Cold Burn of Magic(88)

“Yes.”

She pinched her lips together, and hurt flickered in her eyes before she could hide it—hurt and the same deep, aching, bone-weary guilt that Devon always felt.

I sighed. “No, I don’t blame you. Not anymore. Saving you and Devon . . . it’s just what my mom did. What she was hardwired to do. She was a good thief, but Mo said she was better at protecting people. He was right. If it hadn’t been you, it would have been somebody else.”

“But it was us,” Claudia said. “And I am sorrier about that than you will ever know.”

I shrugged. Sorry never changed anything.

“I knew that Serena had a daughter, although I didn’t know your name. But after your mom died, I looked everywhere for you,” she said in a quiet voice. “I had the guards scouring the Midway for lost or hurt girls. I searched for weeks, but there was never a sign of you.”

“I didn’t want to be found. Mo helped me with that. He forged some documents with the Merriweather name and put me into foster care. That didn’t work out so well, so I decided to look after myself.”

Claudia gazed at me. “Why didn’t you come here? Why didn’t you come to me? Surely, Serena told you I would help you, that I would protect you, no matter what.”

“She did. After the attack in the Midway, on our way back to our apartment, she told me if something happened and we got separated, I should come here to you, that you would take me in.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“Because I didn’t want to have anything to do with you,” I snapped. “Not when you and Devon were the reason she was dead.”

Once again, that guilt flared in her eyes, and once again, I felt like a total bitch.

“Look,” I said. “I’m sorry. I don’t blame you for her death. Really, I don’t. Not anymore. But I don’t want to get caught up in your world, either. In your fights and feuds with the other Families. I’ve been here a little more than a week, and I’ve had more than enough of that already. I’ll be lucky if Blake doesn’t corner me in a dark alley someday and beat me to death.”

Claudia clasped her hands together. “Yes, the Draconis were something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Victor is planning something. Some move against you and the other Families.”

She shrugged. “He’s been doing that for as long as I remember. But you’re right. This is something . . . different. Something . . . darker. Which is where you come in.”

“Really? Why is that?”

Claudia looked at me. “Because I want you to stay with the Family, Lila. I want you to truly become a Sinclair. And most of all, I want you to help me destroy Victor Draconi.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE


I laughed. “Me? Join a Family for real? Your Family? And take out Victor Draconi? I can’t decide which idea is more ridiculous.”

Her lips pinched together again, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “I assure you I am perfectly serious.”

“Why?” I sniped. “So I can die for you like my mom did?”

It was a low, nasty blow, and Claudia winced before she could stop herself. But she recovered quickly.

“You claim to be a thief,” she said. “Yet you’ve managed to get out of one sticky situation after another over the past several days, with no thought for yourself or your own safety. Not to mention the fact that you’ve saved my son’s life time and time again. That is the kind of bravery and selflessness that I want in a member of the Sinclair Family.”

“I am a thief,” I snapped. “A very smart one. So why would I want to put my life on the line every single day for a bunch of people I don’t even know? Who don’t matter to me?”

“But you do know us, and we do matter to you,” Claudia said, her eyes glittering. “You know Felix and Oscar and Angelo and Reginald and the guards. And you know Devon.”

I snorted. “Something you obviously don’t approve of.”

She shrugged. “Maybe not initially. I supposed that I wanted to see how much like your mother you were.”

My eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged again. “I wanted to see if you were loyal. If you would hold up your end of our deal. If you would put other people first, like she did.”

“I am a thief,” I repeated. “Not some bodyguard, not your soldier, and especially not some assassin. Find someone else, anyone else but me.”

Claudia got to her feet and started pacing. “There is no one else. No one else who can help me do what needs to be done, and especially no one else I can fully trust.”

I laughed again, the sound teetering on a sneer. “Me? You’re going to trust me? I swiped silverware from your tea set the very first day I met you. And you think I’m trustworthy? Lady, you are off your rocker.”

“The Draconis have spies everywhere, including in our own Family. And after what happened with Grant . . .” Her voice trailed off.

“Ah. So I’m the lesser of two evils then.”

“More like many evils.”

My eyes narrowed. “And what makes you think I wouldn’t sell you out to some other Family?”

“Because if Serena told you anything at all, then she told you how dangerous the Draconis are, especially Victor.”