Page 101 of The Dagger and the Flame
She flung it at the wall.
‘Sera!’
There was a sudden blinding flash of light. A gust of warm air rippled over them, the entire room flaring so bright, itstung tears into Sera’s eyes. The darkness shattered, and for ten long heartbeats, it felt like the sun itself had exploded in front of them.
And then it was over.
She looked down to find Theo crouched on the floor, covering his eyes.
‘Very cool,’ she said.
He glared up at her. ‘Don’t ever do that again.’
She extended a hand to him. ‘I won’t. At least, not to you.’
He stood up, sweeping the hair from his forehead. Then he shut the chest and locked it. Sera removed her Cloak and laid it alongside the pearls.
‘Tomorrow night, then,’ he murmured.
‘Tomorrow,’ she said, blowing out a breath. She took courage in the glimmer of Lightfire between them, in Mama’s words repeating like a mantra in her mind:When the time comes, you will rise far above this wicked city and become a flame in the dark.
Saint Oriel had got them this far. Sera just had to go a little further.
Chapter 38Seraphine
Ransom came to her later that night, as though he could sense the threads of her plan coming together. Or perhaps it was the break in the torrential rain that let him finally venture beyond the shelter of Hugo’s Passage. Whatever the reason, Seraphine’s heart leaped when she spotted him outside her window, pacing in the dark.
Tonight, she didn’t reach for her pen. Instead, she tugged a sweater on over her pyjamas and laced up her boots before hurrying downstairs. She ran for the gate, silently thanking Saint Maurius for holding off the rain.
Ransom was leaning against the wall across the street, his quicksilver eyes shamelessly drinking her in as she locked the gate behind her.
‘You came back,’ she called out.
He cocked his head. ‘After that kiss, did you really think I could stay away?’
She grinned as she jogged to meet him.
He stiffened, raising his hands. ‘Careful. I’ve taken Shade.’
‘I can see that,’ she said, stopping a foot in front of him. ‘You look like you’ve swallowed the moon.’
‘I wish I could spit it back out again,’ he said, frowning. ‘I didn’t expect you to come outside. I thought you would write…’ He bit off a swearword. ‘Now, I can’t even touch you.’
Sera almost laughed. How far they had come in just a few short weeks. From wanting to murder each other to wanting to… well, justwanting.
‘I’ll try not to tempt you too much,’ she said, flashing him a wicked grin as she turned and beckoned him to follow her.
‘Impossible task,’ he said as he pushed off the wall. ‘Even the back of your head is mesmerizing.’
Sera snorted, glad he couldn’t tell how violently she was blushing. She led him to the end of the street, far from the glare of House Armand and through a thicket of trees so old they used to shed their leaves during the Age of Saints. They crowded in on her, tall and gnarled and creaking in the rising wind. Mulch clung to her boots as she wove between the trunks, seeking out the small clearing she had discovered not long ago with Pippin.
Ransom followed her, his shadows trailing behind him and upending the fallen leaves. ‘If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were luring me into this forest to kill me.’
‘I can think of far better things to do with you in this forest,’ she tossed over her shoulder, swinging her hips for good measure.
He stifled a groan. ‘You promised not to tempt me.’
She smirked at him. ‘I was referring to the art of conversation.’
