Dark Heart of Magic

by Jennifer Estep

  “I should have done better,” Katia growled, trying to explain her temper tantrum.

  “You won. That’s all that matters, right?”

  She thought about it. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Lila.”

  She flashed me a smile, then moved over to her previous spot along the fence, accepting congratulations from the other Volkov guards.

  Vance went over and started talking to her again. Instead of ignoring him the way she had before, Katia stared up at him, a thoughtful expression on her face. Then she sidled a little closer and started talking animatedly to Vance, who was hanging on her every word.

  Katia’s match had been right before mine, which was the last one of the opening round. To my surprise, a few nervous butterflies started flying around in my stomach. I handed my hat and cloak to Devon, who grinned.

  “You’ll do great,” he said. “I know you will. Go out there and show everyone what you can do. Especially Victor Draconi.”

  I’d never been a fan of pep talks, but that was exactly what I needed to hear right now. I nodded and grinned back at him. Then I drew in a breath, pushed through the gate, and made my way to the stone ring in the center of the stadium.

  From what I could remember of Felix’s ramblings yesterday, my opponent was a Salazar guard around my age with a strength Talent who was holding a sword that looked more like a crowbar than a black blade. Even though it was twice as large as my sword, the guard moved the weapon from one hand to the other like it didn’t weigh anything at all, making the muscles in his biceps ripple with the smooth motions.

  The announcer called out the guard’s name—Julio Salazar—and he waved to the crowd. Then it was my turn to step up and face the music, such as it was.

  “And now making her tournament debut . . . Lila Merriweather!” the announcer yelled.

  Cheers rang out, along with the usual boo-boo-boos from Blake, but I tuned those out and raised my sword high, soaking in all the happy noise. When the cheers, claps, and whistles had died down, I nodded at my opponent. Julio did the same, and we both raised our weapons and waited for the official to give the signal.

  “For honor . . . for glory . . . for Family!”

  The second the official stepped out of the way, Julio Salazar charged at me, lifting his sword high, wanting to smash my weapon out of my hand with one hard blow. I tightened my grip on my black blade and let him come at me, the same way Deah had with her opponent. She might have her mimic magic, but I had my transference power, and I was going to put it to good use.

  Julio smashed his sword into mine, the blow strong enough to make me fall to one knee. The crowd gasped, thinking I was done for already, but it was all part of my plan. Julio grunted and bore down, trying to either make me let go of my sword or snap the blade outright, but I tightened my grip and waited—just waited.

  Even as he pressed forward, my transference power kicked in, magic blossoming in my body like a frost-covered flower unfurling its icy petals one by one by one. I closed my eyes a moment, centering myself and directing the stolen strength flowing through my veins down into my legs. Then I shot to my feet, throwing Julio up and away from me.

  The crowd gasped again, this time at my sudden surge of strength. I grinned. If only they knew. But I was perfectly happy letting everyone think I had a strength Talent. In a way, I did. People just didn’t realize that their magic was what made me stronger.

  Julio Salazar didn’t realize it either. He frowned, whipped up his sword, and smashed it down on top of mine again, thinking that his magic, his power, was greater than mine. But all he did was make me as strong as he was—and then some.

  That chill of magic grew and grew in my veins, until my whole body was ice cold and my breath frosted faintly in the air, although the sun was so bright and hot that I doubted anyone else could see it but me, not even Julio.

  With the stolen strength, I threw Julio off a second time, and then I went on the offensive. Again and again, I smashed my sword into his, seemingly using the same brute strength he’d shown. Well, really, it was the same brute strength since it was his own power I was turning against him.

  Julio blocked my attacks and tried to punch me in the face with his free hand, but I ducked the blow, spun away, and came right back up swinging at him. One, two, three moves later, I sliced my sword across his arm, drawing first blood.

  “Winner!” the official called out, stepping into the ring, grabbing my arm, and raising it high.

