“What was that about?” Felix asked.

Devon shrugged. “You know the dinner for the Families is always a tense time. She’s probably just worried about that. After all, things didn’t go so well at the last dinner.”

“You mean Grant kidnapping and almost killing you and Lila?” Felix snorted. “Yeah, I’d say that didn’t go so well is a total understatement. But Grant got turned into lochness food, thanks to Lila, so at least you don’t have to worry about him tonight.”

Grant Sanderson had been the Sinclair Family broker, but he’d wanted more magic and more power within the Family, and he’d tried to kill Devon and me to get it. I’d turned the tables on Grant instead, and he was the one who’d ended up dead, just like Felix had said.

Devon shrugged again. “According to my mom, there’s always something to worry about during the dinner.”

Felix shook his head. “Well, you would think that your mom would relax a little, now that we have all of Victor’s black blades.”

“Most of Victor’s black blades,” I corrected. “We had to leave some behind, remember?”

Felix rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I was there too, remember? But what could he possibly do with the few weapons we left behind?”

“I don’t know,” I muttered. “I just don’t know.”

But Claudia was obviously worried about it, and so was I.

Despite Claudia’s warning, the morning passed by quietly. Devon helped his mom with some Family business, while Felix and I went down to the training room. Felix had healing magic, and he was definitely more of a flirt than a fighter, but he was determined to improve his skills, something I was helping him with.

The two of us sparred for a couple of hours, then got lunch together in the dining hall before going our separate ways for the rest of the day. Felix headed up to the greenlab to help his dad harvest some stitch-sting bushes. Me? I went to my room and took a nap, trying to catch up on some of the sleep that I’d missed last night when I’d been skulking through the woods. All this thieving was wearing me out.

At six o’clock that evening, I was back in the library, wearing a black pantsuit that was almost a mirror image of Claudia’s, although I’d opted for a pair of black sneakers, instead of the stilettoes she wore. Devon, Felix, Angelo, and Reginald all sported black suits and shirts as well. So did Mo, although he’d paired his suit jacket with a black Hawaiian shirt patterned with white hibiscus flowers. The same splashy pattern also adorned his shiny wingtips.

My jacket was unbuttoned, revealing my black camisole underneath, but I was far more interested in the wide, black leather belt cinched around my waist. Three stars were hooked to the belt, but they were far more than the pretty decorations they appeared to be. Several quarters were also tucked into one of the hidden slots in the belt, and I ran my fingers all the way around the leather, making sure that everything was secure.

Devon reached over and grabbed my hand. “You’ve checked and rechecked your belt and your quarters three times now. All your supplies are right where they’re supposed to be.”

“I know,” I muttered. “And I’d be checking and rechecking my sword if it wasn’t up in my room. I really want to take a weapon tonight.”

He grinned and squeezed my hand. “And you know that no one is allowed to have any weapons at the dinner. Be glad you can get away with wearing those three throwing stars on your belt.”

I squeezed his hand back, then buttoned up my jacket, hiding the belt and throwing stars from sight. “I know, but I still wish I had a sword. Or a dagger. Or something else really sharp and pointy.”

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Everything will be fine, and the other Families will be on their best behavior tonight, including Victor, Blake, and the rest of the Draconis.”

He was probably right, but I still couldn’t help but worry all the same. Even if tonight’s dinner went peacefully, Victor didn’t plan on keeping those black blades locked away in his secret room forever. He’d stockpiled all those weapons and all that magic with the sole purpose of destroying the other Families. And now that he’d told Blake his plan, it was only a matter of time before Victor attacked us.

But I kept my worries to myself. If I’d voiced them, Devon would have tried to reassure me. He would have said that we’d stolen almost all of the black blades and that Victor couldn’t hurt us with them now.

But that wasn’t true. Not really. Because Victor didn’t need black blades and stolen monster magic to kill us.

Not when he’d so easily murdered my mom.

Serena Sterling had been one of the best fighters around. She was smart, strong, and had survived more battles and monster attacks than anyone I’d ever known. When I was younger, I’d thought my mom was invincible, and that nothing could ever really hurt her. But Victor had stormed into our apartment that hot summer day four years ago and killed her in a matter of minutes.

I’d always wondered how he’d done that, since I’d only seen the horrible, bloody aftermath and not the actual attack itself. Victor was rumored to have many, many Talents, and I’d lain awake countless nights, trying to figure out exactly what magic he could have used to get the drop on my mom, what power he had that had let him so easily cut her to pieces, without getting so much as a scratch on himself in return. Or maybe it had taken the combination of his magic and Blake’s strength to overpower her. I doubted that I’d ever know for sure, and part of me didn’t really want to.

Because my mom had been the best fighter I’d known, and if Victor could kill her, then he could do the exact same thing to me and my friends, black blades or not.

Devon grabbed my hand again. “Are you okay? You look like you’re about to be sick.”

I threaded my fingers through his and forced myself to plaster a smile on my face. “Never better,” I muttered. “Never better.”

CHAPTER SIX

We left the library, went outside, and got into a black SUV with the white Sinclair hand-and-sword crest emblazoned on the doors. Devon drove, while I sat in the front passenger seat, and Felix and Mo chatted in the back. Claudia, Angelo, and Reginald were in another vehicle in front of ours, along with a couple of guards.

The vehicles wound down the curvy mountain roads, and thirty minutes later we were cruising through the town of Cloudburst Falls. It was almost seven o’clock now, but people still filled the streets on this hot July evening, taking photos, buying hats and matching T-shirts, and chowing down on burgers, fries, nachos, and other treats from the food carts that lined the sidewalks.