Page 87 of The Dagger and the Flame
He looked up at her again, something like hope catching in his eyes. And even though he was still a well-seasoned assassinand their truce teetered on the knife edge of their mutual curiosity, she felt like in that moment they were something else – two lost souls, left adrift in the same dark sea.
She went on, ‘I bet they hired a wagon and went south, through the lavender fields of Florenne and the sun-kissed valleys beyond. They’re probably in a white-stone village somewhere by the sea, living among the fisherfolk who sing to the waves to coax the shoals to shore.’
Ransom drew closer, his lips parted, as if to breathe in her story, and Sera continued, drawing them both deeper into the tale. ‘In the morning, they rise with the sun to weave nets along the strand, and in the afternoon, when the heat of the day passes, they stroll along the beach and harvest mussels by the shoreline. They throw nets and catch crabs, watch the sea turtles slumbering just beyond the surf, where the jellyfish swim.’
Ransom’s chuckle was low and breathy. ‘Anouk is terrified of jellyfish. I threw one at her when we were children and she never got over the fright.’
‘Anouk.’ Sera smiled at the name. ‘Maybe she’s finally outgrown her fear. Maybe she has a pet jellyfish of her own that she’s named after you.’
Ransom’s laughter burst out of him, catching flight and soaring up to the roof. It was music she could listen to over and over again. ‘Can’t you picture it?’ she said, joining in. ‘Ransom the jellyfish. The Dagger of the Sea.’
‘It has a certain terrifying ring to it,’ he said, still chuckling. ‘Although Anouk never called me Ransom. That’s not my real name.’
‘Oh.’ She supposed that made sense.Ransomwas an unusual name to give a child.
She could tell by the twist of his lips that he didn’t like it. ‘I was the price of my family’s freedom.’
Ransom.
Sera bristled at the cruelty of it. ‘Dufort gave you that name.’
‘Dufort took me in. He saved my life. He can call me whatever he likes.’
Sera couldn’t keep the bite from her voice. ‘And he can have your soul while he’s at it.’
He only shrugged. ‘If that’s the price of freedom.’
‘And how is that freedom working out for you,Ransom? Are you enjoying your life as a Dagger?’
‘Are you enjoying yours as a Cloak?’ he parried.
The tension swelled, joining flame and shadow, as they stewed in the consequences of their decisions. ‘You’re not going to tell me your real name, are you?’
He looked at her – really looked at her – like he was considering it. It was like staring into the eye of the storm, trying to find the sunlight on the other side of it. ‘Then I really would have to kill you.’
‘Fine,’ she muttered. ‘I don’t want to worsen my odds.’
‘No,’ he said quietly.
‘The lullaby,’ she said. ‘How do you know it?’
‘I used to sing it to my sister when our father came home drunk from the tavern. Anouk was training to be a ballerina. She used to call herself the dancing swan. She always wanted to fly.’ His smile was edged with pain. Sera felt the same sadness inside her, that ache for a different, kinder life. ‘In the end, she flew away.’
Sera reached into the pocket of her coat and removed the music box she had felt him covet the other night in the Hollows. The song they had come to share. She placed it on the pew between them. ‘For you.’
He stared at it. Then at her. ‘You’re bribing me.’
‘Maybe,’ she said, tracing her finger along the wooden lid. ‘Or maybe it’s a gift.’
His fingers twitched like he wanted to take it. He resisted, and turned towards her, the fullness of his body blocking out the rest of the church, and all those statues watching over them. ‘Tell me your proposition, Seraphine.’
‘It’s about the monsters.’
‘I figured.’
‘You know my mother made them. Whatever her reasons were, it doesn’t matter.’ She wouldn’t tell him. Perhaps he had already figured it out. ‘I have to destroy them. I have to free them. But to do that, I need to make more Lightfire.’
‘So, make more,’ he said.
