Chapter 34 Seraphine

Chapter 34 Seraphine

Seraphine flew out of the crypt so fast she lost her footing. Her knees had barely touched the ground before Ransom caught her, yanking her up by the waist.

‘Move,' he hissed in her ear, but there was nowhere to run. There was only one way up and there were already footsteps coming down the stairwell.

She whirled on her heel. ‘We're trapped.'

His gaze darted, then he tugged her down to the left, where the passage narrowed before ending at a stone wall. He swung her around, pressing her back against it and covering her body with his own. Sera tilted her chin up but she couldn't see beyond him, just the flickering dark and the warning in his eyes.

‘Don't move, spitfire,' he said, peering down at her. ‘Or we're both dead.'

Better to tilt those odds in their favour, then , thought Sera. She unfurled her cloak and flung it around his shoulders. He pulled the hood up, shadows falling across his face as he curled his arms around her, folding her into the cloak's magic. He walked her back into a shadow, where a breath of cool wind caressed her skin, raising the hairs on the back of her neck.

His arms tightened around her as the footsteps drew nearer. She looked up, caught in the firelight of his gaze. The tension thickened, her heart beating so hard she swore he must feel it against his chest. She opened her mouth, but he raised a finger to her lips and kept it there.

Behind them, there were footsteps. Then voices.

‘What the hell happened in here?' demanded the first.

‘Maybe Lucille's got unfinished business,' said another.

‘You don't believe in ghosts, Nadia.'

‘Good thing, as we'd all be screwed, living in this place.'

‘Body snatcher, if you ask me.'

‘Hardly, Caruso. What would someone do with the rotted corpse of Lucille Versini?'

‘Says the girl who used to sneak skulls into other people's beds just to mess with them.'

‘That was Lark, you prick.'

‘Help me with this top stone, Lisette.'

Sera scrunched her eyes shut, wishing she was a million miles from here. Ransom rested his chin on the crown of her head, his breath ruffling her hair.

There was more grunting and shuffling. A lot of cursing. Then the groan of stone on stone as the lid was slowly hoisted back into place. It slid home with a final thud, and the Daggers poured out of the crypt as quickly as they arrived. They paused in the passageway before heading in the other direction, deciding to inspect Hugo's tomb while they were down here.

Sera sagged with relief. ‘That was close.'

Ransom tapped his finger against her lip. A warning. Hush. She snapped her teeth, nipping it.

He dipped his chin, his lips brushing against her ear. ‘If you want to kiss me, just say so.'

A delicious thrill rippled down her spine. Yes , her body screamed. Yes, yes, yes. She rose to her tiptoes, her nose brushing against his. ‘You're projecting, Ransom. You know I prefer stabbing you.'

‘Maybe you're right,' he said, returning his finger to her lips. He pressed gently, parting them. ‘Maybe I want to know what that smart mouth tastes like.'

Her lips curved against his touch.

He pulled back, just enough that she could see his eyes. Molten, golden.

She tilted her chin up. ‘Are you afraid, Dagger?'

He flashed his teeth, that feral smile weakening her knees. ‘Did you forget that you're the one who's marked, spitfire?'

Her gaze returned to the scar on his lip. She was a heartbeat away from licking it when the voices returned. The Daggers were coming their way.

‘Who wants to tell Dufort when he gets back?' said Lisette.

‘Forget Dufort,' said Nadia, who seemed like the most sensible of the bunch. ‘I need a drink. A stiff one.'

Caruso chuckled. ‘I've got something stiff for— oof .'

They took off, winding up the stairs and out of earshot. Sera held her breath, expecting more people to arrive, but silence fell. Ransom broke it with a whisper. ‘Two more minutes.'

She frowned. They had the journal, and now the coast was clear. ‘Why do we need to wait—?'

‘For this,' he said, kissing her.

Her breath caught as his lips brushed against hers. The kiss was soft and far too fleeting, the sudden absence of his touch wrenching a sigh from her.

He looked down at her, a question burning in his eyes.

She rose up, twisting her fingers in his collar. ‘Yes,' she whispered against his lips.

He smiled, seizing another kiss. This one was all hunger, hot and rough and crushing. She threw her arms around his neck, banking herself against him as he slid his hands into her hair, holding her there as he parted her lips, deepening the kiss. She opened her mouth and his tongue brushed against hers, slow and skilful. She moaned at the dizzying rush of his desire. He devoured the sound.

The kiss grew fast and frenzied, her body erupting as his lips crashed against hers, like they could feel every second running out. She pulled back, gasping. He laid his forehead against hers, catching his breath.

‘Three minutes?' he said, in a rasp.

‘Four?' She leaned in, gently nipping his scar.

He shuddered against her, sliding his tongue into her mouth. Her knees trembled and she sagged against the wall. He pinned her there, claiming her lips again and drinking down her desire.

‘Five minutes,' he said, between ragged breaths.

Sera would have given him a hundred minutes in the dark. He kissed her senseless, until she forgot where she was entirely, until there was only the heat of his tongue in her mouth and the sound of his groans in her ear. Time slipped away, and they didn't chase it.

She surrendered to the Dagger, relieved to be outside her own head and only in her body as his lips found the sensitive spot beneath her ear and his strong hands roamed the swell of her curves. He trailed his tongue down her jaw, branding the column of her neck, then the slope of her shoulder. He kissed her languidly, dragging his teeth across her skin and wrenching a shiver from her. She raked her fingernails down his back, tugging him closer until his hardness pressed between her legs, offering the promise of more. She wanted more, she wanted all of him.

‘ Seraphine .' Her name in his mouth was a ragged plea. He whispered it onto her skin, along the curve of her cheek, against her lips, into her mouth.

She was half a heartbeat from dragging him down onto the dusty floor when she heard the sound of crumpling paper. She froze.

He stilled, his hands tightening on her waist. ‘What is it?'

She pushed him away as reality crashed back in. In the frenzy of her lust, she had almost crushed Lucille's journal. She raked her hands through her hair, gulping down the cool air, as though it might quell the fire raging inside her.

What the hell was she doing?

She looked up at Ransom, and saw the same wildness in his eyes. He sucked in a breath. ‘That was…'

‘A slight deviation from the plan,' she said.

‘You have to get out of here,' he said, coming back to himself. He slung the cloak around her shoulders. ‘Here. Put this on.'

Sera didn't dare look at him as he fastened it at her collar, too afraid she would fall back into his arms. A familiar coldness reached for her as she stepped back into the shadows. Alone, this time.

Ransom hurried along the passage, leading her up the stairwell that returned them to the main crossway. She followed at a distance, leaping from one shadow to the next, winding her way back towards the entrance of the catacombs. Clear-eyed Daggers came and went, nodding at Ransom in the flickering half-light – just as before – none the wiser about where he had come from. What he had done in the shadows, and with whom.

Soon, the entrance to Hugo's Passage was before them, crowned with that sickening archway of skulls. For the second time that night, Sera shoved away her revulsion. Ransom twisted a skull on the wall and the doorway groaned open, letting in a welcome breeze.

‘Go,' he said, under his breath. ‘And don't come back here.'

Sera grabbed his hand. He looked down, momentarily stilling at the sight of her small, pale fingers interlaced with his.

She caressed the shadow-mark along his thumb, then lifted it to her mouth. ‘Thank you for helping me.'

‘Go,' he said again, his eyes softening.

For once, she did as he asked. With Lucille's journal in her arms and the shadow of his kiss on her lips, she smiled all the way home.