Page 205 of The Bone Season

‘Scion believes we are too powerful to destroy. That we have no weaknesses. You could prove them wrong,’ he said. ‘Nashira will try to kill you at the Bicentenary. There is one simple way to humiliate her.’ He placed the very tips of his fingers under my chin, lifting it. ‘Stop her.’

I searched his face. His eyes were dim, soft.

‘I just have to survive,’ I said. ‘I don’t have to defeat her. Just survive.’

‘Yes.’

Something in me was turning to steel.

‘Scion left me alive thirteen years ago, to bear witness. To spread fear,’ I said quietly. ‘I want to remind them that if you leave one spark aglow, it can still burn everything down.’ My face hardened. ‘Let’s give them a day to remember, like they did for us in Ireland. I’ll help you get your vengeance. You help me get mine.’

Warden held out a hand. I shook it, then watched as he clasped my fingers to his chest.

‘Our equivalent of a handshake,’ he said, by way of explanation. ‘In some circles.’

‘Suitably dramatic.’

‘You consider me dramatic.’

‘You own a gramophone, play the organ, and wear a cloak.’

‘Touché.’

He did have a heart. It beat against my palm, strong and steady, unchanging. Even through his doublet, I could feel his warmth.

‘We have plans to make,’ Warden said. ‘Will you join me?’

After a moment, I nodded. ‘I will.’

Magdalen had many rooms. One of them was the Old Kitchen, which Warden had walled up at some point in his many decades in Magdalen. Now it could be entered only through a bookshelf on hinges. He opened it for me and let me go ahead of him, into the room beyond.

Michael was already there. He warmed me a mug of creamy saloop, a popular winter drink in London.

‘Oh, I’ve missed this.’ I blew on it. ‘Thank you, Michael.’

Michael signed to Warden, looking pleased.

‘Yes,’ Warden said. ‘I am glad Paige is joining us, too.’

He sat on the other side of the oak table, as did Michael.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘We have two months to plan this. Are Faz and Gail in on it?’

‘They know a little.’ Warden clasped his hands on the table. ‘I made several mistakes during the last rebellion. You must not repeat them, Paige.’

‘Before we get into that, I need you to understand that I am not a strategist. I’m a career criminal. We don’t have battles in the syndicate – we have ambushes and occasional brawls. It’s not honourable.’

‘Honour did not help us last time. That is why I am engaging the services of a thief.’ Warden nodded to a map of Oxford. ‘We have several advantages that I did not have before, including the train. The celebration will also help disguise our movements.’

Michael cleared his throat and chimed in, with Warden observing him.

‘We will need to establish a route through the city, to Port Meadow,’ Warden said, for my sake. ‘Only a trusted few performers and amaurotics should know where we are going.’

‘I agree,’ I said. ‘Warden, I assume you spread word to all the humans last time.’

‘Yes. Naïvely, I believed they would keep the secret, since my intention was to help them.’

‘We can’t do that again. Among the performers, I trust Liss and Julian,’ I said. ‘You could lead the amaurotics, Michael.’ He shook his head at once, cutting a hand across his throat. ‘Who, then – Faz?’

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