“Yeah,” Felix chimed in. “Too close.”
“Too close is right. Now, come on,” I whispered, heading toward the glass door on the far side of the office. “Let’s get out of here while we still can.”
Devon and Felix grabbed the two duffel bags full of black blades, and we slipped out of the glass door and onto a balcony before sneaking down some stone steps and back across the yard. We made it to the woods without any of the Draconi guards spotting us, and we all sighed with relief as the trees, shadows, and growing clouds of mist swallowed us up.
It took us almost an hour to hike through the forest back over to the Sinclair Family compound, and I was happy to see the mansion loom up out of the darkness before us. Unlike the white, airy elegance of the Draconi castle, the Sinclair mansion was made out of black, blocky stone that looked as if it had been chiseled out of the mountain itself. The mansion rose up seven stories in places, with towers that soared even higher into the night sky, each one topped with a black flag bearing the Sinclair Family crest—a hand holding a sword aloft, all of it outlined in white. The same symbol was stamped into the silver cuffs that Devon, Felix, and I wore on our right wrists.
“Home, sweet home,” Felix said in a relieved voice.
“Absolutely,” Devon agreed, hefting his bag of weapons a little higher on his shoulder. “I’m glad this mission is over. Aren’t you, Lila?”
But it wasn’t over. Not for me. I still had more stealing to do tonight. But I smiled at him, glad that the shadows hid how fake the expression really was.
“Yep. Now, come on. The others will be waiting for us.”
Instead of striding straight across the lawn to the front entrance, we hunkered down in the bushes until the Sinclair guards’ backs were turned. Our guards were dressed the same way that the Draconis had been—black boots, pants, and shirts—the only difference was that the Sinclairs wore black cavalier hats topped with white feathers, along with the same black cloaks that Devon and Felix still sported. The white feathers made it easy for us to spot and duck around the guards. Then we crossed the lawn, crept up some stone steps to a balcony, and stopped in front of a series of glass doors.
I tried one of the knobs, but it, too, was unlocked, just like the ones at the Draconi mansion. I sighed with disappointment, but I opened the door and the three of us stepped inside an enormous library that soared three stories high in this part of the mansion.
A white stone fireplace took up most of one wall, while ebony shelves covered another. White stone balconies wrapped around the two upper levels of the library, revealing more ebony bookcases, before giving way to the pointed ceiling, which featured black and white panes of stained glass. Through the glass, I could see the full moon and a sky studded with stars, all of which cast a dim, silvery light that frosted the tops of the books on the upper levels.
“You’re late,” a voice called out.
Devon, Felix, and I looked over at a woman sitting behind an antique ebony desk in front of the doors. She had the same green eyes as Devon, but her hair was a rich auburn. She wore a sleek white pantsuit, and a wide silver cuff flashed on her right wrist.
“Sorry,” I drawled. “We ran into a little problem at the Draconi mansion.”
Claudia Sinclair laid her silver reading glasses down on top of the desk, worry flashing in her eyes. “What sort of problem?”
I shrugged. “Blake almost caught us in Victor’s office.”
She hissed out a breath between her teeth, but I grinned.
“Notice that I said almost. Don’t worry. Blake didn’t even realize that we were there, and none of the guards spotted us either. We got in and out, and no one was the wiser, especially not Victor.”
“And Deah and Seleste?” she asked, her voice still full of worry.
“They’re okay too. So relax. Everything’s fine, and my plan went off without a hitch, just like I told you it would.”
Claudia gave me a sharp, suspicious look, but the tension in her beautiful face slowly eased as she studied Devon, Felix, and me in turn and realized that we really were okay.
“See? I told you everything would be okay. You worry way too much, Claud,” a deep, masculine voice chimed in.
Claudia swiveled around in her chair so that she was facing a tall, muscular man who was sprawled across a white velvet settee by the fireplace. Unlike Claudia, who looked as professional as could be in her pantsuit, the man wore a gray Hawaiian shirt patterned with large, neon-blue parrots, along with white linen pants and white flip-flops. A white straw hat was perched on the settee beside him.
The man leaned forward and grabbed a small sandwich off a sterling silver tray on the table in front of him. The overhead light from the crystal chandelier made his ebony skin gleam, along with the silver threads in his black hair.