Page 114 of The Dragon and the Dove

Theo cursed, stumbling backwards. ‘Shit. Sera. Shit.’

Ransom drew Saintkiller from his belt and unsheathed it with his teeth.

She grabbed his wrist. ‘Ransom, no!’

Flattening himself against the wall, Theo panted heavily. ‘I’m sorry, Sera. That was a mistake.’

‘The last you’ll ever make,’ said Ransom, shaking her off. His eyes burned, belying the icy kiss of his shadows. His temper crawled up the walls and swallowed the last of the warmth as he rounded on Theo.

This time, when Sera moved between them, she kept her back to the Shadowsmith and placed her hands on Ransom. His heart hammered against her palm, his jaw so tight it looked like cut stone. He was beyond seeing her, beyond mercy.

She said, in a voice broken by fear, ‘Bastian, please.’

He blinked. Then stilled.

She cupped his jaw with trembling hands, and said again, ‘Come back to me.’

He looked down at her just as a bolt of lightning erupted.

Sera screamed as the oil lamps exploded, the windows shattering in a spray of glass. They dropped to the floor, Ransom covering her with his body as shards rained down on them.

When it was over, and the room had stopped trembling, he climbed off her. There were cuts all over his face and neck.

His brows knitted as he looked her over. ‘Are you all right?’

She brushed glass from his shoulders. ‘Better than you. You’re bleeding.’

Theo stood up, shaking the glass from his hair. He glared at the figure standing in the doorway. ‘What the hell was that about?’

‘Damage control,’ said Paola, stepping into the room. ‘Tobias told me you two idiots were on the verge of killing each other.’

‘That little rat,’ muttered Theo.

‘Idiots,’ she said again.

‘You’ve made your point,’ said Ransom, tersely.

‘Good luck explaining this mess to Mercure,’ added Theo.

‘You two heedless brutes can explain it to her yourselves when you bury your egos and remember what we’re fighting for here. If you’re going to waste your fury on each other, then go and fight in an alley somewhere like all the other feral cats.’

She grabbed a broom from the closet and slammed it into Theo’s chest. ‘Start cleaning.’

Then she skewered a finger at Ransom. ‘And you – go and take a very long walk.’

Sera dragged him out of the cloakroom before he could protest. His shadows dogged them all way to the end of the hallway, where she rounded on him.

‘What were you thinking? You could have killed Theo!’

‘He put his hands on you.’

‘I put my hands on him.’

‘And then he tried to rip your soul out,’ he said, seething.

‘Ransom.’ Her anger deflated, exhaustion making her slump against the wall. She closed her eyes. ‘I can’t do this with you. Or him. There’s too much at stake.’

The sharp hiss of his breath filled the heavy silence. It came slower, deeper. Inch by inch, his shadows receded. Sunlight returned to the lower hallway, and when she opened her eyes, his gaze met hers. It was the colour of autumn.