Cold Burn of Magic
Page 88

Just after sunset, I found myself out on the balcony, staring down at the flashing lights of Cloudburst Falls. It was the same view my mom would have seen every night, living here at the mansion. I wondered what she had thought about them—Claudia, the Sinclair Family, Victor Draconi. I wondered if she would be happy that I was here now, following in her footsteps, whether I wanted to or not.
Several soft scrape-scrape-scrapes caught my attention, along with a few muffled curses, and I glanced over. That sounded like someone trying very hard not to fall and not really succeeding at it.
Sure enough, a second later, Devon came sliding down the drainpipe. Well, sliding was a bit generous. He hit the balcony so fast his knees buckled, and he landed on his ass. But he let out a soft laugh and pushed himself onto his feet, so I knew he wasn’t hurt.
“How do you climb up and down that thing?” he asked, brushing his hands off and walking over to me. “It’s so much harder than it looks.”
“Practice,” I quipped.
He must have been up on the roof, working on the heavy bag, because sweat had beaded at his temples again. He wore black gym shorts and a T-shirt that stretched across his chest in a delicious fashion. I remembered the feel of his body next to mine last night, his fingers curled around mine, his breath kissing my hair. And I wanted to feel those things again right now and more—so much more.
“What are you doing?” I asked to distract myself from those treacherous thoughts.
He grinned. “I thought I’d come down and see you for a change.”
My heart warmed at his words. That was probably the oddest but most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me. But I forced myself to look away from him and turn back to the railing.
Devon hesitated at my less-than-warm welcome, but he came over and stood beside me, putting his elbows on the stone ledge. We both stared down at the flashing lights, which seemed to burn brighter tonight than ever before.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk about what happened,” he said. “But I wanted to say thanks. For saving my life.”
“Just doing my job,” I muttered. “I’m your bodyguard, remember?”
He winced. Neither one of us said anything for a few minutes.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “About what happened?”
“You mean me tricking Grant and those other two men into getting eaten by the lochness?”
He nodded.
I shrugged. “I’m fine with it. You?”
He shrugged back. “I guess I’m all right. I mean, it was him or us. I know that. Although I keep thinking about Grant and everything he did, about how jealous and unhappy he was. I keep wondering if I should have noticed, and if I had, whether I could have done something about it.”
I shook my head. “Wow. You are way too noble for your own good.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “People are responsible for their own actions. Grant decided to hurt people to get what he wanted, so that’s what he did. There’s no excuse for it. Don’t you dare make excuses for him and everything he did.”
Devon nodded, and he was quiet again, although I could almost see the gears spinning in his brain. “There’s one more thing I want to know.”
I tensed, knowing what was coming next, that he was going to ask me how I’d escaped at the slaughterhouse; I was already planning what lies to tell him.
“It’s about your transference power.”
I blinked. Apparently, I didn’t know what was coming next because I’d never dreamed it would be that.
Devon stared at me. “That’s how you got out of your ropes, right? Grant used the same ones on me, so I know how thick they were. But you snapped out of them like they were nothing—after those guys used their strength to hold you still.”
I didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t say anything. Suddenly, I could barely breathe. One of my deepest, darkest secrets, and Devon was talking about it like it was an action movie we’d both watched. First, Claudia. Now, her son. The Sinclairs were a lot smarter than I’d given them credit for.
“And when we were running toward the bridge? I could barely keep up with you,” he continued. “You were the one pulling me along, Lila, even though you were hurt a lot worse than I was. That happened after I used my compulsion on you. And I started thinking about all the other times I’ve seen you fight, and how you always seem to get stronger after someone uses their strength or speed against you. That’s transference, right?”
I wet my lips. “How—how do you know about my magic?”
He shrugged. “When I was a kid and found out about my own power, I started reading about all the different kinds of Talents. Whenever I meet someone new, I try to figure out what their magic is. It took me a lot longer with you than with anyone else, though.”
I kept staring and staring at him.
“Don’t worry,” he said, noticing the sick, stricken look on my face. “I’m not going to tell anyone. I think it’s cool. That we’re sort of the same when it comes to our magic.”
He smiled, and some of the knots in my stomach loosened. He would keep my secret.
Devon hesitated, then reached over and put his hand on top of mine. His skin was warm, as though the sun had soaked into his body. I breathed in, and the crisp, clean scent of him filled my nose, the one that made me want to bury my face in his neck and inhale the essence of him over and over again. But I forced myself to exhale and step back, putting some distance between us, even though our hands were still touching.