Page 54 of The Rebel and the Rose
‘Wretchedly,’ he said at once.
She blinked.Well…
‘Did you miss me, spitfire?’
‘Too busy trying to dismantle your life’s work,’ she lied. ‘And before you ask, I choose dare again.’
Leaning back now, he stroked his jaw. ‘I dare you to say something nice about me.’
Another eye-roll. ‘You’re tall.’
He gave her a flat look. ‘That’s a fact.’
‘My turn,’ she chirped. ‘Truth or dare?’
Conceding, he said, ‘Truth.’
Sera frowned. ‘Truthagain.’
‘I’m afraid if you want to take my clothes off, you’ll have to do it yourself.’
She flung a cushion at him, inwardly delighting when it hit him in the face. He’d let her do it, of course. Meditating for a moment on her next question – and wanting to make it count – she sat forward, close enough to reach through the pool of shadows between them and trace the dark whorls on his hands if she wanted to. Perhaps too softly, she asked, ‘Why have you done this to yourself all over again, Ransom?’
His face tightened. ‘Can you be more specific?’
Fine, then. ‘I’m talking about all the mindless killing. You know, the continued wilful wrecking of your one eternal soul. All that Shade is eating away at you. Even now, I can sense it like a beast under your skin.’
And it frightens me.
He gave a rueful smile, the playful glint in his eyes guttering out. ‘Because this is what I’m good for, Seraphine.’
‘Give me a better answer. One I might actually believe.’
‘All right,’ he said, with a bite. ‘I did it to forget you, and the dream of another life.’
The one they had promised each other before Lark died and the Aurore fell.
It felt like a lie – or perhaps not the whole truth. But why did it sting so badly? ‘And how did that work out for you?’
‘It was going well until you started to ransack my trade. It’s hard to ignore a horsefly constantly buzzing around my head.’
‘What did you expect me to do, Ransom? Toss the recipe for Lightfire in the Verne and forget about it? Let the city continue to cower under my father’s legacy?’
His eyes flashed. ‘I expected you torun, Seraphine.’
‘I did run!’ she snapped.
You made me run! You nearly tore down a damn cathedral!
‘But you didn’t hide,’ he said, his voice climbing to match hers. Gone was the ease of their game, and here was the frustration and resentment they had been harbouring towards each other; broken promises, diverging destinies and the barb of dangerous lingering feelings.
And all that Shade was still feasting on his humanity, the tender parts that made him Bastian.
Shadows pooled as his composure shattered, crawling up the sides of the carriage and stealing the last of the window light. Here was the real truth – his anger, as plain as the darkness that swaddled them. ‘You made a spectacle of yourselfeverywhereyou went,’ he said through his teeth. ‘There isn’t a smuggler inValterre who hasn’t heard of you. The ones you didn’t manage to lure back to Halbracht are out to get you for fucking with their livelihoods, and that’s to say nothing of the gang lords up and down this kingdom who have heard about that first shipment of Lightfire. Do you haveany ideahow many people have come to me about you these last few months? How many of my regulars have put a price on your pretty little head?’
‘Are we including your Second in this figure?’
‘Nadia would kill you for free.’
