Page 186 of The Bone Season

It took a while for his words to fully sink in.

‘No,’ I said in a whisper. ‘That isn’t possible.’

‘How many impossibilities have you seen in this city?’

‘I don’t believe you. Why would something like that have happened?’

‘I do not know.’ Warden set his goblet on the mantelpiece. ‘Can you feel this?’

A moment later, I did.

If you had offered me the world, I would not have been able to fully describe it – just as I could never explain how I breathed while I was sound asleep, or how my heart kept beating. I just knew he was calling me.

‘Great,’ I said. ‘First you steal my memories, and now you’ve put a spiritual leash on me. Just what I’ve always wanted.’

‘I do not intend to misuse it, Paige.’

‘So get rid of it. Sever it,’ I said hotly. ‘You’re the immortal. If you knew how to call me with it, you must be able to work out how to break it.’

‘A silver cord is broken only by death. I cannot imagine the golden cord is any different. As for how I knew how to call you, I am following my instincts.’

‘Why do I feel like you did this on purpose, to keep tabs on me?’

‘You are under no obligation to believe otherwise.’

I took a deep breath. As angry and unnerved as I was, I was too exhausted to argue with him. Kraz had left me shaken, and I wanted to be still.

‘So even if I left this place,’ I said, ‘you would be able to find me?’

‘I believe so. I knew you had gone to the House,’ Warden said. ‘Your fear was palpable. That must have been when you saw Thuban. I left at once. I knew exactly where you were in Tom Tower.’

‘Fuck.’ I pressed both hands to my face. ‘Why can’t I feel it that strongly?’

‘You are mortal. It may reveal itself to you more slowly than it did to me.’

‘Because you have the æther in your blood.’

‘Yes. It is called ectoplasm,’ he said. ‘Humans are fully corporeal; we are not. We exist within the æther, but also carry it in us. If your dreamscape is a glass float in the sea, mine is flooded with water.’ He paused. ‘I would release you from this binding if I could. I will seek counsel. For now, however, the cord exists.’

‘Better not tell Nashira. I’m sure she wouldn’t like you to be tethered to someone else.’

‘She and I have no affection for each other.’

‘You don’t say.’ I lifted my face. ‘Warden, why are you with her?’

Warden sat back in his wing chair. I thought he wouldn’t answer me.

‘Do you remember what Thuban called me,’ he finally said, ‘when I first took you to Port Meadow?’

I nodded. ‘I don’t know what it means.’

‘It is a cumbersome translation of a Gloss word, but Thuban was attempting to humiliate me – to sneer at my low standing, and my lack of choice in the matter of my union with Nashira.’

‘She forced you to be her consort.’

Warden gave a stiff nod.

‘I would tell you how it happened,’ he said, ‘but I would not burden you with my past.’

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