The guard let out a loud, frustrated bellow, knowing that she was just toying with him. So he screamed, raised his sword overhead, and charged at her, which was exactly what she wanted.

At the last second, Deah slid to the left and sliced her sword across his bare upper arm, opening up a long cut. The guard yelped, knowing he’d lost. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, he hadn’t realized that Deah had positioned herself directly in front of the spring, and he stumbled past her and plunged headfirst into the cold water. He came up sputtering.

“First blood!” an official called out, stepping into the stone ring and raising Deah’s sword hand, declaring her the winner.

Deah grinned, and cheers rang out. Up in the Draconi box, Victor clapped politely, but Seleste surged to her feet, put her fingers to her lips, and let out a loud, ear-splitting whistle that sounded through the whole stadium. Victor frowned as though displeased by his wife’s antics, but Deah waved at her mom, happy at the show of affection.

My heart squeezed with jealousy. It was just like something my mom would have done, if she’d still been alive.

Poppy, Devon, and I were standing by the fence gate, and Deah had to walk past us to get out of the stadium.

“Nice fight,” I said.

Poppy and Devon called out their congratulations as well.

“Thanks.” Deah gave me a guarded look, nodded at Poppy and Devon, and then headed for the Draconi tent.

Poppy, Devon, and I hung out and watched the other matches, cheering for the Sinclairs and Itos and clapping for everyone who won, even the Draconis.

About halfway through the first round, it was Devon’s turn to fight, and he strode out to the center of the ring to some of the loudest cheers of the entire day. Everyone knew, liked, and respected Devon, and I even spotted some of the Draconis cheering for him. Not Blake, of course, who openly jeered and boo-boo-booed like the jackass he was, but Deah politely clapped the way she had for all the competitors.

Devon was facing a woman from the Ito Family who was armed with two short swords. Devon loosened up his shoulders, then raised his own sword and faced her. The official stepped out of the way, and the fight was on.

The woman had a speed Talent, and she came at Devon almost too fast to follow, swinging her swords every which way. But he recognized the pattern and defended against it. Back and forth they fought, with the Ito guard moving faster and faster, trying to rattle Devon, but he kept his cool and matched her move for move. Not only that, but he started pushing the fight toward the left side of the ring where some of the smaller rock formations were.

Finally, when she was going as fast as possible, Devon kicked a baseball-size stone at her. The Ito guard lurched out of the way, but the unexpected motion threw her off balance long enough for Devon to step up, slice his sword across her arm, and win the match.

Poppy clapped, but I hooted and hollered, along with the rest of the Sinclairs and a good portion of the crowd. Poppy went over to speak to the Ito guard, while Devon jogged back over to me.

“You did great!” I said.

Devon grinned, his eyes bright and happy. He rushed forward, picked me up, and swung me around before setting me back down. Our gazes locked, and a hot spark sizzled in my chest, followed by a happy, dizzying rush of feeling that made my toes curl inside my boots. I suddenly felt too warm, and it wasn’t from the sun blazing down overhead.

I cleared my throat, stepped out of his arms, and clapped Devon on the shoulder. “Good match.”

“Thanks.”

He held my gaze another second, making sure that I knew exactly what he was feeling, then turned and went over to the Ito guard to shake hands with her.

I let out a breath, but I went over and joined him, Poppy, and the guard. Despite all my fears and worries about Devon and this thing between us, there was no place I would rather be right now than celebrating with him.

The day wore on, and the matches continued.

Blake was up next, and he used his strength Talent to slice an Ito guard’s sword in two. Even though the guard raised his hands, ceding the match, Blake still stepped forward and sliced his sword across the man’s arm just because he could. Yeah, he was a complete and total jerk that way.

Vance won his match as well, using his strength and speed Talents to easily defeat a Salazar guard. Vance had kept his cloak and hat on while fighting, and when the match was finished, he pulled his hat off his head and swept into a low bow, as though he were an old-fashioned knight. Of course, the tourists loved it, cheering, taking photos, and chanting his name. I rolled my eyes. All the rubes were doing was inflating Vance’s already enormous ego.

On his way out of the stadium, Vance stopped and smirked at me. “See? I told you that they’d be cheering for me. Try not to suck too much out there, okay, Lila?”

He swaggered past me and went over to Katia, who was standing by the fence a few feet away. Vance had been chatting up Katia all day long, although she kept ignoring him and looking over to where Felix was stationed with the healers. I even saw her wave to him a couple of times. Felix waved back, but his smile was strained.

Poppy was up next, and she used her speed Talent to run circles around a Volkov guard, easily winning the match.

Then it was Katia’s turn. Agile, cunning, always on the move. She was a good fighter, one of the best I’d seen, right up there with Deah. But one thing seemed to be missing—her speed.

Katia didn’t seem to be using any of her speed, her magic, today. Oh, she hopped up onto the rock formations and back off, leaped over the smaller stones, and skirted along the edges of the cold spring, but she didn’t do any of those things any faster than a regular mortal would have. It was odd, especially given her blazing speed on the obstacle course yesterday. Maybe she just hadn’t found her groove yet. But she still managed to slice her sword across the arm of her opponent when the Draconi guard tripped.

Katia smiled and waved, but a scowl spread over her face the second she turned away from the crowd. She stormed over to the fence and slammed her sword into the gate, shoving it open. When she realized that I was watching, she stopped, her cheeks red and her hazel eyes bright. I couldn’t tell whether she was embarrassed or angry I’d seen her mini-meltdown.

“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.”