Page 218 of The Bone Season

‘Michael.’ I touched his shoulder. ‘Do you know how I can get into the trap room?’

He nodded and showed me the way. I disappeared beneath the stage.

The trap room was stacked high with storage crates, which must have been used to bring in the props. Some of the candlelight leaked from above. Otherwise, all was dark.

I stood in that gloom for a minute, catching my breath. The dress felt even tighter. Despite the cold, I had broken into a sweat again.

For once, I wanted to see Warden. I wanted his calm and familiar presence. I followed the golden cord.

Over the last two months, I had got better at using it. Sometimes I would feel a flicker of emotion I couldn’t explain, that didn’t feel like mine. Now I was racked by fear and uncertainty, and both of those belonged to me.

Warden waited in a corner of the trap, behind two layers of crimson drapes – grand theatre curtains hung all around, perhaps to be dusted. The masque continued above us, but the sound was muffled.

‘I assume we’re alone here,’ I said.

‘The performers may descend to collect their props, but there is no reason for them to come this far,’ he said. ‘Besides, I believe we are quite hidden.’

‘Why did you ask me here?’

‘To make you an offer.’ He met my gaze. ‘If you wish to leave now, I will escort you directly to Port Meadow. You need not face Nashira.’

‘Warden, I told you I wanted to do it. You’ve trained me for months.’

‘Not just for this. For you, so you might understand your own power.’

The light from his eyes made the shadows deeper. I faltered, unsure.

‘That power,’ he said, ‘is yours to wield as you wish. You are not obliged to use it. We can proceed to the train station and wait for the others. Say the word, and I will lead you past the Vigiles.’

It was tempting. If I confronted Nashira, I knew I was likely to die. I would not defeat her in single combat. I had thrown myself into training, but for all the work I had done with Warden, I had never managed to possess him.

And yet.

‘No,’ I said. ‘I want to do it.’

‘Are you certain?’

‘Yes. Are you certain you want to turn your back on your own kind?’

‘I do not see it that way. I am fighting on their behalf,’ Warden said, his face set. ‘We were not always tyrants, Paige. The Sargas have made us so, to consolidate their rule on Earth. I know we are better than cruelty and violence. We can share this world peacefully with humans.’

‘I hope you’re right.’ I lifted my chin. ‘Cathal Bell is out there.’

‘Yes.’

‘Then you understand why I need to stay. I will not leave while I can remind them of Dublin.’

‘If you die, so does the memory.’

‘No. Antoinette Carter is still alive. And you saw it,’ I said, my voice strained. ‘You saw the Dublin Incursion through me, so it can never be forgotten.’ As I spoke, warmth lined my eyes, but I held it back. ‘I have to do this, Warden. Whether or not I die is irrelevant.’

‘Not to me.’

Warden spoke quietly, as he always did, but those words reached a part of me I had never known was there. I grew very still, watching him.

‘I respect your decision,’ he said. ‘Whatever happens when you attack her, I will be there to help you, Paige.’

‘I should think so.’

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