Page 67 of The Dragon and the Dove

As Ransom bent to disarm the corpses, more footsteps sounded behind them. Sera ducked on instinct, bringing her own dagger around in an arc. Steel met flesh as she found her mark, jamming it into the soldier’s side. Blood spurted as she pulled it back out, jamming her foot into his chest. He tumbled backwards, knocking the rest of the soldiers from their feet.

With a flick of his wrist, Ransom killed them all.

Trembling now, she wiped her brow.

He pulled her against his chest, pressing a breathless kiss to her hair. ‘All right?’

She clutched his forearm. ‘I’m all right.’

The stairwell was quiet, save for the staccato of their breaths.

Sera cleaned her dagger on the edge of her dress. Streaks of blood spattered the feathers.

When she looked up, Ransom was smiling at her. ‘Is it wrong that I was into that?’

She ceded a nervous laugh. ‘Which part?’

‘When you shoved your heel into his chest, and made a bowling ball of his body.’

A quick glance over her shoulder revealed more corpses than she’d expected.

‘Thanks for taking care of the others,’ she managed.

‘It’s what I’m here for.’

You’re more than this, she wanted to say. More than murder.

But not tonight.

If Ransom wasn’t here, if he wasn’t like this, she’d be dead twice over by now.

They continued on side by side, her hand in his as they climbed towards the gathering storm. Sera braced herself for another ambush, but when they reached the top, there was nothing but the wild crash of the elements.

And two figures they were not expecting.

Nadia and Lisette.

Dressed in a long black coat and with her hair piled in a tight knot upon her head, Nadia was a study in sharp angles. Her arms were folded across her chest and her dark eyes were foreboding.

Lisette was smiling without an ounce of warmth. The last time Sera had seen the Dagger who’d replaced Ransom as Head of the Order of Daggers, she’d stormed the ballroom at the Summer Palace and brewed the shadows that killed Bibi and so many others that night.

‘What a clever prince,’ she said, licking her teeth. ‘He said you’d come looking for him here.’

Nadia glared at them. ‘Fools.’

Through the shattered wall behind her, Sera could make out the north wing of the Appoline library across the quad. Lamplight flickered in its stained-glass windows, glinting off the twirling skirts of Andreas’s guests. The ball remained in full swing, the poor villagers of Castellan still playing out their parts.

Ransom’s hand tightened around hers. ‘Where is he?’

‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’ taunted Lisette.

Nadia’s eyes darted.

Too late, Sera felt another presence in the tower.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose as Lark stepped in from the narrow walkway. The Saint of Corpses was soaked through, his thinning auburn curls plastered to the sides of his face. He smiled, revealing gapped rows of rotting teeth.

‘You didn’t think he’d risk it all, did you?’ He sneered. ‘Meet you alone in a dark tower all by himself?’