Page 67 of The Dagger and the Flame
‘I could try grinding the leaves,’ he murmured after a while. ‘Experiment with the dust.’
‘That sounds like shooting an arrow in the dark,’ she said, finally coming back to herself.
‘But it’s a start.’
The door flew open with a suddenwhoosh, startling them from their conversation.
‘Whatever this is, I’m part of it too,’ said Val, hobblinginside. ‘Monsters. Lightfire. Revenge. I’m in.’
Theo released a long-suffering sigh. ‘What have I told you about eavesdropping?’
‘What haveItoldyouabout keeping secrets from me?’ she shot back. ‘If you two little whisperlings have found a clue to destroying these hell-born monsters then I want to know about it. I want to help.’ She cleared her throat, looking a little sheepish. ‘And honestly, I only crept down here because I wanted to catch you two making out.’
Sera glared at her. ‘How is that any better than eavesdropping?’
Val shrugged. ‘I was bored. I hardly expected to stumble upon a secret magical plot.’ She hopped up onto the island, nearly creasing the pamphlet. ‘And since I’m brain-meltingly clever, I have a killer suggestion.’
‘Go on,’ said Theo, snatching the pamphlet and placing it on a nearby shelf for safe keeping. ‘Since apparently this is now a three-way conversation.’
‘We should pay a midnight visit to the Grand Versini Library,’ said Val. ‘I bet you five silvers Lucille’s journals are somewhere in the archives.’
Sera looked to Theo. ‘Do you think it’s worth a try?’
He chewed his lip. ‘Well… What have you got to lose?’
Val blew a stray curl from her eye, lounging across the glass island like a cat. ‘A better question is, what do you have to gain?’
Everything, whispered a voice inside Sera’s head.
A short while later, Sera left the cloakroom, feeling emboldened. While Val took herself off to bed and Theo returned to hisnever-ending research, she went to the kitchens, where she devoured a bread roll stuffed with turkey in five bites. Her hunger sated, exhaustion crept in.
On her way up to bed, she took a detour to the music room, where she found Bibi sitting in a pool of firelight, playing the piano. Her long red hair was wound into a loose bun, and she was wearing her pyjamas. Long, pale fingers danced along the keys, filling the room – and the halls – with a melody so pleasant it made Sera smile. The chords were buoyant, embroidered with tinkling trills that reminded her of the dawn birds, singing to welcome the day.
She rested her head against the doorframe, every note a balm to her sore heart.Hope, they sang.Hope dances along the horizon. And its name is Lightfire.
Sera was going to reach for that hope with both hands.
The music stopped. Bibi looked at her over her shoulder. ‘I’m afraid that’s all I’ve come up with.’
It was only then that Sera noticed there was no sheet music. She edged into the room. ‘You composed that yourself?’
Bibi nodded sheepishly. ‘I couldn’t sleep.’
‘It’s beautiful.’
‘It’s not finished yet,’ she said, blushing at the compliment.
Sera shook her head, wonder warring with surprise. Bibi could have been a musician in another life. A composer to rival the best in Valterre. If this was the scope of her talent at barely seventeen, what would a handful more years do for her?
‘You’re frowning,’ said Bibi, yanking her hands back from the keys. ‘It’s not supposed to be a sad song.’
‘It’s not sad,’ said Sera quickly. ‘It’s incredible. It’s joyin its purest form.’ And it was joy, uncomplicated and uncompromising, exactly like Bibi herself. ‘I was just thinking of how talented you are, how much you could learn in a place like the Appoline. Not the pitiful Hollows of Fantome, but somewhere that could truly nurture your creativity.’
Bibi smiled. ‘I like it here, Sera. It inspires me just fine.’
She frowned. There was nothing on Bibi’s face of the internal struggle that Theo dealt with, no sense of the restlessness Sera sometimes sensed in Val. ‘What, stealing?’
‘Living.’ That smile remained. ‘I have everything I could ever wish for at House Armand. Safety. Security. Beautiful clothes and a warm, cosy bed. Books to read and music to play. Food to savour and money to spend as I like. People to eat with, to laugh with. A family all of my own.’
