Page 72 of The Rebel and the Rose
Figures. ‘I bet she’s the one who dobbed us in in the first place,’ said Sera.
‘It was Mercure.’ Val’s expression soured. ‘At the king’s request, apparently. He’s been after the Flames ever since our first shipment of Lightfire dropped.’ She looked between them, then over their shoulders to where the Daggers and soldiers had gathered. ‘And where’s Bibi?’
‘We’ll fill you in,’ said Sera grimly.
Ransom approached their huddle. ‘How did you manage to track us down?’
‘The morning after the soldiers came, I took a wagon out of the city. I was going to travel to the Summer Palace, but Fontaine said it was a hangman’s mission. Said she had a hunch you’d end up here sooner or later. So I took the risk.’
Sera squeezed her hand. ‘I’m really glad you did.’
Now she had one less person to worry about, and another ally at her side, for whatever lay ahead.
Val summoned a shaky smile. ‘Better than going back to Paola and telling her I’d bolted like a coward that night and lost all my friends.’
Theo was still struggling to understand it. ‘Why would Fontaine help you after Mercure sold us down the river?’
Val shrugged. ‘She’s always liked me best. We have a hate-hate relationship. That’s her love language.’ She swiped a hand through her unruly curls, only unsettling them further. ‘And I think she felt bad about the way it all went down. Not sure she saw those beatings in her precious tarot cards.’
‘So let me get this straight,’ said Ransom, who was still hovering – entirely unwelcome – on the edge of their conversation. ‘You came here based on nothing but a mercurial, potentially insane soothsayer’s guess to try and rescue your friends from an errand you still know nothing about?’
Caruso butted in, ‘With that shitty corkscrew in your tiny ineffectual fist? I was four seconds away from flinging you into that tree over there.’
Val pointed the corkscrew at him. ‘And I wasthreeseconds away from shoving this into your jugular, Dagger. Watch me use that Adam’s apple like a bull’s eye.’
Caruso blinked in utter astonishment.
Ransom muttered, ‘Hell’s teeth.’
Val resettled her attention on Sera. ‘What exactly is going on? The cryptic old crone never mentioned this villainous lot.’ She craned her neck. ‘Don’t tell me Bibi’s napping through our reunion.’
‘Bibi’s not here,’ said Sera, with a swift rush of guilt.
‘What do you mean “not here”?’
‘As in, your friend is currentlyrotting in the king’s dungeon,’ Caruso supplied.
This time, Val didn’t even look his way. ‘Seriously, whoisthat? Can I punch him?’
‘I wouldn’t recommend it,’ said Theo. ‘He’s thoroughly unhinged.’
‘Start explaining,’ she said, folding her arms. ‘Why were you at the Appoline with our literal mortal enemies. And how come you haven’t killed each other yet?’
‘We’ll get around to it,’ said Nadia, breaking her stony silence.
Sera tugged Val by the sleeve. ‘Come on. I’ll tell you everything on the road.’
Val bared her teeth at Caruso as she passed him. He raised his brows, betraying what Sera thought might actually be a dim simmering of respect. ‘I feel better about giving the cat back now,’ he remarked to no one in particular. ‘This vicious little creature is going to be alotmore fun.’
‘I’m going to punch him,’ said Val loudly, following Sera into the carriage.
Chapter 18Seraphine
As they rode north towards Marvale, Sera and Theo filled Val in on everything that had happened since the night they parted outside House Armand. She listened in horrified silence, barely biting back her anger when they explained what had happened to poor Bibi.
Once they had finished, she leaned back in her seat. ‘It sounds pretty simple to me, then. We kill a couple of marks. We get our friend back. We go home.’
‘Prince Andreas is a saint,’ Theo reminded her.
