Page 35 of The Rebel and the Rose
The Dagger beside Ransom reclined in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. ‘I see it, you know,’ he remarked. ‘Even under all that caked blood. Actually, the blood makes her hotter. But that’s probably just me.’
A muscle ticked in Ransom’s jaw. ‘Shut the fuck up, Caruso.’
‘Oh, do you prefer the strained silence where we all just death-stare each other?’ Caruso turned on Theo then, arching a dark brow. ‘And by the way, what the fuck is Hugo Versini doing at the table? Did someone dig up that grave too?’
Nadia bristled. ‘Donotjoke about that.’
What didthatmean? Sera’s curiosity swiftly flittered away. She was trying too hard not to pass out.
Caruso leaned across the table. ‘Are you sure you’re sitting on the right side of things here, Versini?’
Theo jerked, letting out a string of muffled curses. If that gag wasn’t stuffed halfway down his throat, he would have eviscerated Caruso, even if this particular Dagger, with his icy bright eyes and savage smile, looked as wild and lethal as a wolf.
‘Did you really think you’d get away with it?’ said Nadia, turning her venom back on Sera. ‘That we wouldn’t know it was you who took him after what you did at the Aurore?’
The haze in Sera’s head thickened. She blinked, slow andheavy, trying to fight the sluggishness in her mind. Her head lolled to one side, the effort of holding it up suddenly too great.
‘Remove her gag,’ Ransom ordered the soldiers, his eyes never leaving hers. ‘She’s suffocating.’
‘Let her choke,’ said Nadia.
No one moved.
Theo slammed his bound hands against the table.
Sera heaved, desperately seeking a morsel of air. The soot stung her eyes. She was embarrassed at how tears streaked her cheeks, mingling with the dried blood there. In all the ways she had envisioned her reunion with the Head of the Daggers, not once had she ever imagined herself like this: bloody and beaten and slowly suffocating.
Black spots swarmed her vision. She was so spent she didn’t even flinch when Ransom lunged across the table. He steadied her jaw with one hand – his grip deceptively gentle, despite the violence in his eyes – and with the other, deftly yanked the gag from her mouth.
‘Breathe, Seraphine,’ he said in a low, hurried voice. ‘Come on.’
Gasping down a ragged inhale, Sera threw her head back, greedily filling her aching lungs. Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks, and she let them fall, no longer caring. When she looked back again, Ransom was already back in his chair. Sitting as stiff as a statue, as though he hadn’t just sprung across the table to help her.
‘Very gallant,’ remarked Caruso. ‘Should I do the same for Versini, or do you think he’ll bite me?’
‘Why gag me in the first place?’ croaked Sera. ‘Am I supposed to be grateful now?’
Ransom ignored her, moving his glare to the guard that stood nearest Theo. ‘Here’s a tip, soldier. Next time you’re tasked with transporting the king’s prisoners, don’t suffocate them at his dinner table before he shows up.’ He bared his teeth, his voice becoming a low growl. ‘Or beat them to a bloody fucking pulp without instruction.’
She supposed she had her answer, even if he hadn’t bothered to direct it at her. This was not Ransom’s doing after all. She was embarrassed by the silent rush of her relief.
Lip curling, she said, ‘I imagine that was part of their fun.’
‘More like a necessary means,’ sneered the soldier. ‘The firebrands gave chase.’
‘You ambushed us!’
The soldier simply snorted, not even bothering to deny it.
Ignoring them, Sera turned to help Theo with his gag. With her hands bound, she had to twist fully in her seat to reach the knot at the back of his head, but even with trembling fingers, she managed to undo it.
He spat the rag out, and a string of curses with it. Most were directed at the leering soldiers, but he reserved a few choice words for Caruso, who weathered it all with a big shit-eating grin.
Ransom bolted to his feet.
Sera whipped her head around, sure she had missed something vital in the exchange.
Nadia glowered up at him. ‘Leave it, Ransom.’
