Page 43 of The Mask Falling

He presented me with the coffee. I resisted the urge to rest the warm mug on my abdomen.

We sat in companionable silence. Arcturus folded the shutters back. The sky was tender pink, and the sun cast a hazy, dreaming light over the citadel.

“Paris is more volatile than London,” he remarked. “These streets have already coursed with the blood of revolution. Something will happen here soon. Something that will push us over the brink.”

“You sound like Ducos.” I blew on the coffee. “She said Europe was on the verge of war.”

“Which is why you must be careful when you possess Frère.”

I glanced at him. “I really don’t know what you’re afraid I’ll do in there.”

“You might be in a position to kill the Grand Inquisitor of France. As we have established,” Arcturus said, “you seldom ignore an opportunity.” I sipped my coffee without comment. “There will be many temptations, but I advise you to maintain your focus. We agreed to follow orders from Domino.”

“I was a mollisher for years. I can follow orders. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to furtherourends,” I pointed out. “There could be hundreds of official secrets in that place.”

“If you seek them out at the cost of your mission, you risk jeopardizing our relationship with Domino. An alliance with them could be invaluable to the Mime Order.”

“As if they’d ever work with us. They’re the real deal,” I said. “A state-funded intelligence network. You really think they’d stoop to rubbing shoulders with undisciplined criminals?”

“The Mime Order could be far more than that. It has the potential to wage guerrilla warfare against Scion. If you can forge a strong relationship with Ducos and prove your reliability, she may be able to persuade her employers to funnel some of their funds toward your army.”

I tried to picture it. Our motley legion, supported by countries with vast resources. No longer terrorists or thugs, but a credible threat to Scion.

“Maybe,” I said.

“I understand your instinct to exploit every opportunity you see. Such an instinct is well-placed in war,” Arcturus said. “I only ask you once more, as your friend, to exercise caution.”

I watched him as I drank my coffee.

The truth was that therewassomething I wanted from inside the Hôtel Garuche. Something I needed.

I could tell Arcturus now. Except it would only trouble him, and I had put him through more than enough worry of late. Besides, I was certain I could get what I wanted without anyone having to know.

“I’ll bear it in mind,” was all I said.

****

We spent the next few days in the cellar, which doubled as a training room, complete with weights and a pull-up bar. Arcturus started us off with some light combat to ease me back into drills.

It took great effort to meet his mock punches. I was graceless, my reactions slow. What had once been a dance of equals—my agility, his strength—was now painfully one-sided. He could outflank me so quickly I might as well have just sat on the floor.

Dislocating was no easier. My gift had been suppressed while I was imprisoned, and now it shied away from me. It took several excruciating tries before I could peel my spirit from its seat in my dreamscape. I couldn’t imagine being able to take a flying leap from my body the way I had before.

Arcturus did his best. Sometimes he would make me laugh with some archaic turn of phrase, and I could relax enough into the fight that it flowed. That only lasted for so long.

It wasn’t just my inelegance that frustrated me. It was the sharp pain that shadowed each breath. It was never havingenoughbreath. It was how often I had to call time for a rest. On top of that, Arcturus seemed reluctant to push me. When I started to cough during one session, he steered me back upstairs and set me up on the couch with a heat pad for the evening.

He cared too much. If he wouldn’t push my limits, I would have to push them myself. In the small hours of that same night, I wrapped my hands and stole back to the cellar. If I rebuilt the strength in my body, my gift might return, too.

A rack of weights stood in the corner. I made for the ones I had been able to handle before the scrimmage, hefted them into my hands, and lifted. My arms shook, but the tug in my muscles meant progress. I relished it.

That was when my wrist folded. I had thought the sprain was healing. With a hiss, I dropped both weights, and they fell with a terrific clangor to the floor. Racked with coughs, I folded onto the mat and hunched over my hand.

Silence filled the room to its corners. I drew my knees to my chest and rested my brow against them.

“Paige.”

Arcturus had appeared in the doorway. My face was hot as a stove, beaded with sweat.

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