The Dagger and the Flame (The City of Fantome, #1)

by Catherine Doyle

Careful, Dagger. I might burn you again. The paper dart had barely left her hand before returning again. Maybe I want to burn, spitfire.

His words were all gravel. “How many minutes do you want, Seraphine?” “As many as you can spare.” He brushed his nose against hers. “How about eternity?”

“For ten years, I’ve prayed to Saint Oriel,” he said, as if he was telling her a secret. “Asking her for a better life than this one. For a kinder fate. The courage to chase it. I never really believed she could hear me down here in the dark, or that even if she could, she would ever bend her ear to the pleas of a Dagger. I almost gave up.” He laid his forehead against hers. “And then you came barreling over the horizon like a runaway sun. You shattered the darkness, Seraphine. And I realize now that all these years I wasn’t wishing for freedom. I was wishing for you.”