Page 129 of The Dagger and the Flame
His hand shot out, firing shadows at the cathedral. The windows shattered in a hail of coloured glass. ‘Don’tcall me that.’
Sera refused to be afraid. ‘Why are you doing this?’
He struck again, knocking a gargoyle from the eaves. It cracked the cobbles as it fell. He tore down another, ripping apart the cathedral piece by piece, just to show her he could. Somewhere behind Sera, Pippin was barking. The others were screaming at her to come away from Ransom.
But Sera stood her ground. He was trying to scare her – to frighten her off – but she had seen enough monsters to know Ransom was not one of them, and she refused to cower before this devastating spectacle.
Her heart was an anchor in her chest. It rooted her to that line in the earth, to the sight of that awful ring on his left hand and the matching quicksilver in his eyes. If she could just pierce his veneer, she could find the man beneath the Dagger. She could save him.
‘Bastian!’ she cried. ‘You’rehurtingme.’
Perhaps it was the crack in her voice. Perhaps it was the tears on her face or the trembling of his hands; whatever the reason, he raised his chin. Their eyes met, and the agony she glimpsed there nearly punched through her soul.
She lurched towards him, walking right over the crack in the stones and into the heart of all that Shade. It rippled away from her, as if it was frightened. Sera didn’t have time to wonder at the answering tingle in her blood. Or the magic that surged up through her ribcage. Without her cloak, her necklace, it made no sense, but the scent of lemon blossoms filled the air and Ransom’s eyes widened, as if he could sense it too.
Lightfire.
She snatched his hand, her fingers crackling against his.
Yes, it was Lightfire. And it was thrumming in her blood.
His brow furrowed as the shadows around them fell away.
She watched the silver fade from his eyes. ‘What are you doing?’ she said softly.
He closed his eyes, denying her the sight of his humanity. ‘Letting you go.’ She moved her hands to his shirt but he caught them in his own. ‘If I don’t stay behind, the Daggers will come for you. They will hunt you every day of your life. They will chase you to the ends of the earth.’
‘I don’t care.’
‘You will never be free, Seraphine. You will never know a minute of peace.’
‘Bastian—’
‘Listen to me.’ He snapped his eyes open. ‘They will find you and kill you and then they will string your corpse up by your fucking boots andIwill have to cut you down—’
‘Stop!’ she pleaded.
‘Go.’ The word was a growl. ‘Seraphine.Go.’
She trembled as he raised her hand to his mouth, pressing a parting kiss to her palm. His lips were soft and lingering. Her blood surged in answer and lightning crackled against his mouth. He raised his eyebrows, but said nothing as he released her.
He had said it all, already.
Sera opened her mouth to argue but he turned from her, taking a vial from his pocket and downing it in one gulp. His choice made, his path forking away from hers.
Tears streamed down her face, the words springing from her before she could stop them. ‘You weren’t the only one who prayed to Saint Oriel!’ she called after him. ‘I wished for you too, Bastian.’
She watched him stop. Flinch. For a moment she thought he would turn back, drop the act, cast aside his fear and go to her. Then shadows gathered at his back. He curled his fists and walked on, into the man-made dark.
Sera watched him go, her breath punching out of her in sharp bursts. Dimly, she became aware of the sun’s warmth on the back of her neck, then the distant thrum of nightguards galloping through the streets, following her trail of destruction to another broken monument.
Sera turned around to find her friends hovering nearby. They stood in a puddle of stained-glass fragments, wearing matching looks of horror. Pippin was trembling in Bibi’s arms.
Theo looked like he wanted to fling a dagger after Ransom.
Val broke the silence. ‘What the hell was that?’
Sera wasn’t entirely sure. She grimaced as she looked up at the cathedral, its empty windows gaping.