  The crowd cheered. Devon was clapping and yelling as loud as he could, and so were Felix and Angelo with the healers. Up in the Sinclair box, Claudia, Reginald, and Mo were all on their feet clapping and cheering, with Oscar flying dizzying circles around them.

  I grinned and waved to all my friends, then turned and waved to the other side of the stadium. But the smile froze on my face. Because I’d forgotten that the Sinclairs and the tourists weren’t the only ones watching me.

  So was Victor Draconi.

  Up in the Draconi box, Seleste cheered, clapped, and whistled as loudly for me as she had for Deah. I wondered why she would do that. Maybe she thought I was my mom again.

  Either way, Victor wasn’t happy about his wife’s enthusiasm. He looked at her, then me. Even across this distance, his golden gaze locked with my blue one, and my soulsight kicked in, letting me feel all his cold curiosity about me.

  My smile vanished, and the chill I felt now had nothing to do with the lingering magic running through my body. No, the icy sensation creeping up my spine had everything to do with Victor. I wondered what sort of notes he would add to his file on me. I shivered. Part of me didn’t want to know.

  I might have been invisible to Victor before, but I wasn’t anymore. And I wasn’t so sure that was a good thing.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Another round of matches was held, with the two rounds whittling the field down from one hundred twenty-eight to sixty-four and then thirty-two. Tomorrow’s rounds would determine the tournament winner. Devon, Poppy, and I all advanced, along with Deah, Katia, Blake, and Vance.

  The competitors congratulated each other a final time, even those who had lost, and everyone was in a good mood as we headed to the Family tents to change clothes. I was grateful to strip off my white shirt, black pants, and black boots and replace them with a blue T-shirt, gray cargo shorts, and gray sneakers. I also belted my sword around my waist again. The person who had sabotaged the rope ladder was still out there, and I wasn’t going to be taken by surprise again.

  I grabbed my duffel bag, then streamed out of the fairgrounds with my friends. The matches had taken most of the day. It was after seven now, and the summer heat and humidity had finally eased. But instead of going back to the parking lots, getting into their cars, and driving home, everyone headed out of the fairgrounds and stepped onto some gray cobblestone paths that wound into the trees.

  “Now what?” I asked. “Why aren’t we going back to the mansion?”

  Felix grinned. “And miss the after-party? Are you kidding? It’s the best part of the tournament.”

  “After the first day of competition, everyone gets together for a little food, music, and fun,” Devon explained. “It’s tradition. Tomorrow night’s party after the tournament ends will be even bigger and better.”

  I didn’t particularly want to party, but Devon and Felix grabbed my hands and dragged me along. We walked about half a mile through the woods before the trees opened up onto a sandy beach. It was odd, seeing such gleaming, white sand in the middle of the West Virginia mountains, especially since we were hundreds of miles away from the ocean, but it was another thing that made Cloudburst Falls special. Every year, the town officials, with the Families’ help, trucked in tons of sand to create and maintain a beach that wrapped around the lake.

  Bloodiron Lake had always been one of my favorite places to visit. It looked like one of the vacation postcards you could buy from any cart on the Midway—the white, sandy shore, the glittering, deep blue surface of th
e water, the green pine trees surrounding everything. Even the sky was perfect, clear, bright, and dotted with puffy, marshmallow clouds.

  Wooden picnic shelters ringed the perimeter of the lake, set back in the grass that surrounded the sandy shore. All of the shelters featured metal grills, along with heavy-duty, blue and green fiberglass picnic tables where folks could sit and enjoy their hamburgers and hot dogs.

  The butlers and pixies from the Families must have come over here as soon as the tournament had ended because the grills were already going strong, with smoke wafting through the air. My stomach rumbled in anticipation. Was there any better summertime scent than grilled food?

  A line had already formed in front of the grills, where Reginald was overseeing Oscar and the rest of the Sinclair pixies. Devon, Felix, and I got in line, and soon I was loading up a plate with a cheeseburger, topped with plenty of bacon, along with macaroni salad, fresh summer veggies, and a mound of cheese fries sprinkled with, you guessed it, more bacon.

