Chapter 17 Seraphine

Chapter 17 Seraphine

Over dinner that night, Sera confessed everything to her friends. After what happened in the alley with Ransom – after what had almost happened to Theo when he came to save her – she couldn't stand the thought of lying to them any more. And more than that, she had come to trust them during her time at House Armand. She owed them the truth. If not for her own safety, then for theirs. She was marked, and becoming a Cloak hadn't changed that.

So, she told them everything about the day of Mama's murder when she had witnessed the Dagger standing over her dead body. Then her showdown with Ransom at Villa Roman, when her necklace had glowed like the sun, shredding his Shade and saving her life. She recounted the moment she had managed to stick him with her letter opener and get away in one piece, even confessing that she believed she had killed him up until today. If Theo hadn't found them in that alley when he did… She shuddered to imagine it.

But Saint Oriel had not yet deserted her. Once again, Sera had escaped with her life.

The others listened in horrified silence as she recounted it all, Theo's gaze fixed on that golden teardrop hanging from her neck.

‘I knew there was something unusual about that thing,' he murmured when she had finished. He scrubbed a hand across his jaw, absently stroking the bruise blooming there. ‘I wonder what it is.'

‘I was hoping you might know,' Sera confessed. She had been wrestling with the idea of confiding in the Shadowsmith about it all week, hoping that the artificer might have some insight into its power.

But he only shook his head in bewilderment.

‘I knew there was something going on between you and that Dagger,' said Bibi, leaning across her plate of roast chicken. ‘You could have cut the tension with a knife. Though I admit, I didn't expect this…' She frowned, searching for the right word.

‘Ongoing game of murder?' said Val, who was sitting with her ankle propped up on the windowsill.

‘ Attempted murder,' Sera corrected her.

‘So far,' she countered. Then she frowned. ‘You're a Cloak now. He's not supposed to go anywhere near you.'

‘Unless Dufort cares more about getting rid of me than he does about Mercure's rules,' muttered Sera. Dufort didn't give a damn about rules that inconvenienced him.

Foolish was the Cloak who put their faith in the words of a man like Gaspard Dufort.

Sera sighed, taking in her friends' faces. She'd thought she would find relief in telling them the truth about Ransom but the fear in their eyes only made her feel worse. She picked at her food, trying to kindle her appetite. Pippin was curled up in her lap, as though the little terrier could sense the danger she had got herself into that evening and didn't want to let her out of his sight again. She sneaked him green beans and slivers of roast chicken as the conversation turned to the meeting at the Aurore, and the other pressing matter at hand: monsters.

‘Do you reckon the Orders will really work together?' asked Val.

‘Who knows?' said Bibi, biting the head off a sprig of broccoli. ‘That Dagger attacked Sera right after the meeting. It's not like Dufort's word is worth anything.'

‘I'm still not convinced he isn't behind the monsters.' Theo scowled into his wine glass. ‘But I can't figure out the why of it.'

‘The better question is, what are we supposed to do about the monsters?' said Bibi. ‘Go out and catch them ourselves?'

‘I can't say I'm itching to place myself in mortal danger,' said the Shadowsmith.

‘It beats being cooped up in here all day.' Val glowered at her injured ankle. ‘I want to catch a monster. Maybe you could fashion something to help us?'

‘Like what?' he said, leaning back in his chair. ‘A big net made of Shade?'

‘Oh! Yes!' said Bibi.

He shot her a glare. ‘That was a joke.'

Sera gripped her necklace, stroking it with the pad of her thumb until the bead warmed. She wondered what the magic inside it might do against a beast made of Shade, and if perhaps Mama had made the teardrop with that in mind. She shook off the thought as quickly as it formed. Experimenting on Fig was one thing. But these monsters that stalked the city… who could have foreseen such horrors?

And yet… Unease prickled along the back of Sera's neck, and she found her mind straining for a thought – an answer – that flitted just out of reach, like a firefly too quick to catch.

She wasn't the only one plagued by the mystery of her necklace.

I don't fear your magic, Seraphine. I want it .

The Dagger's words floated back to her.

Ransom hadn't killed her in that alleyway.

He could have killed her.

Now who's afraid, spitfire? He could have ended her with his bare hands and ripped the necklace from her corpse. Look at that smart mouth tremble.

He should have killed her.

Why didn't he kill her?

Her cheeks flared at the memory of his body pressed up against hers, his cruel mouth full of blood, the smell of wild mint on his breath. She shuddered, though she couldn't tell whether it was from revulsion or something far more dangerous. Something she did not dare to name. Even to herself.