Page 42 of The Dragon and the Dove

Versini didn’t rise to the bait. ‘Let’s just get this over with.’

‘Unleash the hounds,’ cried Tobias.

‘Just one,’ cautioned Versini.

‘Relax,’ said Ransom.

Like he was about to savage Tobias. The smallest of his hounds stalked forward.

For all his bravado, Tobias gulped.

Ransom bit back his smirk, re-misting the beast into a bunny rabbit with floppy ears. ‘Better?’

‘That’s insulting,’ Tobias complained.

‘Just pet the rabbit,’ said Versini.

‘If the Lightfire doesn’t work, I’ll dissolve him,’ promised Ransom. ‘You’ll barely feel—’

‘The brush of death?’ said Tobias.

‘Well, yeah.’

The boy inched forward. Despite himself, Ransom tensed. The rest of his hounds disappeared as he spooled his magic back, leaving only the rabbit. Small. Manageable.

The younger Versini reached out his hand. Tentative at first, and then—

He sliced right through the rabbit’s head. ‘TAKE THAT!’

The blow was only a light prod to Ransom. Quick and painless. Tobias gasped at the brief spark in his fingers, and then the rabbit dissolved entirely.

‘It worked!’ he shouted. ‘I’m a genius.’

‘I’m the one who cracked the recipe,’ said Versini.

‘Then you should have tested it,’ said Ransom.

‘It had to be Tobias.’

‘Why?’

Because you’re a saint, too.

Theo Versini was clearly already full of Lightfire, which meant he was immune to Ransom’s shadows. Ransom wanted him to admit it, to confess to the power he had taken from Sera that night in the catacombs. But the Shadowsmith ignored him, turning instead to make a note of something in his ledger. ‘If it works against your shadows, it will work against the prince’s compulsions.’

‘For how long?’ asked Ransom.

He didn’t answer. Clearly didn’t know.

‘How many vials do you have?’

‘Not nearly enough,’ Theo conceded.

A speck of truth, at last.

Tobias bounced on the balls of his feet. ‘I want to try again.’

Ransom conjured a raft of beasts. A jackal to follow the bunny rabbit. Then a two-headed cobra. A trio of snarling wolves. Tobias slew them all, Lightfire painting his olive skin gold as he darted about the clearing.