Chapter 14 Sam #2
If I rat Tamsin out now, I won’t just get Tamsin disqualified, though—I’ll sacrifice my chance to see Mateus Blackwood’s legacy destroyed in the arena.
A simple disqualification is nothing compared to that.
A disqualification is something the Blackwoods can bounce back from.
I don’t know if I’ll ever have a chance like this again: a chance to destroy their family completely and utterly, the same way Jamie’s death destroyed mine.
But if Silverstein forces Rook to resign, Tamsin will emerge the victor. She and her father will have everything they want. And my champion and I will be left with nothing. Less than nothing.
I can’t stomach that.
“Mateus Blackwood told his daughter to throw the match against Rook in order to rig the betting odds,” I choke out. “Tamsin told me herself.”
“Samantha.” Silverstein utters my name under his breath like an expletive. “How long have you known?”
I close my eyes. “Since we arrived in New York, pretty much.”
“God damn it!” I hear Silverstein’s fist slam into the wall. “Why the hell would you keep something like that from me? That’s a major breach in dueling regulations.”
“Because she promised me she wouldn’t do it!” I cry. “I made Tamsin promise she’d give us a real duel. But if it’s between her and Rook, it’s Tamsin who should be forced to forfeit, don’t you see? She was the one who was going to break the rules!”
“And why on earth,” Silverstein says slowly, “would she tell you, her opponent’s second, about a breach like that?”
“She didn’t mean to.” I squirm. “I mean, she didn’t know who I was when she told me. We were just talking.”
“You were just talking,” repeats Silverstein. His voice is flat and sardonic in a way I hate. “A completely benign conversation on your part, I’m sure.”
“It was just opposition research!”
“Was it, kid?” Silverstein’s gaze pins me to the spot. “Or was it because you blame the Blackwoods for what happened to Jamie?”
I freeze. “What?”
Silverstein hasn’t spoken of Jamie since the day my brother died.
He quit uttering Jamie’s name, the same way he quit calling me Kid Sister.
I always assumed it was his own curious form of grief: a way to erase Jamie’s memory from daily life, where it couldn’t hurt anyone, least of all the half-petrified hearts of cranky old-timer magicians.
“You blame them, don’t you?” Silverstein shakes his head. “I’m no fool, Samantha. I know what kind of business Mateus Blackwood got up to before his daughter became a star. You blame the Blackwoods for putting on the duel that killed Jamie.”
He practically chokes on my brother’s name, like it’s an unfamiliar taste on his tongue.
Which I suppose it has been ever since we put Jamie in the ground.
The world slows down as the bottom of my belly drops out from under me.
So this is it. I’ve been found out. The panic spikes then, oddly, evens out.
If this is how things are, I might as well lean in and ride it out.
With an effort, I lift my chin. I refuse to back down now, even as my heartbeat ricochets against my ribs.
“Jamie was the same age I am now,” I say. “And Mateus Blackwood let him die to turn a profit. You can’t blame me for anything I’ve done.”
“Samantha,” says Silverstein again, but in a different voice this time. “I am sorry for your loss. Believe me, I’m old enough to know how hard it can be to stomach a tragedy like that, especially if you feel that someone else is at fault—”
“Blackwood is at fault!”
“But is his daughter?” the old master asks quietly. “Tell me, Sam, what role did Tamsin Blackwood play in your brother’s death? Which strings did she pull? What knife did she leave bloody?”
I shake my head against the now familiar tidal wave of guilt that washes over me.
“It doesn’t matter what Tamsin did or didn’t have to do with Jamie dying,” I snap.
“She can be a saint reborn for all I care. She’s still Mateus Blackwood’s only family.
The only way I can make him understand what he did to my family is by making her pay. ”
I take a deep breath. Silverstein will see things my way.
He has to. “If you really don’t think Rook can beat her—if you think he’s really in as bad shape as you say—then go to the dueling commissioner and the promoters and tell them what their beloved Master Mateus Blackwood put his daughter up to.
Let the Blackwoods eat the punishment they deserve. Not us. Not Lysander.”
Silverstein pinches the bridge of his nose. “We need to tell your champion about this. Rook deserves to know that your judgment as his second has been…compromised.”
“It hasn’t!” I insist. “His goals are still my goals: beating the Blackwoods. All you need to tell him is that they’re cheats.
Expose them for what they are.” I clench my fists.
“It won’t be as good as giving him the chance to beat Tamsin fair and square, but it’s better than running away from her with our tails tucked and letting her family get away with an… an unjust reward.”
Besides, getting Tamsin disqualified at least gives me time to make a new plan. One that will destroy the Blackwoods once and for all.
“An unjust reward, huh?” Silverstein drops his hand from his face and looks at me with an expression I’ve never seen on him before. “You really do think Tamsin Blackwood deserves to be the whipping girl for what her father did.”
There was a time when I would have said yes without hesitation. Before I got to know Blackwood’s daughter as an actual human being. Before she kissed me. Before I kissed her back. Now I’m not so sure.
I open my mouth to say yes anyway, but the word gets stuck in my throat. It tastes too much like a lie. And my old master has always been far too good at seeing through lies.
Master Silverstein’s expression settles into a knowing sort of sorrow. “You don’t, do you? You know that you’re being cruel and unfair.”
“Maybe she doesn’t deserve to suffer the way her father does,” I say softly.
“But that’s never mattered to me.” The words are ugly, but I force myself to say them anyway.
I force myself to tell the truth. It’s a relief, in some ways.
“Mateus Blackwood wrecked my family the night he killed my brother. And I hate him for that. I hate him even more than I—more than I care for his daughter. If she’d been born anyone else’s kid, maybe things could have been different between us.
” I blink back sudden heat behind my eyes. “But she wasn’t.”
“Is that really true?”
I stop breathing as a new voice—quivering, full of hurt and disbelief—hits my ears. No. No, no, no. This can’t be happening.
“Miss Blackwood,” says Master Silverstein. Surprise colors his voice. “What are you doing down here?”
“I came to train. My plans took an…unexpected turn when I heard raised voices in here.” Tamsin Blackwood steps into view as the arena door creaks open to admit her.
“The door to this training room doesn’t lock correctly,” she tells him in clipped tones.
Her expression is alarmingly blank. Utterly unreadable.
“Miss Chan should have remembered, from the first time we met down here.”
“How long have you been standing there?” I demand. “How much did you hear?”
Tamsin’s gaze slides toward me. “You never answered my question, Sam.” I’ve never heard her speak in a voice so cold.
Every hair on my body feels like it’s standing on end.
“Everything you just said. About what my father deserves. About…about how you hate him more than you care about me. Is it all true?”
I can’t speak. I’m frozen to the spot. “Tamsin,” I whisper.
Disgust creeps over her pretty features. “You can’t even bring yourself to lie to my face, can you? You’ll plot god knows what behind my back, but when you have to face me with the truth out in the open, well.” She chuckles bleakly. “Turns out you’re just another goddamn coward, Samantha Chan.”
She turns on her heel and leaves without another word.
“Tamsin, wait!” I shout. “Tamsin!”
All that greets me is silence.