Page 24 of The Rebel and the Rose
‘There’s nothing,’ she said, from where she watched him. ‘I searched the whole graveyard, even the trees beyond. Whoever took him was in and out like the wind. Quick, careful. Silent.’ A meaningful pause. ‘Like a Cloak.’
He shook his head. ‘Nadia… Seraphine wouldn’t do something like this.’
‘She’s the one who killed him in the first place, Ransom. She’s been disrupting our trade for months. Luring our smugglers away. Trickling Lightfire through the city like a leaky tap. Practicallydaringyou to come after her.’ She threw up her hands in frustration. ‘Open your eyes.’
Ransom scrubbed his jaw, trying to untangle his thoughts from his feelings. Everything Nadia was saying was true but what business did Seraphine Marchant have with Lark Delano’s dead body?
‘She’s five foot nothing, Nadia. Even if she wanted to do something depraved like this, she wouldn’t be able to.’
‘She has her own Order now,’ she reminded him. ‘The Flames barter in Lightfire and seek the destruction of Shade. Ofus.’
Ransom’s sigh whistled through his nose. He knew all this, had trodden this conversation so many times he was sick of it. ‘But she hasn’t destroyed us, Nadia. The city is in chaos. We’ve never been busier.’ He had the shadow-marks to prove it. ‘Hang the turncoats, who want to work with Marchant. Where one smuggler turns away from us, another will come running.’ He turned back to the grave. ‘This… she wouldn’t dothis. I know her.’
‘Do you?’ said Nadia, bitterly.
No, said a quiet voice inside him.
The falling of the Aurore had changed everything.
He did not know this Seraphine at all.
He did not know what she was capable of.
So, why, then was he still protecting her?
Because you are a fool, Bastian.
‘Marchant has people under her who can do her bidding now.’ Nadia glanced pointedly at the open coffin. ‘If she wanted to pull Lark from his grave to mess with us, she sure as hell has the means. The motive. The muscle.’ Her nostrils flared, and she drew a breath. ‘And she’shere. In the city.’
Ransom turned from the empty grave. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘The river traders saw her in the north quarter yesterday evening.’ She tilted her chin, watching him just as closely as he was watching her. ‘I’d asked them to keep an eye out.’
No. It was a mistake. Seraphine was not reckless enough toset foot in this city after he’d warned her to stay away. After everything she did with those monsters…
Such arrogance.
Suchrecklessness.
‘She wouldn’t…’ he began, but then he thought of that golden rose at Othilde’s house. Not just a taunt but an invitation.
Wasthisthe game? Was this her move?
Graverobbing right under his nose?
He swallowed a curse. Had she lost all sense of herself entirely? He turned back to the empty grave, if only to save himself from Nadia’s penetrating glare. His heart galloped, confusion spilling into anger. She wouldn’t…would she?
‘She wasn’t alone,’ Nadia said. ‘The Shadowsmith was with her. And the other two. The redhead and the one with the nose ring.’
Ransom ground his jaw, staring so hard at the headstone, his eyes blurred.
Here lies Lark Delano
Forever beloved
Was she trying to draw him out?
How far would the spitfire go to get his attention?
