Cold Burn of Magic(61)

“Maybe it’s more of that luck you were talking about earlier,” I muttered. “Because believe me, it still hurts.”

Even as I said the words, the last of the magic evaporated from my body, taking the burn of the stitch-sting along with it. I propped myself up on my elbows, but the skin of my leg was smooth and unbroken, and I could move it without any pain.

“Perhaps,” Angelo murmured, still peering at where the wound had been, then glancing at the bottle he’d put on the nightstand next to the bed. “Or perhaps this batch is a little stronger than most. I do remember putting some extra cuttings in when I was brewing it . . .”

Felix and his dad started talking about the merits of stitch-sting versus other magical plants while they cleaned the rest of my other, minor wounds. Oscar must have brought them some of my clothes because Felix gave me a familiar blue T-shirt and a pair of black shorts to put on, since the clothes I’d been wearing had been ruined by all the blood.

I’d just finished getting dressed when a knock sounded on the door. “Yeah?”

The door opened and Felix stuck his head inside the room, his face serious. “Claudia would like to see you.”

I just bet she would.

I followed Felix to the library. Reginald was standing by the doors. He gestured for me to go inside, but he held out a hand, stopping Felix when he tried to follow me.

“Sorry,” Reginald said. “Miss Claudia only wants to see her.”

Felix rolled his eyes, but there was no way he could get past the older man.

“I’ll see you later,” Felix said.

“Sure.”

If I was still here later. For all I knew, Claudia already had one of the guards firing up a cement mixer to make a special pair of shoes just for me. But I had been summoned, so I stepped into the library.

Claudia was sitting in her chair in front of the fireplace, as regal as any queen. Devon was in the chair next to her, with Grant perched on the white velvet settee across from them. Grant was leaning forward, talking in a low voice and gesturing with his hands, as if he was trying to convince Claudia about something. She didn’t seem to be paying any attention to him. Her green gaze focused on me, already frosty with anger. Terrific.

“There you are,” Claudia murmured. “Finally.”

“I did have a gash in my leg, in case you hadn’t heard.”

Her mouth tightened. “Grant, please leave us. I would like to speak to Lila and my son alone.”

Grant wet his lips, looking from me to Claudia and back again. “Are you sure that’s . . . wise?”

“We’ll be fine,” she insisted in a hard voice that left no room for argument.

Grant got to his feet. “Good luck,” he whispered as he passed me.

We both knew I was going to need it.

Claudia made a motion with her hand, ordering me to sit in the spot that Grant had vacated. I plopped down on the velvet, digging my bare toes into the rug to keep from sliding off.

Everyone was quiet, although the mantel clock kept tick-tick-ticking to fill the silence.

“My son tells me that you saved his life—again,” Claudia said. “That he and Felix would have walked into an ambush if you hadn’t realized that someone was outside.”

I shrugged. “Just doing my job and being a good little Family soldier.”

Her eyes glittered with even more anger. “I gave you a chance to keep your head down and make some money. Not put my son in more danger. Once again, he was almost assassinated while in your company.”

Devon sighed. “It wasn’t Lila’s fault. She didn’t even realize that Felix and I were following her until she saw us at the library.”

Claudia fixed her icy stare on him. “Well, she should have, if she is half the arrogant thief she claims to be.”

Sadly, I couldn’t argue with her about that.

“And I can’t believe that you were so reckless as to traipse all over Cloudburst Falls after a girl,” Claudia continued, still staring at her son. “You know the dangers out there. You know we’ve been having problems with the other Families. You were lucky those men didn’t kill you.”


Devon stiffened, sitting up to his full height. “And I’m your second-in-command, the Family bruiser. I can’t hide here in the mansion all day, every day. It makes me look weak in front of our own people, and it makes the Sinclairs look weak to all the other Families. That’s more dangerous than anything else, even—”

He cut off his words, but I knew what he’d been about to say, and why Claudia was so worried about his safety.

“Actually, the men would have killed me and Felix, but they would have let Devon live,” I said. “At least for a little while.”

Claudia frowned. “And how do you know that?”

“Because the mystery man wasn’t trying to kill Devon,” I said. “He was trying to kidnap him.”





CHAPTER TWENTY


Claudia’s face remained blank, but her gaze flicked to her son, just for a second. But that was long enough to confirm my suspicion that something else was going on here than someone simply trying to kill Devon.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“The guys who attacked us all had swords, and they were very eager to use them on me, and Felix, too. But when the mystery man finally got close enough to Devon to kill him, he didn’t run Devon through with his sword. Instead, he clamped his hand over Devon’s mouth, put a dagger to his neck, and tried to drag him off. If he wanted your son dead, the mystery man could have stuck that dagger in his back easily enough. But he didn’t. He wanted to take Devon—alive.”