Page 31 of The Rebel and the Rose (The City of Fantome #2)
Sera was still smarting when she climbed into the carriage after Theo.
Arrogant, interfering Dagger, with his stupidly perfect face.
Why did he insist on scrambling her thoughts before she had a chance to sift through them herself?
She hadn’t even decided what she was going to do about the provost’s tip before he’d yanked it out of her hands and waved it around for all to see.
‘He caught me in a lie,’ she groaned into her hands. And he was pissed. Worse – hurt . And more emboldened than ever. ‘Marvale is going to be a blood bath.’
‘It was always going to go like this,’ said Theo, calmly. ‘He’d be a fool to think you were on the same side. The minute we find Andreas, things are going to get messy.’
‘Didn’t you see what happened with Nadia back there?’ she felt compelled to remind him. ‘Things are already messy.’
‘They’re only going to get worse,’ he said, darkly.
‘Ransom might be indulging his protective side right now, but when all that Shade finally eats through the last of his humanity, that will change. The black stuff already has its claws in him, Sera. You can’t count on his feelings for you.
Not above loyalty to his Order. His king.
’ His brows knitted, his voice softening when he added, ‘With everything that happened with your father, you know that better than anyone.’
Slumping back in her seat, she gave no argument. Her thoughts turned to what the king had promised Ransom, and the secret deal they had struck in the shadows. Was it worth more or less than her life to him? And how long would it take before his predilection for Shade chewed that up too?
The carriage in front screeched to a sudden halt. Outside, voices rose to an angry pitch. Sera stuck her head out of the window to find Ransom marching Caruso back up the driveway, looking furious.
He yelled over his shoulder, ‘He stole the damn cat! I’m making him take it back.’
Despite their souring mood, Theo barked a laugh. ‘You should have been a Cloak, Caruso!’
Caruso stuck his middle finger up. ‘Too talented for common thievery, Versini.’
Belatedly, Sera noticed the black cat tucked snugly under his left arm. ‘Didn’t take him for an animal person.’
They had barely resumed their journey when the carriage screeched to a halt again. More commotion outside, as a coachman shouted, ‘Madwoman on the road!’
Theo set down the journal he had been scribbling in. ‘What now ?’
Sera hopped out of the carriage just as Caruso was confronting their obstacle. The three soldiers had disembarked, too, and were edging closer with their hands on their swords. Caruso was so tall and broad, Sera couldn’t see around him, but when a familiar shriek rang out, she stumbled in shock.
‘I’m NOT moving off this road until I see my friends!’ At once, Sera recognized the human hurricane that was Val, her furious anger like music to her ears. ‘I swear to Saint Calvin, if you have laid a finger on any one of them, I will gut you where you stand, ice man.’
Caruso cocked his head. ‘ Ice man?’
Sera pushed through the soldiers and rounded Caruso to see Val brandishing a rusty corkscrew at the menacing Dagger.
Saints help her, Caruso was going to chew her up and spit her out.
Not that Val seemed remotely afraid. ‘Icy eyes to match your icy heart, fucker. I know you’re a Dagger, so you’d better move the hell out of— ALL HELL, SERA! YOU’RE ALIVE!’
Sera darted forward, sweeping her friend into a hug. Pressing her face into Val’s shoulder, she inhaled a lungful of jasmine perfume, telling herself that Val was real. She was here. She was safe .
‘I’m so glad you’re all right,’ she said, pulling back to look her over.
Her dark curls fell wildly about her face, which was paler than usual.
Her trousers and sweater were dusty from her travels, and she was carrying a satchel on her back.
Apart from looking tired and travel-worn – and vaguely furious – she was in good nick.
‘I knew you’d make it back to us,’ said Theo, hurrying to join them. ‘You’re too scrappy to go down without a fight. You never even got picked up, did you?’
Val shook her head, looking vaguely guilty. ‘I got my cloak on just in time. I ran for the shadows when the nightguards came, then returned to House Armand. I didn’t know what else to do, so I hid in a bush until Fontaine came poking around with her walking stick and found me.’
Figures. ‘I bet she’s the one who dobbed us in in the first place,’ said Sera.
‘It was Mercure.’ Val’s expression soured. ‘At the king’s request, apparently. He’s been after the Flames ever since our first shipment of Lightfire dropped.’ She looked between them, then over their shoulders to where the Daggers and soldiers had gathered. ‘And where’s Bibi?’
‘We’ll fill you in,’ said Sera grimly.
Ransom approached their huddle. ‘How did you manage to track us down?’
‘The morning after the soldiers came, I took a wagon out of the city. I was going to travel to the Summer Palace, but Fontaine said it was a hangman’s mission. Said she had a hunch you’d end up here sooner or later. So I took the risk.’
Sera squeezed her hand. ‘I’m really glad you did.’
Now she had one less person to worry about, and another ally at her side, for whatever lay ahead.
Val summoned a shaky smile. ‘Better than going back to Paola and telling her I’d bolted like a coward that night and lost all my friends.’
Theo was still struggling to understand it. ‘Why would Fontaine help you after Mercure sold us down the river?’
Val shrugged. ‘She’s always liked me best. We have a hate-hate relationship. That’s her love language.’ She swiped a hand through her unruly curls, only unsettling them further. ‘And I think she felt bad about the way it all went down. Not sure she saw those beatings in her precious tarot cards.’
‘So let me get this straight,’ said Ransom, who was still hovering – entirely unwelcome – on the edge of their conversation. ‘You came here based on nothing but a mercurial, potentially insane soothsayer’s guess to try and rescue your friends from an errand you still know nothing about?’
Caruso butted in, ‘With that shitty corkscrew in your tiny ineffectual fist? I was four seconds away from flinging you into that tree over there.’
Val pointed the corkscrew at him. ‘And I was three seconds away from shoving this into your jugular, Dagger. Watch me use that Adam’s apple like a bull’s eye.’
Caruso blinked in utter astonishment.
Ransom muttered, ‘Hell’s teeth.’
Val resettled her attention on Sera. ‘What exactly is going on? The cryptic old crone never mentioned this villainous lot.’ She craned her neck. ‘Don’t tell me Bibi’s napping through our reunion.’
‘Bibi’s not here,’ said Sera, with a swift rush of guilt.
‘What do you mean “not here”?’
‘As in, your friend is currently rotting in the king’s dungeon ,’ Caruso supplied.
This time, Val didn’t even look his way. ‘Seriously, who is that? Can I punch him?’
‘I wouldn’t recommend it,’ said Theo. ‘He’s thoroughly unhinged.’
‘Start explaining,’ she said, folding her arms. ‘Why were you at the Appoline with our literal mortal enemies. And how come you haven’t killed each other yet?’
‘We’ll get around to it,’ said Nadia, breaking her stony silence.
Sera tugged Val by the sleeve. ‘Come on. I’ll tell you everything on the road.’
Val bared her teeth at Caruso as she passed him. He raised his brows, betraying what Sera thought might actually be a dim simmering of respect. ‘I feel better about giving the cat back now,’ he remarked to no one in particular. ‘This vicious little creature is going to be a lot more fun.’
‘I’m going to punch him,’ said Val loudly, following Sera into the carriage.