The Dagger and the Flame Readalong: Day 2!

Beautiful photo by @dianaslittlelibrary!

Hey fairy family!

Welcome to day two of our readalong of The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle. I’m absolutely loving the vibes in this book and can’t wait to read more with you all today!

Today we’ll be reading from Chapter 7  to the end of Chapter 16.

When you’ve finished today’s section, catch up with me in the comments down below so we can discuss all of our thoughts!

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Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for The Dagger and the Flame from chapter 7 to chapter 16. Please only read on if you have finished reading this section!

–!SPOILERS!–

Sera has quite the line up doesn’t she? Lorenzo, Theo and potentially Ransom? Get it girl!

She has her first lesson today, I’m really interested to find out what a lesson to be a Cloak actually entails… ooh ok. Self-defence for now. Little do they know she needs this more than ever with Ransom on her back!

Madame Mercure wants to see her. Mercure has realised who she is – the daughter of Sylvie Marchant. That’s not the part she’s angry about though. News of Sylvie’s murder at the hands of Du Fort has hit the papers.

There’s something going on here that we’re not quite being told… Between Sera lying and Sylvie only selling to the Cloaks as well as her murder? We’re missing something.

Mercure is going to let her stay, but Sera needs to prove herself.

After they stared longingly at each other on more than one occasion, Sera and Theo have their first one on one meeting. He’s going to make Sera her cloak!

He’s very flirty. I can’t help but remember the warning Sera had that this is just what he’s like but I definitely think he has a little soft spot for her.

She has her cloak and everything is looking pretty good… until Val appears. There’s been another murder.

Sera finally has her first job. She’s on the hunt for the Rizzano Tiara. I don’t know what to make of Val calling this a “soft heist” – they must end up in some pretty precarious positions if robbing a manor is their idea of soft!

In and out in twenty minutes is, unsurprisingly, not how it goes. They set off some bells and suddenly there are dogs barking, Val’s stuck and Sera’s been left behind.

Oh oh oh – they’re not alone! Ransom’s followed them. At this rate though his job might be done before he can even reach Sera, she’s surrounded by guard dogs and about to jump from a height that may well kill her…

“It seemed a shame to kill her.”

He definitely has a soft spot for her, right? What we know of the daggers doesn’t line up with Ransom’s reluctancy to hurt Sera. Sera though, well… I’m not sure she currently feels the same. 😂 She’s not exactly thrilled to see him!

She’s convinced he’s the one responsible for killing her mother. Ransom tells her it wasn’t him but she’s pretty sure of what she witnessed! No wonder she isn’t happy to see him. Not only is he after her but also killed her mother and burnt down her home? It’s not giving romance!

When he does attack her, it doesn’t go how he planned at all. Ten heartbeats with his hands around her throat and she should be dead… but she’s ok. It’s something to do with her necklace.

Sera’s not done though, she gets a hit in and it’s a good one! Man down!!

I don’t know what Seraphine’s mother was up to, but somehow the necklace she gifted her daughter just saved her life, and from the words she spoke to Sera before she died, it sounds like she knew it would have that purpose.

Back to Ransom and the boy is HURT BAD! He even admits to himself he felt bad about killing her before but now? Well, now it’s a different story.

Whilst he’s practically dragging himself back home, he finds a body.

It’s died at the hands of one of the mysterious monsters. Silver eyes, wide mouth, slack and toothless with a black tongue, no hair, arms hanging as if their shoulders are dislocated. That just painted the freakiest picture in my mind! No thank you!

Ransom all but passes out and we get to view a memory. It seems like the first time he took Shade? It sounds brutal, dangerous and honestly? Not worth it!

We get to see part of what shaped Ransom. We know a bit of his history but we see from his point of view how he killed his father. Du Fort does seem to be taking care of him but I don’t like the sound of this Shade business, so I’m still viewing him as the bad guy!

Seems like Ransom’s in luck! He wakes to Lark and Nadia looming above him. Maybe he’ll live to hunt Sera for another day after all…

What I will say about both the Daggers AND the Cloaks is that they definitely look after their own! Sera has her own near miss with a monster and bumps into Theo who was just heading out to rescue her! N’awww.

Oop. Madame Mercure wants to schedule a meeting of the Orders. Why does this sound like bad news?

Time for Ransom to catch up Du Fort… except he lies. Either he’s lying because he’s embarrassed she hurt him or he doesn’t want to admit he couldn’t kill her.

Ok, can we all agree that Ransom’s reaction to some of his Shade scars having disappeared proves this isn’t the life he wants? LEAVE IT BEHIND RANSOM!!! He definitely won’t hurt her now, right???

The meeting of the Order begins and they start to discuss the strange monsters. It’s pretty clear neither of them are responsible for them… so who is?

They decide they need to catch a monster to find out where they’re coming from. Why do they make it sound like that’s such an easy task? 😂

Shade is against the rules of the meeting but Ransom quite literally cannot help himself. He ingests some just so he can see if any other Cloaks turned up… and of course, Sera did… and he threatens her. Maybe my theory that he wouldn’t kill her now was wrong after all!

Sera isn’t looking much better at this point, she’s also lying through her teeth! She tells Bibi she has no idea who he is, oh Sera, you know!!!

“I can’t tell if he wants to ravish you or murder you.” honestly? Same.

Our little crew of Cloaks decide to head out for food… but they’re not alone. A shadow slinks around Sera. It’s Ransom. He says they have unfinished business. MY GOD DO YOU! The TENSION!!!

He wants the necklace but she obviously won’t give it up. There’s a lot of subtle flirting going on for two people who hate each other though…

So he doesn’t want to kill her now but also won’t call a truce. I love their dynamics. He wants her magic and comes VERY near to getting it. Until footsteps approach and a very jealous Ransom wants to know who Theo is as he steals Sera away…

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Team Ransom or Team Theo? I think I’m team Ransom but I could be swayed!
Where do you think the monsters are coming from?
Would you rather be a Cloak or a Dagger?

I am absolutely LOVING this enemies to lovers dynamic – I need more!

Catch up with you all in the comments and see you tomorrow for more reading. 😊

Love,
Shannon