Page 46 of The Dagger and the Flame
‘I’ll gladly take you back with me,’ she croaked.
‘All that bark and no teeth,’ purred Lisette.
‘That’s enough,’ said Cordelia Mercure sharply. ‘Curb your odiousness, Gaspard. We have a serious matter to discuss.’
‘And I thought this was a date,’ he said, with a pout. ‘I regret getting dressed up.’
She glared at him.
‘Monsters,’ she said, coming to the point. ‘Have you encountered these beasts?’
Dufort gestured towards Ransom, and the other Cloaks turned to look at him. ‘Ransom had a run-in with one. He barely got away with his life.’
‘What a shame,’ muttered Fontaine.
Lisette hissed at her. ‘Play nice, old woman.’
‘Fuck off,’ said Fontaine.
Lark barked a laugh.
Dufort shot him a blistering glare.
Cordelia ignored the interruption. ‘I lost a Cloak to one of these monsters.’ She didn’t elaborate. ‘And three nights ago, another of mine almost met the same fate. She gave a chilling account. Up until then, we believed these indiscriminate killings to be the work of your Order.’
‘You wound me,’ said Dufort. ‘I am many things, Cordelia. But sloppy is not one of them.’
She curled her lip. ‘And yet you burned Sylvie Marchant’s house to the ground.’
The silver-haired Cloak stiffened. Ransom wondered if he had known Sylvie. Or perhaps his loyalty was to her daughter. The thought made his nostrils flare.
‘That was Dagger business,’ said Dufort, evenly.
‘Messy business,’ said Fontaine.
He shrugged. ‘Needs must.’
‘The way I see it,youdisrupted our trade and now we have monsters seemingly made of Shade stalking through our city, kidnapping and killing at will.’ Mercure prowled closer until there was barely a foot between them. Despite their natural enmity, Ransom was impressed by her. There wasn’t a hint of fear on her proud face. She must be the only person in Fantome who didn’t cower from Dufort. Well, her and the old crone. ‘You and I oversee all the Shade in this city, Gaspard, and these monsters are notmydoing.’
‘Careful with your conclusions, Cordelia,’ he snarled. ‘You don’t want to make an enemy tonight.’
‘You’ve been my enemy for nearly twenty years,’ she scoffed. ‘You murdered one of my best smugglers on what appears to have been a mindless whim and now everything is going awry. Disruption is growing across Fantome, a chaos that worsens with each passing day. If we don’t find a way to contain it, the king’s eye will soon fall on us. If we can’t control this city, the underworld and the protectionbothour orders have enjoyed for centuries will fall away, and our power will be lost.’
Dufort appeared unmoved. ‘If I wanted a lecture, I would have brought my Daggers to the Appoline.’
She glowered at him. ‘Dagger or not, even you are not above reproach from the King of Valterre. A predator is only unassailable when they’re at the top of the food chain. By the sound of it, you and your Daggers are no longer at the top. Which makes you as vulnerable as the rest of this city.’ She raised a finger in warning. ‘You would do well to remember that.’
Dufort caught her wrist.
Fontaine hissed in warning. The muscular Cloak lunged forward but Mercure raised her free hand, bringing him to a halt. ‘It’s all right, Albert. I clearly touched a nerve.’
Dufort’s nostrils flared, but he did not deny it. She was right. The Daggers were ceding control of the underworld to something they did not understand. And no one here wanted the king breathing down their neck. ‘Now that you’ve scrabbled your way to higher ground, Cordelia, why don’t we set aside the threats and discuss a solution to our problem?’
She shook him off. ‘I’m all ears.’
‘We need to catch one of these monsters,’ said Dufort, as if it was as simple as that. ‘Only then can we figure out where they’re coming from. And more importantly, how to kill them.’ He cocked his head. ‘Since you and your little pickpockets are averse to murder, if you get your nimble hands on one before me, I’ll do the grisly part.’
‘And then what?’
