Cold Burn of Magic(49)

“You’re not the threat.” He sighed again. “I am.”

“What do you mean?”

Instead of answering me, Devon surged to his feet before crushing the water bottle in his hand, turning, and hurling it over at the scaffolding. The bottle hit the heavy bag and bounced off. Devon gave the crumpled plastic a disgusted look.

I got to my feet. “What’s got you so upset?”

He snorted. “You never give up, do you? You’re as bad as Felix, always trying to get me to talk about things.”

“In this case, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Devon whirled around, his eyes glinting with anger. “Do you think I want you here?” he growled. “Do you think I want you to die for me like Ashley did? And all the others before her?”

I couldn’t have been more surprised than if he had slapped me across the face. The words hung in the air like the fireflies around us, winking on and off and bringing a fresh flare of pain with every bright burst of light. Devon let out a bitter laugh, and I thought of all the guilt, grief, and sorrow I’d seen in his heart. And I realized that it was for them—Ashley, his other bodyguards, all the people who’d died protecting him over the years.

Including my mom.

“And do you know what the sad part is?” he growled again. “I really can do it. I really can take care of myself. I’m as good with my fists and a sword as any of the guards. That’s why my dad made me the bruiser and put me in charge of the guards before he died. I can beat anyone in the Family in a fight. Well, except maybe you.”

I started to make some snide comment about his faint praise of my skills, but I decided to let it slide. This one time.

“So what’s the problem?”

“My mom. If she would just let me—” He clamped his lips together, as if he was about to tell me something he shouldn’t.

“If she would just let you what?”

“Nothing,” he muttered. “Forget it.”

Devon paced around the roof before turning back to me. He sighed, and all of the anger leaked out of his body, like a balloon slowly losing air.

“I don’t care what my mom told you or promised you or threatened you with,” he said. “I’ll take care of it. I swear. But you need to leave now before it’s too late. Please, Lila? Please just leave. Before I get you killed.”

Devon gave me a final haunted, wounded look before unlocking the door, stepping through to the other side, and disappearing into the dark of the mansion.





I stayed on the roof, thinking about Devon’s words and all the emotions flashing in his eyes. Anger. Guilt. Grief. Fear.

But once again, that fear wasn’t for himself—it was for me. He truly meant what he’d said. He wanted me to leave because he really thought I would get killed being his bodyguard.

He was probably right about that.

But for the first time, I actually wanted to stay, and not because Claudia was paying me or threatening me or using Mo as leverage. I wanted to stay to prove Devon wrong. I wanted to show him it wasn’t his fault that he was a target. That this was the life he’d been born into and that there was nothing he could do to escape it.

Just like I couldn’t escape it now, either.

I wanted him to stay safe. I wanted to show him that I could survive anything the Draconis or any other Family threw at me.

More than that, I needed to do it, in the same way that my mom had. Mo was right. I was just like her—a fighter, a soldier, a protector. For the first time, I realized why she’d gotten off that park bench when Devon and Claudia had been attacked. Because she had wanted to save an innocent boy. And now, I did, too.

Damn it.

But the first step to protecting Devon—and myself—was finding out who wanted him dead. I thought back to the attack at the Razzle Dazzle. No doubt Grant had been investigating that as well. I’d have to ask him what he’d found out, if anything. And I’d ask Mo, too. He might come up with some leads that Grant had missed.

It was just like casing a house to rob or sizing up a tourist to pick-pocket. You analyzed risk versus reward, you looked for weak spots, and you figured how to get in and out with no one being the wiser. Easy peasy. I’d never failed on one of my jobs for Mo, and I wasn’t about to start now.

Satisfied with my plan of attack, I left the roof, climbed down the drainpipe, and went back to my room for the night.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN


The next few days passed by quietly, and I quickly fell into a routine.

Down in the dining hall by nine to eat as much breakfast as I could stuff myself with, then following Devon whenever he left the mansion, usually with Grant and Felix along for the ride. Once Devon was finished with his daily rounds, it was back to the mansion to spend some time training Felix in the gym or exploring the grounds. I finished up by grabbing dinner in the dining hall with Felix and annoying Oscar by slipping Tiny some berries, lettuce, and other treats when I went back to my room for the night.

Devon didn’t say much to me, but every morning, he seemed disappointed when I showed up for breakfast, as if he’d wanted me to sneak off in the middle of the night. But I wasn’t going anywhere. Not until I knew he was safe. It’s what my mom would have wanted, and I’d be damned if she’d saved him all those years ago just for him to die now.