Page 170 of The Dragon and the Dove

Don’t believe me? Watch the Verne.

‘It’s all for me,’ she whispered. ‘He’s showing me he’s not bluffing.’

‘Time is wearing thin,’ said Fontaine ominously, and Sera wondered if the soothsayer had seen the same troubling things she had. Whether Oriel had visited her too.

She raked her hands through her hair, trying to come up with a plan, but she couldn’t think beyond the horror of what had just happened. She was haunted by the image of all those innocent townsfolk spilling into the Verne.

Fontaine stepped back into the hallway. ‘I’ll call a meeting.’ She wagged her cane between them. ‘Just in case you were thinking of handling this yourselves.’

Sera frowned. ‘I don’t want to put anyone else in danger.’

The soothsayer snorted. ‘You’ve been chasing danger since the day you got here. You’ve made your saints, Seraphine. Now, for hell’s sake, use them.’

She took off as abruptly as she’d arrived.

‘She’s right,’ said Ransom, staring after her.

‘She’s always right,’ Sera conceded.

With Andreas’s note in hand, they went to the vault, where they met with the rest of their Order. Nadia did not come, and after what had happened to Lark, Sera didn’t expect her to. But that didn’t mean they didn’t need her, that there wasn’t a vital role yet for the Saint of Spring to play.

Afterwards, Sera went alone to Nadia’s bedroom and knocked on the door.

At an answering grunt she pushed it open.

Nadia was standing by the window. ‘There’s no moon tonight,’ she said distantly.

Edging inside, Sera said, ‘Maybe Andreas has enthralled that too.’

‘I’m sure it’s on his to-conquer list,’ Nadia muttered, tracing a crescent on the window. ‘I missed your urgent meeting. Have you come to evict me?’

‘Do you want to be evicted?’

She pressed her palm against the pane. ‘I just… couldn’t face it.’

The silence was soft, forgiving. ‘I came here for two reasons,’ said Sera. ‘I’m sorry. About your loss.’

Nadia huffed, dropping her hand. ‘You despised Lark.’

‘Well, he was evil.’ Sera didn’t bother mincing her words.

‘He wasn’t always evil,’ whispered Nadia.

‘That’s the part I’m sorry about.’ The shattered dream. Her broken heart.

Nadia turned from the window, revealing the tear tracks on her cheeks. ‘What was the second reason?’

‘Andreas has ransacked Halbracht. Mercure’s spies say the Strix flew north over the Pinetops on the morning of Saints’ Day. While Lark’s parade was dancing down Merchant’s Way, Andreas was destroying our stores of Lightfire, turning our smugglers to his cause and gathering more Shade for his Daggers. There’s nothing left for us there. But Tobias has a plan. A recipe for Lightfire that might save the city. He and Theo worked on it before…’

‘What do you need from me, Sera?’

‘Boneshade.’ It was the plant that gave them Lightfire. The bloom of the oldest grown magic in the kingdom.

Nadia’s brow furrowed. ‘You want me to make Lightfire?’

‘As much as you can in one night,’ said Sera. It was a dizzying request, and time was against them. ‘Could you do it?’

‘Well, I’d been planning to squander these precious next hours moping in my room,’ said Nadia. ‘I suppose this would be a marginally better use of my time.’