Page 133 of The Bone Season

Julian put her down gently on the steps. Her face was already tinged with grey, her lips with shadow. She choked out heartbroken sobs, her red hands trembling. I cradled her to me. Her small body heaved.

‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered.

‘Paige,’ she sobbed out.

I stroked her tangled hair. She had been using those cards for at least a decade; they might even have belonged to her father. Without her favoured numen, she could no longer connect to the æther.

Liss was about to go into spirit shock.

The Rookery was ablaze. Kath stumbled from inside, soot and disbelief on her face. Behind her, Terebell and Graffias appeared. Graffias summoned a huge spool of spirits and sent them into the settlement, while Kath bore down on us, still with the knife in her hand.

‘None of that had to happen if you had just taken your fucking punishment,’ she said hoarsely to me. ‘Get up, 40. I’m not done with you.’

Julian took charge of Liss. I stood, facing Kath.

‘I know you’ve been here for a while,’ I said coldly, ‘but what happened to you in Scion that you would take that much pleasure in power?’

‘I put Liss out of her misery. What is the point of living like her, with no hope, no ambition, nothing?’ she burst out. ‘She’s – she’s pointless.’

Kath had barely finished speaking before her nose started to bleed, and her face purpled with an influx of pressure. When she touched her nose and saw the blood on her fingertips, she stared at me.

‘Say it again,’ I said quietly.

Her brow tightened. ‘What are you?’

Before I could show her, Warden arrived in a sweep of black cloak, followed by Gail and a breathless Jos. Gail ran straight for the fire, armed with an extinguisher. Warden saw me and strode towards us.

‘What has occurred here?’

My jaw shook. All my pressure was still locked on Kath.

‘Stand down,’ Warden said to me. ‘Temper your spirit.’

I drew a slow breath and managed to settle it, but I couldn’t unclench my fist.

Liss was starting to slump over. Julian wrapped her in his arms, cupping her lolling head to his chest. If the Rephs realised she was on the brink of spirit shock, they might see her as a lost cause and kill her.

‘Three red-jackets set fire to the Rookery,’ Julian said to Warden. ‘They wanted to punish Paige.’

‘For what?’

By now, a crowd of performers had gathered by the steps. Several red-jackets sprinted from Exeter and Balliol, straight into the burning Rookery.

‘Go on, Kath,’ I said, my voice dangerously soft. ‘Care to tell the Warden to his face why you ambushed his tenant?’

Kath was turning white to the roots of her hair, as if everything she had done was finally sinking in.

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘I will.’ I looked up at Warden. ‘Kath is of the opinion that you let me off lightly for missing the curfew in April. She thought she’d do your job for you and crop my ear for my offence.’

Warden looked at her. ‘Is this true?’

Kath swallowed.

Suhail Chertan now emerged from the Residence of Balliol, along with a hysterical Overseer. Kath suddenly went to her knees before Warden.

‘I ask your forgiveness, Warden,’ she said, trembling. ‘It wasn’t my place.’

‘Your keeper is Kraz Sargas, is it not?’

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