  I grabbed a cup of lemonade, then followed Devon and Felix over to a picnic table where Poppy and Katia were sitting.

  Katia flashed Felix a smile and scooted over to make room for him. He hesitated, but I bumped his shoulder with mine, nudging him forward. He shot me a dirty look, then smiled back at Katia and sat down beside her. I took the seat next to Poppy, with Devon sliding in on the bench next to Felix and across from me.

  Everyone must have been as starved as I was, because we spent the next few minutes chowing down on our food. The cheeseburger was so good that I polished it off, then went over and got a second one, this time with even more bacon. The macaroni salad was rich and creamy, the veggies were cool and crunchy, and the fries were the perfect mix of crispy potatoes, ooey, gooey cheese, and smoky bacon. The ice-cold lemonade was tart and sweet and just the thing to hit the spot on a hot, humid day.

  By the time we scarfed down our burgers and fries, Reginald and the pixies had set out several desserts, including a chilled strawberry pie topped with vanilla-bean ice cream that was so cold and sweet it made my teeth ache—but in a good way. I had three big pieces of pie, more than anyone else.

  Katia smiled, amused by all the empty paper plates littering the table around me. “You must have been hungry, Lila.”

  Felix rolled his eyes. “She’s always hungry. You should see how much bacon she eats for breakfast every day.”

  “And why is that a problem?” I said. “Besides, fighting and upholding the Family honor and stuff is hard work.”

  Felix rolled his eyes again. “Yeah. That’s it.”

  Katia, Poppy, and Devon all laughed.

  “Well, I’d say that Lila has earned all the bacon she can eat,” Katia said. “I saw you fight. You have a strength Talent, right?”

  “Right,” I said in a neutral voice. “Just a minor one, though.”

  “That must come in handy, especially during the tournament.”

  “Sure,” I said, staring at her so she wouldn’t realize that I was lying.

  Devon and Felix both frowned. They knew how important it was that no one realize the truth. Strength was a common Talent, but my transference power was not. It was the kind of rare magic that people would kill to possess, just like Devon’s compulsion power.

  But Katia didn’t seem to notice our unease and turned her attention to Devon. “And you did well too. So did Poppy.”

  Devon and Poppy both murmured their thanks, and I decided that it would be better to talk about something else, anything else, than what magic we’d used to help us win our matches.

  “You did good too, Katia,” I said. “You moved really well out there.”

  She scowled and shook her head. “Not well enough. Not fast enough. I didn’t think that guy would be as good as he was. I almost let him get the best of me. But it won’t happen again. I’ll make sure of that.”

  She looked at me, her hazel eyes locking with mine. A second later, her rock-hard determination flooded my body, along with hot, desperate need.

  Sweat popped out on my forehead from the strength and burning heat of her emotions. I dropped my gaze from hers, but her fiery feelings kept simmering in my own body. Katia’s desire to win the tournament was much more intense than I’d expected.

  We talked about the tournament for a few more minutes, along with music, movies, and more. All around us, folks finished their food and got up from their tables. Some of them drifted back to the fairgrounds to play carnival games or get junk food, but most folks headed down to the water’s edge to bake themselves on the beach, play volleyball and badminton in the sand, and swim out to the floating platforms in the middle of the lake and back again.

  Katia got up, dumped her plate and cup in the trash, and came back over to our table. She gave Felix a sly smile.

  “You want to get out of here?” she asked in a soft voice. “Go to our spot at the old boathouse and finally catch up?”

  “Um, well, sure,” Felix said. “That sounds . . . nice.”

  Katia frowned, hearing the reluctance in his voice. “Is something wrong? I thought that we’d hang out tonight, just like we did last year. I’ve been looking forward to it. Haven’t you?”

  “Sure,” Felix repeated, trying to smile but not having much luck at it. “It’ll be nice to talk with an old friend.”

  Her frown deepened. “Old friend?”

  “Well, yeah,” he said. “That’s what we are now, right?”

  She kept staring at him, as if she couldn’t believe what he’d said—that he’d just put her squarely in the friend zone.

