grimmer than before. His eyes met mine, his guilt punching me in the chest. I wondered if it was because Ashley was dead—or he knew that I was going to end up that way, too.

“Maybe I’ll just have to steal her for myself.” Felix winked at me.

Grinning, I leaned closer to him and dropped my hand down behind his back. “Do you not remember how easily I kicked your ass yesterday, pretty boy?” I said in a sweet tone. “I could slice you up like a pizza before you knew what hit you.”

I leaned away from him and tossed his wallet onto the table. “Besides, I don’t date guys who can’t hang on to things.”

Felix’s mouth gaped open, and he slapped his hand to his back pocket. “How did you do that? I didn’t feel a thing!”

“No, you didn’t,” I said in a smug voice. “Even if you did, you would have just thought I was grabbing your ass.”

To my surprise, Devon let out a low chuckle, which made his green eyes light up with amusement. It was the happiest I’d seen him. Despite my conflicting feelings, I found myself smiling back. We stared at each other, and his laughter slowly died. So did my smile. We both focused on our food again.

Felix kept up a steady stream of chatter all through breakfast, pointing out people and pixies at the surrounding tables, and telling me a bit of gossip about each one. I pretended to concentrate on my food, but I took in everything. I’d already scouted out most of the mansion, and now it was time to learn about the people inside it, too. Just in case things went badly for me here. Finally, though, Felix wound down, and the four of us finished eating.

“Well,” Devon muttered. “I suppose we should go and get this over with.” He looked at Felix. “You need to come, too. Especially since she’ll be there.”

I wondered who the mysterious she was, but I was polishing off the last of my hash browns, which was much more important than asking a useless question.

Felix rolled his eyes. Whatever Devon was plotting, he didn’t want any part of it.

“Please,” Devon said, a faint, almost desperate note creeping into his voice. “You know how awkward it will be if you’re not there. Besides, she likes you. Everyone likes you.”

“So true.” Felix grinned at his own popularity. “Fine. I’ll go with you. But you totally owe me for this.”

“Done.”

Devon sounded so much like Mo that it made my heart squeeze. But he wasn’t Mo. Devon Sinclair was the reason my mom was dead, and I needed to remember that. Not think about how his hurt and heartache felt so similar to mine.

Grant went to get one of the SUVs out of the garage and bring it around to the front of the mansion. Felix claimed that he needed something from the greenlab, whatever and wherever that was, and both of them hurried off, leaving me alone with Devon. Well, us and the pixies who were picking up the empty food platters and hauling them away.

“So, here we are,” Devon said.

“Yeah. Here we are.”

He looked at me like he expected me to say something else, but I didn’t.

“So,” Devon continued. “What was your other school like? You went to a regular mortal high school, right?”

“It was fine. Just school. You know. Anyway, that’s all over with now.”

Because I’m here. Because your mother forced me into this. Because I’m going to die for you just like Ashley and my mom did.

I didn’t say the words, but Devon winced at my flat tone. But he was just as stubborn as I was because he wasn’t ready to give up trying to make conversation yet.

“That’s a pretty ring,” he said. “Where did you get it?”

My left hand crept over to my right, my fingers closing around the ring. The pointed edges of the star-shaped sapphire made me think of my mom. I wondered how many times she’d been in this same situation, stuck with a new client and trying to make small talk, as though she weren’t expected to put her life on the line for the other person.

Especially this particular person.

Anger surged through me. I twisted the ring around on my finger so the star was facing in toward my palm, hiding it from sight.

“Look,” I said, my voice sharp. “We both know what the deal is. You’re the prince of this particular mob, and I’m a girl who’s spent the last four years living on the streets. We don’t exactly have a lot in common, so let’s not pretend we do. In fact, we don’t have to do the whole fake friends thing at all. It looks like you have plenty of those with Felix and Grant already.”

Devon blinked, as if he was surprised by my surly tone. He probably was. I doubted anyone else talked to him like that. No one would dare to, since he was Claudia’s son.

“I know you don’t really want to be here,” he said.

“And I don’t blame you. I don’t need a bodyguard, no matter what my mom thinks, and I know that she basically blackmailed you into this. But I’d like us to be friends, if we could.”