Dark Heart of Magic by Estep Jennifer

Author:Estep, Jennifer [Estep, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2015-09-15T07:00:00+00:00

I took a shower, but I was too restless and frustrated to go to bed, so I threw on a T-shirt, a pair of shorts, and some sneakers. Country music still blared from Oscar’s trailer, so I went out onto the balcony and climbed up the drainpipe until I reached one of the mansion roofs that formed a wide terrace.

The terrace was open on three sides, and three lawn chairs were perched close to the iron railing to take advantage of the spectacular view of the Midway and all its flashing lights down in the valley below. But I wasn’t here to admire the view. No, tonight I wanted to hit something—repeatedly.

So I headed over to a series of metal pipes that jutted out of the mansion wall, snaking up and down like an elaborate jungle gym. Several punching bags dangled from the posts. An open footlocker full of boxing gloves and other sporting gear sat close to the pipes, with a cooler full of ice and drinks over by the railing.

I didn’t bother taping up my hands or grabbing a pair of gloves from the footlocker. Instead, I marched over to the closest bag, raised my fists, and just started hitting it. I slammed my fists into the heavy bag over and over again, all the while imagining that it was Victor’s smug face I was pummeling. He’d gotten rid of my father and had murdered my mother, and now he was threatening to hurt everyone else I cared about. And I had no idea how to stop him.

Whack-whack-whack.

And the ironic thing was that Victor didn’t even know I existed. Oh sure, he knew that Lila Merriweather was a new guard for the Sinclairs and was competing in the Tournament of Blades, but he didn’t know that I was really Lila Sterling, the daughter of the woman he’d tortured and killed.

And he especially didn’t know how much I hated him.

Whack-whack-whack.

Then again, it wasn’t like I’d shouted my true identity from the rooftops. Just the opposite. I’d worked hard to keep who I really was on the down-low. Even among the Sinclairs, only a few folks knew the truth about who I was, what Victor had done to my mom, and why.

That had never bothered me before tonight, but going over to the Draconi mansion, seeing Victor so smug in his own home, so secure and confident in his own power, and reading through that file he had on me had flipped a switch inside me. Suddenly, I wanted him to know exactly who I was—and that I wasn’t going to let him hurt another person I cared about. Not a single one.

Whack-whack-whack.

I whaled on the heavy bag until my knuckles bruised, my arms ached, and my legs trembled, but I kept right on hitting it. I drew back my fists for another strike when a voice sounded behind me.

“You keep that up and you won’t have anything left for the tournament tomorrow.”

I looked over my shoulder at Devon, who’d stepped through the door and out onto the terrace.

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