Page 181 of The Dragon and the Dove

This wasn’t just a battle of wills, it was a fight to the death, and Caruso Dantes was not about to lose his reputation to a damn bird.

The Strix banked low over the river, skating close to Merchant’s Way, where violet curls caught Caruso’s eye. Valerie was so short and moving so quickly, it was a miracle he even spotted her at all. But there was something about the mouthy little Saint of Truth that made his eyes follow her in every room, in every crowd.

Even here, in the heart of war.

She was heading north, shoving her way through a brawl of Rose-bearers three times her size. They collared her as she attempted to slip past, dragging her back on her heels. Fuck, no. Caruso’s heart climbed into his throat as the bird pitched upwards again, shaking the saddle loose. One more minute on this bastard and he was going down harder than the Bridge of Tears.

Valerie’s scream reached him in the ether.

Time slowed.

Caruso Dantes was not acquainted with fear. Not until the day an unnervingly beautiful Cloak brandished a corkscrew at him outside the Appoline University and threatened to stab him in the neck. He learned fear then, quick and sharp as a jab in the gut. Not for what she was threatening to do with that piddly little weapon, but fear of what he’d been missing out on all this time.

Her.

Valerie Doe and her withering scowl. Her mocking smirk. Her viper’s tongue.

As her scream cut through him like a wound, he felt that fear again.

Instinct took over. He gripped his sword and climbed the monster like a tree. Rammed the blade straight into its skull. The Strix surrendered its climb to the heavens and plunged, down, down, down, towards that fast grey river. Gathering the reins, Caruso anchored his feet against its shoulder blades and hinged backwards with all his strength. The Strix levelled out, its wings catching the rising wind as he guided its corpse down onto Merchant’s Way.

It hit the ground in an explosion of stone, driving fast and hard through the broken cobbles. Caruso was on his feet by then, riding the monster like a wave. It skidded to a stop a stone’s throw from where Valerie was struggling against a pair of Rose-bearers.

Removing his sword from the monster’s skull, Caruso leaped off the dead Strix and sauntered towards them. With a single strike, he took both their heads. They collapsed in a heap at his feet but he was already stepping over them, every last nerve in his body fixed entirely on her.

‘Hello, kitten,’ he said, breathless.

Her mouth fell open, those wide brown eyes flitting from the dead Strix at his back, to the puddle of corpses at his feet. She reeled. ‘Have you lost your damn mind?’

Caruso frowned. ‘Is that any way to say thank you?’

‘Don’t tell me what to do,’ she snapped, making that face he loved. Brows low, nose wrinkled, temper venomous. ‘And lower your damn sword!’

Fatebringer clattered to the ground. ‘I forgot I was even—’

‘Shut up.’ She grabbed his collar, hauled him to her and kissed him.

Chapter 55 Seraphine

Every muscle in Sera’s body screamed. Weakened from her fall, she could only manage a breath. His name.

‘Ransom.’

He went to her, like he always did, shoving aside those tar-black feathers and running quick gentle hands along her face. ‘I’m here, spitfire. I’ve got you.’

Andreas’s mocking voice crowded her senses. An argument floated over her head and then Ransom was gone again, leaping at the prince like a maddened beast.

Theo came, crouching down. His armour was as silver as his hair, and his eyes – they were clear and as green as the South Sea. She recoiled from his touch.

‘Sera, hey, hey, it’s all right.’

Traitor.

Liar.

Soul-eater.

She screamed for Ransom.