Page 10 of The Dagger and the Flame
Sera stirred at the sound of voices in her bedroom.
‘Shush, Val, she’s waking up!’
‘That’s because you’re right in her face, Bibi!’
Sera cracked an eye open to see another pair barely a footfrom her face. They were dark blue and rimmed with long lashes the colour of tangerines. They blinked, and the voice they belonged to hitched. ‘Hi! Good morning! I’m Sabine! But everyone calls me Bibi.’ She smiled, stretching the scattering of freckles along her pale cheeks. ‘This is Valerie. But she prefers Val. Don’t mind her scowl. She’s not a morning person.’
‘Saints, Bibi, let her breathe.’ Bibi was shoved aside and before Seraphine could sit up, a different girl appeared before her. She had warm brown skin and brown eyes, flecked with gold. They matched her delicate nose-ring, and the three studs in her left ear. She was indeed scowling, under a generous crop of violet-tinted dark hair. ‘Come on, rookie. The suspense is eating us alive,’ she said, blowing a stray curl from her eye. ‘Who are you, and why do you smell like a bonfire?’
‘Let her sit up first, Val!’ Val was tugged backwards, both girls tumbling off the bed in a scuffle. Pippin, now roused from his slumber, wriggled out from under the covers to bark at them.
Sera groaned as she sat up, her body adjusting to every new ache. For a heartbeat, she forgot where she was. Then the horrors of yesterday came flooding back. The burning farmhouse. Mama’s body on the kitchen floor, her ash-grey hand flung out towards the front garden, as though to warn Sera to flee. To run and hide in the only place that could protect her now.
On Madame Mercure’s orders, the manservant Vincent had shown her to a room on the fifth floor. It was just big enough for a single bed and a narrow dresser, with a woven rug on the bare boards and a mirror hanging on the wall. She had beenso exhausted, she collapsed straight into bed, tucking Pippin close as they both drifted off.
She realized now she was still wearing her boots.
She kicked them off. They landed with a clatter, shaking ash and dirt across the rug. Bibi and Val were back on their feet. The red-haired girl – Bibi – was a few inches shorter than Val, her freckled face round and friendly. They glanced at the discarded boots, then back at Sera, still waiting for her to explain herself.
She cleared her throat. ‘Uh, hi. I’m Sera. I came last night.’
‘Boring,’ said Val, rolling her hand. ‘We’ve already figured that part out.’
‘Madame Mercure stuck you up here and really thought we wouldn’t notice you. But Vincent’s far too much of a gossip to keep you a secret.’ Bibi chuckled, smoothing her pristine floral dress as she perched on the end of the bed. She beamed at Pippin. ‘He forgot to mention this little treasure, though.’
‘Mutts aren’t welcome in House Armand,’ muttered Val, her eyes softening as she begrudgingly scratched Pippin under the chin.
‘Val’s just cranky because she’s been trying to get a dog for ages,’ said Bibi. ‘I keep telling her to steal one from the shelter.’
‘I’d just end up stealing all of them,’ sighed Val.
‘Go on, Sera,’ prompted Bibi. ‘We’re on tenterhooks. We don’t usually receive initiates so late at night. And they’re rarely as…’ Her gaze lingered on the burnt ends of Sera’s hair. ‘Uh, crisp?’
Sera smiled a little. Bibi’s kindness was like a salve. Despite her guardedness, it made Sera want to confide in her. Thetrouble was, she didn’t know where to begin. Not with the truth of what had happened to her mother. Or that she had been marked by Gaspard Dufort.
She ignored the chill that skittered down her spine, and said simply, ‘I lost my mother yesterday. We only ever had each other. I had nowhere else to go.’
Bibi’s face fell. ‘So, you’re an orphan, too?’
Sera flinched, the word pricking her like a pin.
‘Sorry. I just meant…’ Bibi blushed violently. ‘Well, I’m an orphan. I joined House Armand six years ago, on my eleventh birthday. Madame Mercure caught me trying to pickpocket her outside the Marlowe and said I had real promise. It was the most perfect twist of fate. As if Saint Oriel herself had planned it.’
Sera raised her eyebrows. After the summer spent breaking in her horse Scout and nearly breaking all her limbs in the process as well, she’d always considered herself to be brave – daring even. But she’d sooner gnaw her hand off than try to pickpocket the most famous Cloak in Fantome.
‘I’ve been here since I was a baby,’ said Val. ‘House Armand is all I’ve ever known.’
Bibi dropped her voice. ‘Some say Val was born wearing a tiny cloak.’
Val rolled her eyes. ‘You know Ihatethat joke.’
‘Who says it’s a joke?’
‘Madame Mercure says I have to pass a test before I can stay,’ said Sera, sweeping the hair from her face, and seeing ash come away on her fingers. She hastily wiped it on her trousers, hoping the girls hadn’t noticed. ‘I don’t know how good a thief I’ll be. I’ve never stolen anything before.’
‘So, you’ll learn,’ said Val, with a shrug. ‘Just like the rest of us did.’
Bibi was nodding. ‘Mercure wouldn’t have let you through the door if she didn’t see potential in you.’
