Page 36 of The Dragon and the Dove

Not dead.

But different.

Val startled. What the hell was that? This strange new echo from within, as though her soul had suddenly sprouted a voice.

Her bedroom was pitch black, save for a sliver of moonlight slipping through her curtains.

And the handprint glowing on her chest.

The Making.

Magic.

Sainthood.

Had it worked?

Yes.

She jolted again at the voice. That was going to take some getting used to.

A muffled groan drew Val’s attention to the chair in the corner of her room. Sera was slumped there, frowning in her sleep.

Val considered waking her, but it was almost three a.m. And the Saint-maker looked like she could do with a few hundred or so more hours of sleep.

She went instead to her mirror, peering at herself in the silvered dark. She looked much the same – hot as hell – but there was a spark in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

‘All right, Val,’ she whispered. ‘What can you do?’

A sudden flare in her chest, brown eyes turning molten. Threads of gold rose to the surface, as if her magic was peering out at her.

Wait and see.

Val frowned. She was not exactly the patient sort.

What am I?

There was no one to answer her. At least not in here. Leaving her best friend asleep behind her, Val grabbed her dressing gown and went for a late-night stroll.

House Armand was as quiet as a tomb, the slow shuffle of her footsteps filling the halls. At a loss for what to do, she stopped by the music room to tinkle on the piano.

A sorry row of discordant notes.

Not a musical genius, then.

Not by a long shot.

‘Rude,’ Val muttered, shoving away from the piano.

Not that a saint of music would be particularly useful against Prince Andreas. And anyway, music was Bibi’s thing.

Val’s heart ached as she sat alone by the piano, surrounded by the ghost of her best friend. If she closed her eyes, she could still hear her singing.

Val might have lingered in the music room a while longer, wallowing, if it hadn’t been for the sound of snickering in the stairwell.

She followed it downstairs to the lower kitchen, where Fabian and Tobias were raiding the pantry.

She leaned against the door frame, watching them.