The officials announced that it was time for the final match, and I drew in a breath and stepped out into the stadium. Directly across from me, Deah entered on the opposite side. The crowd yelled and cheered, although I could hear a few, loud boo-boo-boos mixed in as well, from Blake and his crew.
I kept my pace slow and steady and concentrated on the feel of my mom’s sword in my hand, more determined to win than ever before. As Devon had said, this was my chance to take something from the Draconis for a change, especially from Victor, and I wasn’t about to screw it up by not paying attention to what mattered most right now.
My opponent.
Deah reached the stone ring before I did, her sword down and out by her side, just like mine was. Sunlight glinted off her weapon, and I finally got a good look at the symbols carved into the sword.
Stars covered the black blade.
I blinked, wondering if I was imagining things, but I wasn’t. Five-pointed stars covered the blade of her sword, clustered together in tight groups, just the way they were on mine, almost as if her weapon was a twin to my own.
Or a sword that a mother had passed down to her daughter.
Shock zipped through me. My heart clenched tight, and in that instant, I knew that everything Seleste said was true. She was my aunt, which made Deah my cousin, and Deah had a Sterling Family sword to prove it.
More and more questions crowded into my mind. Mo . . . he had to know about this. So did Claudia. After all, they’d been friends with my mom and Seleste. So why hadn’t they ever told me about Seleste and Deah?
But I pushed all the questions and revelations aside. Just because we shared the same DNA didn’t make us family. Not really. It didn’t matter if I was related to Seleste and Deah. It didn’t have any bearing on the tournament at all. Because Deah was my opponent, the person standing between me and what I wanted, and I wasn’t about to go easy on her just because some secret had been dragged out into the light.
So I stepped forward and listened to the official go through the rules a final time, even though everyone had already heard them before. Deah looked up at the Draconi box, and so did I. Seleste was sitting there, front and center, and she gave a big, cheery wave to her daughter before her gaze moved to me. She hesitated, then waved at me as well, although not as enthusiastically.
Victor was also in the box, sitting and talking to Blake, the two of them totally ignoring Deah, even though this was her big moment. Or maybe they were so sure she was going to win that they didn’t even have to watch the match.
I looked into Deah’s eyes, feeling all of her tight, pinching hurt. She desperately wanted her father’s love and approval, and she never felt she had it, no matter what she did or how much she accomplished. Not even now, when she was in the spotlight, poised to bring such glory to the Draconis and win the Tournament of Blades for the third straight year.
It made me feel sad for her.
My mom might be dead, but she’d never ignored me the way Victor and Blake were ignoring Deah. She might still have both her parents, but in her own way, she was as alone as I was. Katia had been wrong. Deah Draconi didn’t win at everything, and she certainly didn’t have everything.
She didn’t have very much at all.
Seleste noticed that Victor and Blake were ignoring Deah, so she waved to her daughter again, a big, happy smile on her face. I sensed that some of the hurt eased in Deah’s heart, and she waved back to her mom. Then she dropped her gaze from the box and focused on her sword, swinging it around and around in her hand, gearing up for the fight.
I stared up at Seleste, and she looked at me again. Our gazes locked, letting me feel her aching desperation for me to throw the match and let Deah win. I wondered why it was so important and why she thought it was the only way that Deah and I could save each other. Even if I did throw the match, it wasn’t like Deah and I would automatically become besties. It wasn’t like we would ever be friends. Not when she was a Draconi and I was a Sinclair.
Not when her father had murdered my mother.
So I turned away from Seleste and looked over at the Sinclair box. Devon, Felix, Claudia, Angelo, Reginald, and Mo were all up there, with Oscar zip-zip-zipping around faster than ever before. All of them were looking at me, grinning, clapping, and flashing me thumbs-ups, but I focused on Devon. Our gazes locked, and his warm pride filled me from head to toe. Win or lose, friends or something more, he’d always be there to support me.
That knowledge shattered the last part of the shell around my heart, letting all the feelings I had for Devon pour in. I just stood there, with all these emotions flooding my body. Warm happiness. Rock-hard certainty. And a hot, dizzying rush that made my heart soar. But for once, they weren’t someone else’s emotions—they were mine.