Page 30 of The Dawn Chorus

Warden had let me sleep on the daybed of late, so I could keep warm by the fire. I was only up here, at the top of the tower, to retrieve my backpack. I left my cell for the final time and closed the door behind me.

At the bottom of the stairs, I found the chamber empty. A meal waited for me on a silver tray.

Warden had said very little for the last week. Since he had ended our training, he had been distant, though he had responded if I requested help with anything to do with the rebellion. Some nights I would find him in the chapel, though I never disturbed him. Just soaked up the music. Other nights he disappeared, and I assumed he was with the scarred ones.

His allies remained in the shadows. Terebell Sheratan was one of them – that much I knew – but I had no idea how many Rephaim, if any, would come to our aid.

I had visited the Rookery one last time, to see Liss and Julian. We would have no time to speak at the Bicentenary. Liss would be on the silks, ready to run to the meadow with a flare gun straight after her performance, and now Julian had scavenged enough fuel, he would lead the arsonists.

Liss had embraced me when we parted. I could still feel the strength in her thin arms, smell the lavender she often tucked under her pillow. She had held me as if for the last time.

She would be fine. We all would. I had to believe it, or I would never sleep. This rebellion was happening in no small part because of me and Julian. I had seen the same understanding in his eyes when we said goodbye. He would get no rest tonight, either.

I set the backpack down by the daybed. Warden must have gone to some effort to cobble a meal together, and I needed to eat, but even the smell of it made me nauseous. For want of a distraction, I lit a few candles in the next room and filled the bathtub. I was chilled to the marrow of my bones.

Soon I would face Nashira Sargas and, in all likelihood, she would succeed in binding my spirit. Warden, Liss, Julian – they knew as well as I did that my chances were low. If I had been able to use my gift for longer than six months – if my father had acknowledged it when I was a child, or if Jaxon had found me earlier – then perhaps I could have defeated her.

As things stood, I was fucked. My best hope was to do as much damage as I could before the end, then pray that someone would be kind enough to free my spirit one day.

Death would be the easy part. My silver cord would snap – that might hurt – but otherwise, I was familiar with the sensation of leaving my body. What I had yet to learn was how it would feel to be a fallen angel. Warden had said that the boundlings despised Nashira, so they must retain some degree of their former selves, but that unnerved me more than the thought of mindless servitude. I would have to obey her, to yield my gift to her, while remembering how I reviled her. While seeing all the suffering she would inflict as a dreamwalker. I would know that I was fuelling her reign.

Rephaim could live for ever. How long would I have to bear witness to her tyranny?

I sat in the bath for a long while, shivering even as the water gave my skin a rosy tinge. At last, I got out, dressed in a clean yellow tunic, then sat on the rug beside the fire with my knees pulled to my chest. The gramophone played violin music as I untangled my curls.

As a dreamwalker, Nashira could do as she pleased. Make puppets out of politicians. Force her enemies to fling themselves from buildings. She could install herself in the very heart of the Unnatural Assembly. No one, and no place, would be safe.

All I was now was a weapon. I had to turn myself against her, and then, if I could, stop her from using me.

‘Paige.’

A deep and familiar voice brought me back in the present. Warden stood on the threshold.

‘Hello,’ I said.

‘I did not expect to find you here.’

‘Technically, I live here.’

‘Hm. Not for much longer.’ He closed the door and locked it. ‘I assumed you would prefer to spend your last night with your friends in the Rookery.’

I shook my head. ‘Everything is in place. We agreed to just try to get some rest. And Liss pointed out that knowing my luck, I’d wind up getting into a scrap if I stayed there.’ I looked back at the fire. ‘I can’t afford to get hurt.’

‘Liss is sagacious.’

She had all but thrown me out at sunset.Suhail will soon be on theprowl, was her warning.If he finds you in here, he’ll beat the ten bells out of you, and then you’ll not have a chance against Nashira. Her face had softened.You get some sleep now, Paige. Even if you win tomorrow, the battle to unearth the anchor has only just begun.

Something about her tone had unsettled me.

Liss could glimpse the future. I could only allow myself to think of the next few steps. At noon tomorrow, Michael would drug the red-jackets at their feast, using the concoction he had coerced Duckett into making. That was the final and most crucial stage before I attacked Nashira. Perhaps I should have felt guilty for planning to leave them all here to rot, but they had chosen their side.

Warden approached his desk. I teased my curls apart to help them dry, willing the small task to absorb me. My gaze soon followed him.

After six months of living with Arcturus Mesarthim, this might be the last evening I ever spent in his company. The thought should have delighted me. Not so long ago, I had resented his mere existence, plotted to kill him, thought of him as an enemy.

Now, months later, his presence was something of a comfort. He was a fellow prisoner, if not a friend. And I didn’t want to spend what could be my final night on earth alone.

Warden served himself some red wine. ‘Mind sharing?’ I asked.

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