Page 75 of The Dagger and the Flame
His chuckle warmed the space between them. ‘So, you’re fine, then.’
She glowered at him, hoping he couldn’t see the heat rising in her cheeks. Three times tonight, she had faced death. Three times he had saved her. And this time, he had the nerve to do it looking like that. ‘I’m not dead.’
‘No.’
‘Why?’
‘Maybe Saint Oriel has a thing for you.’ A half-smile. ‘You do have a talent for cheating death.’
‘Not death,’ she said, quietly. ‘You.’
He chewed on his bottom lip, nipping at that bone-white scar, like he couldn’t fathom it himself. But after what they had just done for each other, without thought or explanation, she was beyond fearing him. Now she wanted to know him. To know what he wanted.
‘Why did you ask me to burn you back there?’ she said.
He dropped his gaze to the hollow of her throat, then her closed fist, which held her shattered necklace. ‘Your magic is an antidote,’ he said, quietly. ‘It erases my shadow-marks.’
‘Oh.’ Of all the things she was expecting him to say… Slowly, she trailed her gaze over those inky marks, lingering on the ones that wreathed his wrists and curled around his fingers, staining hands like those of an artist. Then she moved to the whorls on his chest, his shoulders, the strong column of his neck. Her throat was painfully dry, her heartbeat roaring in her ears, but she managed to say, ‘And you want them gone?’
‘Yes,’ he said, with undisguised desperation. ‘All of them.’
‘Are they very painful?’
He nodded. ‘In more ways than one.’
Understanding bloomed inside her. All these weeks, the Dagger hadn’t just been seeking her. He was seeking freedom from himself, from all the terrible things he had done.
It was too late. The Lightfire was spent, the glass cracked inside her fist. But her skin was still glowing faintly, and she wondered if there was a kernel of that magic still inside her somewhere.
She sat up, closing the last sliver of space between them. ‘I’m going to touch you now.’
His eyelids lowered, the word a whisper on his lips. ‘Please.’
She watched the breath swell in his chest as she slowly moved her hand to his cheek, touching him like she had the monster in the fountain. His skin was surprisingly warm, strands of his damp hair brushing against her fingers. She willed them not to tremble.
He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch.
The moment stretched until there was only this touch, this precious kernel of hope flickering between them. It was not enough. The Lightfire was gone, and when Sera lowered her gaze, the marks on his body remained.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘It’s too late.’
He hummed in response, then turned slightly, pressing a kiss to her palm.
Sera’s heart stuttered. His lips were cool, but the soft press of them against her damp skin lit a fire inside her that devoured all thought.
He opened his eyes, finding hers. ‘Thank you for trying.’
Sera swallowed, searching for words… forgetting how to form them.
‘SERA? WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?’ Val’s voice cut through the night.
With remarkable speed, the rest of the world crashed back in. Sera dropped her hand, pulling away from Ransom. He rolled back to his feet, downing a vial of Shade in one gulp as Val and Bibi came clattering across the square. He turned from Sera without another word, lifting the dead body from the fountain and cradling it to his chest like it was no heavier than a sack of grain. By the time Sera had got to her feet, he was already gone.
She stared after him as Val and Bibi rushed to meet her, so preoccupied by the phantom kiss on her one palm that she barely noticed the stinging in the other one. Then she opened her fist to examine the cracked bead inside it. She knew there wasn’t a drop of Lightfire left, but she wasn’t expecting to find something else inside the glass. It was a miniscule curl of parchment.
As her friends crowded around her, terror-struck and panting, Sera unfurled the note and held it up to the moonlight, squinting to make out the tiny, smeared handwriting. Her heart thudded painfully as she realized what it was – Mama’s final message:
The monsters bow to the power of Lightfire. Become the flame and destroy the dark, Seraphine.
