Page 47 of The Dagger and the Flame
‘And then your Cloaks can kiss my ring.’
She recoiled.
He stepped back, splaying his hands. ‘And then we can go back to our much-enjoyed mutual enmity. Relatively unscathed.’
‘What makes you think I trust you enough to work with you?’
‘Because you have no alternative, Cordelia. For the first time in our lives, we face an enemy far greater than either of us.’
Cordelia crooked an eyebrow, her suspicion simmering. ‘That depends on where these monsters are coming from. Mark my words, Gaspard, I intend to find out.’
‘As you like,’ said Dufort.
While Dufort and Mercure traded veiled threats, Ransom let his gaze wander. Something flickered up ahead. He blinked, sure he had imagined it, but then it happened again. Not a light, like the flames along the Aurore, but a shadow beneath it. A ribbon of darkness darted along the bottom of the tower, there and gone in a heartbeat.
He watched the shadows bend, and almost laughed. Of course there were other Cloaks here, hiding in plain sight. Cordelia Mercure was no fool. Three soldiers were not enough for a showdown with Gaspard Dufort, if it came to that.
But the question was: who else had come?
Ransom slipped a hand into his pocket and retrieved his vial of Shade. This was against the rules of the meeting, but he was standing so far behind Dufort, they’d hardly notice. No one was even looking at him. And he only needed a taste. A minute of sight to scour the shadows. To know if she was here, watching him. Gloating.
He turned away, tipping a morsel onto his tongue. He swallowed it down, stowing the vial before anyone noticed. The Shade shivered through him, quick and cold. It was almost as blistering as Fontaine’s sharpening gaze. Had she seen what he’d done? Either way, he ignored her entirely. He tugged his sleeves down, hiding the whorls that moved across his hands. The world lit up, the shadows under the Aurore falling away like a curtain.
And there she was. His spitfire.
She was peering around a stone pillar in her long black cloak, staring right at him.
Ransom gave her a slow, lethal smirk.
She hugged the column, the shock on her face quickly blooming into horror. He almost felt sorry for her. But this was war, and she had drawn first blood. He had thirty-six stitches in his side to prove it.
So he dragged a finger across his neck, and mouthed,I’m going to fucking kill you.
Chapter 16Seraphine
Seraphine was no lip-reader but it was hard to miss the Dagger’s threat. Or the hatred glittering in his eyes. His words were as clear as if he had whispered them directly into her ear.
She drew back behind the pillar, scrunching her eyes shut, as if she could make him disappear.
‘Who isthat?’ hissed Bibi, from behind the column next to hers.
‘I have no idea,’ she lied.
‘He’s staring at you.’
‘He shouldn’t even be able to see me.’ She tugged her hood down until it brushed her eyebrows.He shouldn’t even be alive. ‘The rules said no Shade.’
‘They also said no cloaks,’ Bibi reminded her.
‘That’s different. We’re not technically part of the meeting.’
An hour or so ago, after Madame Mercure, Madame Fontaine, Albert and Theo set out for the Aurore, Bibi and Sera had the bright idea to secretly follow them and eavesdrop on the meeting. Val had told them not to go, but Sera had rebuffed her warning, thinking she was just annoyed that her sprained ankle meant she couldn’t join them.
But now, cowering under the lights of the Aurore, far too close to the menacing Head of the Daggers, she saw that Val had been right. Coming here was a mistake. It was dangerous to get this close to Gaspard Dufort, the man who had made marks of Mama and her. Sera was terrified by his nearness, her heart hammering so hard she could hardly think straight.
And then there was the matter of the Dagger she had stabbed at Villa Roman. She had been a fool to assume she had got rid of him that easily.
‘Sera, this guy isobsessed,’ said Bibi. ‘He can’t take his eyes off you. I can’t tell if he wants to ravish you or murder you.’
