Page 13 of The Dragon and the Dove

‘I’ll be watching you,’ Ransom called after him.

The Shadowsmith laughed. ‘Enjoy the view.’

Sera was on her feet before Ransom reached her. Worry knitted her brows, her hands coming to his face to trace the bruises there. ‘What happened?’

‘Lark.’

Her eyes darkened. ‘I’ll kill him.’

‘Easier said than done.’ He gripped her hands. ‘Are you all right?’

‘You’re the one that looks like they’ve been trampled by a horse.’

‘I’ve had worse.’

She chewed on her lip. ‘What were you and Theo talking about just now?’

‘I was talking. He was lying.’

She scowled. ‘He’s as shook up as the rest of us.’

‘You could never tell.’

‘Ransom.’

‘He denies his magic.’

‘It will come.’ Her voice was soft, chiding. ‘Look how long it took Lark to figure himself out.’

A prescient example. ‘Look how he turned out.’

Wicked to the core.

‘That part isn’t up to me,’ she reminded him. ‘It’s up to fate.’

That was the problem. What gift would destiny bestow upon a grasping Versini? The last time one of Theo’s ancestors came into power, they plunged the entire city of Fantome into centuries of darkness.

Ransom looked Sera over, lingering on the grey smudges under her eyes. She was still beautiful – enough to knock the wind out of him whenever she turned those sky-blue eyes on him – but she looked tired in a way he’d never noticed before. ‘Whatever happened last night weakened you, Seraphine.’

She didn’t deny it. ‘You can’t blame that on Theo.’

He pressed his lips together. Watch me.

She smoothed the ripples along his forehead with the pad of her finger. ‘Stop thinking the worst. He’ll come good. I know it.’

And if he didn’t, Ransom would deal with it.

He caught her hand, ghosted a kiss against her knuckles. Right now, they had a more pressing concern. ‘It’s time to move on from Old Haven.’

‘I think I might know a place. It’s creepy as sin and fancy as all hell.’

‘Just my type.’

‘You’ll have to do something about those first.’ She gestured past him, to where his shadows were coiling into snakes. Lost to his own disquiet, he hadn’t even noticed them seeping out again. ‘Fontaine will chew you out if you bring your beasts into House Armand.’

‘I’ll leash them.’

For a day.