  Devon got to his feet. “Lila, Poppy, why don’t we go down to the lake and let Felix and Katia talk in private?”

  Poppy and I shot to our feet, along with Felix. We didn’t want to stay and see what was about to happen, but Katia had other ideas. She didn’t want to wait to talk to Felix alone. Instead, she took a step back, slapped her hands on her hips, and glared at him.

  “Are you avoiding me?” she asked point-blank.

  A guilty blush crept up Felix’s neck. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

  “Oh, I don’t know—maybe the fact that you haven’t called me and that you’ve barely responded to any of my texts while I’ve been in town. Plus, every time I see you, you always run off somewhere else.”

  That guilty blush flooded his cheeks, turning his bronze skin as red as a tomato. Felix might be a great flirt, but he was a terrible liar, and he couldn’t even look at her without wincing—a guilty expression if ever there was one.

  “Come on, guys,” Devon repeated. “Let’s go down to the lake.”

  Katia snapped up her hand, stopping him. “Don’t bother. This won’t take long.”

  She kept staring at Felix. He looked back at her for a second, then dropped his gaze and started drawing a line in the grass with the toe of his sneaker.

  Katia’s eyes narrowed, and her face hardened with understanding. “There’s someone else, isn’t there? That’s why you stopped calling and texting me a few months ago.”

  Felix winced again. “Yeah. I met someone earlier this year. I didn’t plan on it. It just . . . happened.”

  “I understand.” But the cold, clipped tone in Katia’s voice said the opposite. “Who is she?”

  “Does it really matter?”

  Hurt shimmered in her hazel eyes. “No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

  She kept looking at Felix, and he back at her, with Devon, Poppy, and I all shifting uncomfortably on our feet.

  “Well, then, I guess there’s nothing else to say,” Katia said in a stiff voice. “I’ll see you guys around.”

  “Katia, wait—” Felix called out, but she ignored him.

  Katia hurried away from the picnic table. She started toward the trees, but Vance called out to her. Katia looked at Vance, then Felix. After a second, she squared her shoulders and went over to where Vance was sitting with his friends.

  Vance got up, pulled off his hat, and swept his cloak out around him, just
as smoothly as he had during the tournament. He was the only person on the beach who hadn’t bothered to change out of his ren-faire hat, cloak, and boots. He grabbed Katia’s hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, still playing the whole knight shtick. Then he straightened up, grinned, and started talking. Katia laughed at whatever he said, although the sound seemed brittle and hollow to me.

  Devon, Poppy, and I all looked at Felix.

  “Way to go, Romeo,” I said. “Way to let her down easy.”

  Felix sighed. “I didn’t mean to hurt her. Really, I didn’t.”

  “I know,” I said in a softer voice. “But you did anyway.”

  He looked at Katia, who had left Vance behind and was heading toward the trees by herself. “Maybe I should go after her. Try to explain.”

  Poppy shook her head. “Maybe later . . . a whole lot later. Right now, she probably wants to be alone. I would.”

  Felix stared at the trees where Katia had disappeared. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

  Devon put his hand on Felix’s shoulder. “Let’s go play volleyball or something. Give Katia some time to cool off. I’m sure she’ll come around in a day or two. She might even find someone else that she likes before she leaves town. Vance certainly seems interested in her.”

  “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

  Felix stared at the trees a few seconds longer before he let Devon steer him away from the picnic table.

  Despite the awkwardness with Katia, the four of us went down to the beach, grabbed a volleyball and an open net, and started a friendly game, with Devon and Felix facing off against Poppy and me.

  I leaped up into the air to get the ball that Devon had tried to hit over me, then spiked it back over the net. Felix dove for the ball, but all he got for his trouble was a mouthful of sand.

  “Ha!” I said, pumping my fist. “Match point! We win!”

  Poppy and I grinned and high-fived each other. Okay, okay, so maybe the game wasn’t entirely friendly. Or maybe I was just that competitive. Yeah, it was definitely that last one.