Page 29 of The Dagger and the Flame
For a moment, Sera thought he meant the butterflies rioting in her stomach, but then she felt the cool tingle of Shade against the bare skin of her neck. She shuddered. ‘It’scold.’
He smiled. ‘You’ll get used to it.’
She winced at her reflection. ‘I look like a ghoul.’
‘I’m afraid you’re far too pretty to be a ghoul,’ said Theo, with such off-handed casualness she assumed he flirted with everyone.
‘Gloves next,’ he said. ‘Wrists up.’
He laid his right hand against hers, dwarfing it. His lips twitched.
‘They’re dainty,’ she said, defensively. ‘Don’t make fun of me.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’ She caught the rumble of his laughter as he retrieved a pair of perfectly sized gloves from a nearby drawer. They were black, made from leather and Shade. She put them on, feeling a slick of coolness settle on her skin.
‘The Shade you use,’ she said casually. ‘Where do you keep it?’
‘In the cloakroom,’ he said, as he hunted for the right pair of boots. ‘Where else?’
‘Yes, butwherein the cloakroom?’ she clarified. ‘I don’t see it.’
‘That’s because it’s hidden.’ He stood up, boots in hand, and reached for a velvet hanger that protruded ever so slightly more than the others. He tugged it, and the entire left side of the wardrobe groaned as it gave way. The wood shifted to reveal a large black safe, with a brass dial.
Sera’s eyes grew wide, but Theo released the hanger, and the wardrobe swung back into place. ‘Why do you look so intrigued? You grew up with a smuggler. You’ve probably handled more Shade than I have.’
‘Never unsupervised,’ she admitted. Not that she had cared back then. ‘I wasn’t even allowed to touch the bloom of the boneshade plant. Mama said it was just as dangerous as the root. Once, when I was eight, she caught me playing kickabout with one.’ She pulled a face at the memory. In all her life, she had never seen Mama so angry. ‘She grounded me on the spot. I had to pick one thousand grapes to earn my freedom back.’
‘Grapes, huh?’ Theo scrubbed a hand across his jaw. ‘What an odd punishment.’
‘Mama was a winemaker,’ said Sera, as she kicked off her shoes. ‘It was a hobby of hers.’
‘I don’t know about the grapes, but she was right about the Shade,’ he said, kneeling to help her with the boots. ‘It can be tempting.’
Sera slipped her foot inside the first boot. ‘You seem to be doing all right with it.’
He paused with his hand on her ankle. ‘I have remarkable self-control, Sera.’
She watched his fingers move, as he laced up her boot, and asked him, ‘Have you ever tasted it?’
He looked up. ‘You mean, have I ever felt like taking a mallet to my soul?’ He splayed his hands, showing her the absence of shadow-marks. ‘Even wearing Shade comes with its own risks. The gloom. The exhaustion. But at least you can take it off.’ He finished lacing her boots, sighing as he stood up. ‘Right, then, farmgirl. Pick your shadow.’
She gripped her cloak. ‘What? Just like that?’
He flashed his teeth. ‘No time like the present.’
She nervously adjusted her hood. Magic prickled against her hair, making the strands static. ‘Do I at least look the part?’
‘If you did, then I wouldn’t be able to see you,’ he reminded her.
‘Right. Good point.’ Sera approached a shadow on the wardrobe. She pressed her hand against it, feeling the magic in her glove tingle. As shadow recognized shadow, she felt a faint pulling sensation, as though the darkness was reaching for her. She gasped as her hand appeared to melt into the wardrobe, the glove disappearing before her eyes.
‘Good,’ said Theo, coming to her side. ‘Now step into it.’
The idea of stepping into a solid piece of wood sounded absurd to Seraphine, but when she raised her boot and pressed it against the shadow, it yielded like a cloud of dust. Suddenly, she was inside it, the rest of the shadow expanding to welcome her, and then folding around her like a blanket. She looked out at Theo and saw that he was squinting at a spot over her left shoulder.
‘Ha! You can’t see me!’
‘You’re not supposed to talk.’
