I took off my cloak and handed it to Felix. Devon reached out, threaded his fingers through mine, and squeezed my hand. I turned to face him, focusing on the blazing conviction and rock-hard certainty shining in his eyes, and letting his emotions flood my chest, letting them comfort me and add to my own determination to defeat Victor.
We didn’t speak, but we didn’t need to. Not after everything that had happened the past few days.
I stared back at Devon, letting him see just how much I cared about him, just how much I loved him. I pressed a quick kiss to his lips, then slipped my hand out of his and joined Claudia on the bridge.
Together, the two of us walked out to the middle of the span. I glanced over the side, but the surface of the river remained smooth and calm below. I wondered if the lochness would help me again, since the monster had already saved me twice before. But three times might be asking too much of it, especially against Victor.
Victor strode out to the middle of the bridge as well, with Blake by his side. Both of them blinked at the sight of me standing next to Claudia.
“So you survived the copper crushers,” Victor said, his eyes narrowing in thought. “How did you manage that?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t about to explain myself to him.
“What is this?” he asked, turning to Claudia. “Why is she here?”
Claudia raised her chin and stared back at him, her features as cold and hard as his were. “Lila has volunteered to represent me, to represent the entire Sinclair Family.”
“Are you actually sending this girl out to do your fighting?” He let out a low, ugly laugh. “You really think she can beat me? What a fool you are. I killed Serena and I’ll be happy to do the same to her daughter. Then you’ll have two Sterlings to mourn instead of just one.”
Claudia’s lips pressed together into a tight line, but she ignored his cruel taunt. “Do we have an agreement or not?” she snapped.
Victor studied her a moment, then his gaze flicked to me. It only took him a second to decide that he could beat me. “Agreed. As previously arranged, the winner of the duel will take control of both our Families—and do whatever they like with the losers.”
He whirled around and stalked back over to his guards, filling them in on the terms of the duel. But Blake stayed in the middle of the bridge, staring at me as if he had never seen me before.
“I thought you were dead,” he muttered. “You should be dead. Those copper crushers should have killed you.”
I looked at him, trying to reason with him for Deah’s sake. “You know that your dad is going to turn on you one day, right? You’ll do something to displease him, and he’ll order one of his men to kill you, just like he ordered you to capture Deah. Victor doesn’t care about anything or anyone other than himself. Even if he beats me, even if he takes control of all the other Families in Cloudburst Falls, it still won’t be enough for him. He’ll start thinking about what other Families and other towns he can take over. Nothing will ever be enough for him.”
A bit of doubt flickered in Blake’s eyes, overcoming his usual arrogance. But his uncertainty quickly vanished and he gave me the same sneer he always did.
“That’s never going to happen,” he said. “My dad loves me. Besides, I’m the Draconi bruiser, his right-hand man. He can’t run the Family without me. He’s told me so himself.”
“Just like he told Deah and Seleste how much he loved them?” I asked.
Blake blinked, as though it had never occurred to him that he might be just another tool for Victor to use, the way he had used Deah and Seleste all these years. He opened his mouth to say something, but the sharp, ringing tap-tap-tap-tap of Victor’s wingtips on the cobblestones had him clamping his lips shut again.
Victor stopped in the middle of the bridge. He looked at me, then went over and placed three quarters on the center stone, the one marked with three Xs, before stepping back out into the center of the span.
“You didn’t think I would forget to pay the lochness toll, did you, Lila?” He smirked, seeing my disappointment. “Your mother taught me better than that.”
I really had been hoping he would forget about the toll, just as Grant Sanderson had all those weeks ago, and that the lochness would make Victor pay for his oversight. But of course Victor wouldn’t make things that easy.
So I dug my own set of quarters out of the hidden slot on my belt, walked over, and placed them on the center stone, careful to keep them away from his. I waited a few seconds, wondering if the lochness might appear to take its tribute, but the surface of the river remained smooth and calm, so I moved back over to the center of the bridge.
“You can do this,” Claudia whispered, her eyes steady on mine. “Just remember Serena and everything she taught you.”
“Always,” I whispered back.