Page 109 of The Mask Falling

“I will. Gladly,” I said. “I imagine you’ll need some time to prepare for the journey, but we don’t have much.”

Renelde nodded. “Meet us three days from now.”

“Good. We’ll see you on the ninth, then, at nightfall,” I said. “Tell us where to find you.”

****

As soon as we were back in the safe house, I scrubbed off all the greasepaint, changed into leggings and an oversized sweater, then slumped at the kitchen table to consult the map of the citadel.

I knew from the ledger that the Rag and Bone Man hunted close to Rue Montmartre. Not only was it near the Court of Miracles—a rich source of income for a voyant trafficker—but when I accessed the Scionet, it informed me that the first sewer in Paris had been constructed there. The original foundations might have survived. If so, there was no more perfect lair for him. He could drag his victims down through the manholes. When we returned with them, those victims would serve him the justice he had evaded in London.

Ducos would return soon with another task for me. I could stay and earn her approval, foster my relationship with Domino—or leave it behind altogether and disappear back into the underworld.

I had been able to hold my two selves in balance for a time. The insurgent and the intelligence agent. The queen and the subject. Now I felt them pull in opposite directions, straining fragile seams. Black Moth could not coexist with Flora Blake. In the end, one would consume the other.

I rolled the map up and stowed it away. Inexplicably, I found myself drawn to the parlor.

Arcturus was watching a news report, stone-faced, one hand wrapped around a tumbler of wine. Neither of us said anything, but the silence was softer. I sat beside him and followed his gaze to the news of more celebrations across Scion.

They would never show the truth. The violence and agony as soldiers marched into every settlement in Portugal. Religious houses destroyed, statues felled, whole libraries of books reduced to cinders in the biblioclasms. The unmaking of democracy.

Something pulled my attention to the æther. Arcturus noticed how still I suddenly became.

“Is it Ducos?” he asked.

“No. Someone else.” I rose. “Someone we know.”

****

I slung on a coat and boots and picked up an umbrella as I left. It would shield me from cameras as much as the rain.

There was no reason she should be here, no reason at all—but while my gift had sometimes deceived me, it had never told me an outright lie. The dreamscape was farther away by the heartbeat. I shut the door of the safe house behind me and walked as fast as I physically could down the quay, following the Seine.

When I reached her, she was leaning against a streetlamp, a hood drawn tight around her face, a scarf over her nose and mouth. Dark eyes looked out at me from under a knitted cap.

“Paige,” Ivy said. “I hoped you’d find me.”

16

Loyalty

The last time I had seen Ivy Jacob, we had been in the deep-level crisis facility in London, where the syndicate had taken shelter from the soldiers of Scion. To convince the tosher king to let us hide in his underground domain, and to atone for unknowingly helping the gray market, she had joined his service and pledged herself to a life in the storm drains and sewers.

I took her straight back to the safe house and bundled her inside. She was soaked to the skin.

“Tell me no one’s on your tail,” I said to her as I shut the door.

“Vigiles caught a whiff of my aura a while back. Don’t worry.” Ivy kicked off her boots. “I lost them.”

“You’re a well-known fugitive. Coming here was off the cot.” I locked up and drew the chain across. “Why would you risk it?”

“Glym and Eliza sent me,” she said. When I turned into the light, her eyes widened. “Paige, your face.”

“Minor altercation with a tyrant.” I hung up my coat. “Did you plan to just wander about until I picked up on you?”

“Pretty much. Worked a treat, though, didn’t it?”

It had been a very long time since I had last seen Ivy smile. She was disheveled and sticky with sweat, but that smile lit her face all the way to her eyes. With a sigh, I embraced her.

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