Page 129 of The Rebel and the Rose
‘He’s already sent the Daggers away,’ said Theo, echoing her own burgeoning suspicions. ‘Otherwise, why would he order us not to ask about them?’
It was a relief to think that Ransom hadn’t abandoned her after all. But while it lessened the weight in her chest, the question of his whereabouts still prickled under her skin. Was he under Andreas’s power? And to what end? She was worried about him. More than that, she wanted to be with him, to tell him that she would be at his side when they faced the prince together and killed him.
It was too late. She knew by the bleak look on Theo’s face.
‘We can’t go after them, Sera. Even if we knew where to look, we might never find them.’
‘I know,’ she said quietly. And there was still Bibi to think about. They couldn’t abandon her just because their plans had fallen to ruin. ‘We can’t return to the Summer Palace empty-handed,’ she said, slumping onto the bed. ‘We might as well put a noose around Bibi’s neck ourselves.’
‘Well, we can’t kill Andreas either,’ said Val. ‘Not like this, and not without the Daggers’ help.’
‘Unless we had a saint of our own…’ Theo was looking at Sera, his eyes glimmering. She recognized the light there, the silver threads of a plan forming. ‘You could always try again. On me.’
The suggestion was so startling she shot to her feet. Hadn’t he witnessed what had just happened to Talisa? Traced the contours of her ribs through the hole in her chest, held her broken body in his arms? Wasn’t heafraid?
‘No way,’ she said, folding her arms. ‘Theo,no. It’s far too risky.’
‘It won’t be like it was with Talisa,’ he insisted. ‘We won’t force you. We won’t hold your hand down.’
‘No,’ she repeated, firmer now. ‘It’s not worth the risk.’
He refused to back down. ‘You’ve already done it once. Delano is living proof.’
‘Lark Delano is a walking skeleton. Hardly a recipe for success. And look what happened to Talisa.’ The reminder of it made her retch, regret raking its claws down her spine. If Theo met the same fate at her hands, she’d never survive it.
He waved off her concerns, like they were talking about burning a batch of muffins and not accidentally killing a royal princess of Urnica. ‘You didn’twantto make her. You were in your head about it.’
‘I don’t know how to get out of my head,’ said Sera. ‘With Lark, all I felt in the moment was pure, bone-deep terror. The certainty that I was going to die. I flung my hand out as a reaction to that fear. It was just…instinct.’
‘So let this time be instinct. We might be dead by nightfall. At least this way, we’d have a fighting chance.’
‘Unless you end up with some shitty power,’ countered Val. ‘Like… I don’t know, a Saint of Books.’
He turned on her. ‘A saint ofbooks? What does that even mean?’
‘It means you’re no killer,’ said Val, pointedly. ‘You’re soft, Theo. Studious. You care about knowledge and philosophy and invention. The odds of you being able to weaponize yourpower against Andreas in any kind of meaningful way – that is if Sera doesn’t accidentallyburn you to cinders– are slim. It’s not worth the risk.’
He glared at her. ‘Consider me offended.’
‘If you ask me,I’dbe the better bet.’
‘Stop arguing,’ said Sera. ‘I’m not betting on either of you. Not here. Not like this.’
Stewing now, Theo went to the window, a muscle ticking in his jaw. ‘You’ll have to try some time, Sera,’ he said, in a low, frustrated voice. ‘It’s your gift. Your duty. Not just to Saint Oriel, but to the kingdom.’
‘I will,’ she said, and despite what had happened with Talisa, she meant it. ‘Just not now. Not here.’
He glanced at her over his shoulder. ‘Swear it.’
Bristling, she said, ‘I shouldn’t have to swear it. I don’t break my word.’
Turning back to the street, he sighed. ‘You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just this place. Everything. It’s getting to me.’
It was deeper than that, Sera knew. Theo wasn’t angry. He was jealous. Sometimes, when they spoke about these grand ideas of magic and fate and the true cost of power, she felt like she was talking not just to her friend but to his ambition, too, to that hunger inside him that crackled like an ember.
She could sense it in him now, that edge of frustration, that growl of need.
It reminded her of the Versini brothers. And if she was honest with herself, after learning the truth about Andreas, she could admit that a part of her worried about pouring her gift into Theo, not because of how it might harm his body butof how it might harm his soul. What it might become when it sparked off that ember inside him.
