Page 79 of The Dragon and the Dove

Val cursed, slamming her foot into its chest. It sprawled in a puddle. They pushed on, panting now. The coachmen leaped from their seats, lifting Hale into the back seat. Anouk dived in after him, her eyes blazing as she tried to focus on his wound. Both a mender and breaker of clay, she was struggling to relinquish her grip on the Appoline.

‘Breathe!’ cried Val, climbing in after her. ‘Let go!’

‘I’m trying!’ sobbed Anouk.

The dead kept coming as the carriage turned in the drive. Grabbing a branch from the gutter, Theo swung it, beating them back. Sweat poured down his brow, blurring his vision. He didn’t dare stop, swinging until the corpses rested where they fell and the path around them cleared.

The carriage trundled on without him, faster now, and he ran for the open doorway, tossing the branch and making the jump. Val grabbed him by his lapels, heaving him inside.

They collapsed together on the floor, listening to the desperate sawing of Anouk’s breath as she channelled all that wayward magic directly into her brother.

Theo slammed his eyes shut, hiding the selfish gleam of his own power as it reached for hers.

‘Prayer,’ whispered Val, misunderstanding. ‘Good idea. Who should we pray to?’

‘Maud,’ he said.

‘Right.’ Her voice was grim. Anouk was crying. Hale had stopped breathing. ‘Dear Maud, Saint of Lost Hope…’

‘Dear Maud,’ he echoed.

They prayed as the world flew by.

Chapter 18 Ransom

Ransom woke to blackness. Shadows smothered his bedroom at House Armand, clinging to him as he lay in the tousled sheets of his lover’s bed. He could still scent the lemon blossom of her skin.

He had been dreaming of Seraphine and the Strix who had stolen her away. Of death’s hand around his ankle, keeping him from following her.

Which reminded him – he was supposed to be dead.

Why wasn’t he dead?

‘Can you get your shadows under control?’ Anouk’s voice was a chime in the dark. ‘They’re giving me the chills.’

It took him longer than it should have to corral his magic. Light slowly crept in, illuminating his sister in the chair at his bedside.

Her eyes narrowed, looking him over. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Like I want to rip Lark Delano apart, bone by fucking bone.’

Relief washed over her. ‘Praise Maud. You’re back to yourself.’

He sat up, wrenching the curtains apart. Outside, the sun was setting, casting an amber hue across the Hollows. He searched the skies. Not a Strix in sight.

Anouk spoke to his back. ‘You were half dead when we found you. Lark, Nadia and Lisette were dragging you out of the clock tower. Saintkiller was buried in your side.’

Yes, he remembered that too. The knife, now clean, sat on his bedside. His chest was bare. His fingers ghosted the bandage along his ribs. Three rungs down, he traced the scarring wound.

‘I healed you. By the grace of the saints.’

Anouk’s eyes were shining, which meant he truly had visited death’s door. ‘Thank you.’ He gripped her hand. ‘I’d be dead without you.’

‘Group effort, really,’ she admitted. ‘If Theo hadn’t found Val and me when he did, we wouldn’t have been able to get you out of there in time.’

The news prickled. ‘Versini carried me?’

‘Well. Most of you. Val and I helped.’