Page 49 of The Dagger and the Flame
Sera’s body flooded with adrenaline, but there was nowhere to run. She tilted her chin up, reaching for the only weapon she had left: the shield of her bravado. ‘Yeah. I can’t help but notice you’re still alive.’
‘Unlucky for you.’ He gave a mirthless smirk, his gaze moving from her face to the hollow of her throat. She moved like lightning, grabbing the golden teardrop. His fist closed around hers a half-second too late.
‘I’m flattered, but I’d rather not hold hands, Ransom. I don’t think we’re quite there yet.’
He frowned at his name in her mouth. ‘Show me the necklace, Seraphine.’
Now, with only one arm pinning her in place, an escape route had opened up. Sera lunged to the left, but he pivoted, trapping her into the corner of the alley. She opened her mouth to scream for her friend. ‘BI—’
He clapped his hand over it, stifling the sound. ‘I wouldn’tdo that if I was you,’ he threatened. ‘Unless you want Dufort to come down here and personally pay you a visit?’
Sera squeezed the teardrop in her fist, willing it to do something – to fight him off her, to explode in another sunburst and help her resist his inexorable strength. It only flickered in her grasp, as if to say,do it yourself.
Her mind reeled, desperately trying to remember the manoeuvres Albert had taught her.
Ransom slowly removed his hand from her mouth, his fingers trailing along her jaw. ‘Here’s what’s going to happen,’ he said, leaning in. ‘You’re going to hand me that necklace. And then you’re going to tell me how the hell it works.’
Through the mist of her rage, Sera remembered a move. He just had to come a little closer…
‘Or what?’ she challenged. ‘You’ll kill me?’
He cocked his head. ‘Maybe I won’t, if you co-operate.’
Such a bold-faced lie. She looked down at the wound in his side. ‘Or maybe I’ll kill you,’ she said, trading a lie of her own.
His mouth twisted, stretching the scar that sliced his bottom lip. ‘What do you have on you this time, Seraphine? A paperweight? A fountain pen?’ His gaze roamed the length of her body. ‘Do I need to pat you down?’
‘Maybe you should. Just to be safe.’
His eyebrows rose, but he took the bait. Moved closer, the heat of his body searing the space between them. She jerked her knee up, found her mark between his legs. He hissed a curse, doubling over. She slammed her palm up, thrilling at the satisfyingcrunchof his nose.
He released a roar of fury. Blood gushed, striping hismouth, his chin. Sera leaped to the side and bolted. Five paces passed in a blur, then five more. She was halfway to the street. Lamplight bloomed up ahead.
The air whistled, and a bottle clipped her ankle. She slipped, falling backwards. Her head smashed against the ground, causing a spiderweb of pain across her skull. She groaned.Bastard.She scrambled to her knees in a puddle of broken glass.
He was on her in the next breath, yanking her to unsteady feet, sealing the space between them with the hardness of his body. Immovable. Unyielding. Enraged. ‘Nice try, spitfire.’
Black spots swarmed her vision. Blood trickled from her scalp, warm and slick on the back of her neck. She pretended not to notice. ‘Nasty nosebleed you’ve got there, Ransom.’
‘Plenty more glass bottles where that one came from,’ he said, licking the blood from his lips.
Saints, her head was spinning awfully. ‘Truce?’ she said, weakly.
‘No.’ But he stalled, as though considering his next move. For a moment, they stared at each other, the rattle of their breath punctuating the silence. And then, he said, ‘Let’s talk.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘I thought you wanted to kill me.’
‘Believe it or not, I’m tryingreallyhard to resist.’
‘What was all that mouthing about at the Aurore, then? Foreplay?’
He blinked, then offered the slash of a smile. ‘Old habits.’
Too dizzy to attempt another escape, Sera curled her hand around her necklace, considering his words. The Dagger hadn’t taken any more Shade. Here, in the narrow dark, he was just a man. Seething, but clear-eyed. Hesitant. She could senseit in the way he watched her, in how he let the silence stretch to allow her to speak. Butwhy?‘Are you afraid to break that shiny new truce? So tightly wound around Dufort’s baby finger that you’re terrified of pissing him off?’
His lip curled. ‘You don’t know anything about me.’
‘I know you’re a Dagger,’ said Sera. ‘Which means you think the way Dufort tells you to. When he tells you to jump, you probably ask him how high.’ Despite the blackness at the edge of her mind, she enjoyed the way he flinched, how the blood from his nose painted his lips crimson, the metallic tang of it mixing with his scent of woodsmoke and sage. ‘I hope you know your days in those catacombs are numbered, that all the Shade you devour will eat through you long before your conscience does.’
