Page 53 of The Rebel and the Rose
Clearing her throat, she gestured to the shadows wreathing his shoulders. ‘Can you rein those in?’
‘Bothering you, are they?’
‘No.’ She shrugged. ‘They justreallywash you out.’
‘Good thing I’m not vain.’
Just hideously observant. Which, frankly, was worse. She did not want to have this conversation with Ransom, but she didn’t know how to avoid it either.
‘A copper for your thoughts, spitfire.’
She tapped her chin. ‘Do you think Nadia will share her fudge with me if I ask nicely?’
‘Only if she thought you’d choke on it.’
Sighing, she tipped her head back to the ceiling. She hoped Theo was holding his own with the other Daggers.
Ransom hinged forward, narrowing the space between them. He was too close now, the scent of woodsmoke and sage making her cheeks prickle. His voice was soft and lethal. ‘What happened back at the marketplace, Seraphine?’
She flattened herself against the bench, unnerved by the ravenous look on his face. It was as though the Shade was speaking for him. This beast that moved under his skin. ‘That soldier got lairy with Theo. Started flinging threats and swinging his sword about. So I threw myself at him and then he got… a little…’ She rolled her hand.
‘Earless?’
‘I was going to say irreparably scalded.’
‘I love it when you talk dirty.’
She resisted the urge to kick him.
‘Shall we get to our game, then?’ Shadows wreathed his fingers, kissing that gaudy ring that shone just as brightly as his eyes. A stark reminder of what he had become these past few months: her father’s successor, a man she had despised above all others. A man whose memory haunted her, even now.
Determined to hold her own, she said, ‘Assassins first.’
‘Truth or dare, Seraphine.’
Why did that question feel more deadly than the shadows swirling around them?
‘Dare,’ she said.
‘I dare you to tell me the truth about your magic.’
She snorted. ‘Nice try, Dagger.’
‘All right, we’ll warm up to it,’ he said, lazily. ‘I dare you to take off that cardigan.’
She arched a brow. ‘Seriously?’
‘For your own comfort.’ When she didn’t immediately rip her cardigan off and fling it at him, he said, ‘Your cheeks are burning up. So either it’s hot in here, or you’re hot for me.’
Right on both counts. She played it off, lest his ego swallow up the rest of the space in here. With an exaggerated eye-roll, she shrugged her sweater off. Beneath it, she wore a cream chemise. The breeze kissed her collarbones, wrenching a sigh from her.
She heard him swallow.
‘Truth or dare, Dagger?’
‘Truth.’
Seraphine’s mind went… blank. Utterly, completely. It was the way he was looking at her, with that unnerving intensity…the sudden simmering weight of expectation. Too much pressure. She went for something light. ‘Did you miss me?’
