Page 223 of The Bone Season

The corner of a crate glanced off my brow. I hit the floor and lay on my side, stunned. A sharp twinge came first, then a deep throbbing.

Warden took his punishment without falling. He would not kneel again. Dizzy and bleeding, I tried to rise, but Nashira pinned me, her boot heavy between my shoulders. All I could do was strain uselessly as Situla and Thuban took it in turns to beat Warden, hard enough to kill a human. I felt each shattering blow through the cord.

‘Enough, for now,’ Nashira said. ‘Take him to the gallery and chain him. Let him watch his own concubine die before I deal his punishment.’

‘With pleasure, cousin.’ Thuban paused. ‘And the flower?’

‘It will be removed at the end of the masque. Draw no more attention to it.’

Situla and Thuban restrained Warden. His gaze caught mine, almost devoid of light. They had ripped off his livery collar, which now lay in separate gold links on the floor. Between them, they marched him away.

Nashira took her boot off me. I looked up at her, blood seeping down my face.

‘Your time in this city has come to an end,’ she said. ‘Tonight, you and I will end the masque.’

‘I know,’ I said. ‘I know about your fallen angels.’

‘It is no great secret. I suppose Arcturus told you,’ she said. ‘Now I think of it, perhaps he meant to save your life.’ She turned away. ‘You ought to rejoice, 40. A dreamwalker must long for the æther; now you will enter it for good. Not only that, but you will find purpose in death. Together, you and I will not just possess one man, but the world.’

‘And what about the syndicate?’

‘A gathering of vagabonds is no threat to the Republic of Scion.’

‘And yet,’ I said, ‘you’re fixated on the White Binder. And you never did manage to catch Antoinette Carter.’ I looked up at her with a smile. ‘You were right, Nashira. I am the Pale Dreamer – and I meant what I said, when you murdered Seb. Even if I can’t destroy you all myself, the Unnatural Assembly will.’

‘Oh, Pale Dreamer,’ Nashira said. ‘You are as naïve as all mortals. And as blind to your own nature.’ She brushed a drape aside. ‘Take her, Alsafi.’

Alsafi picked me up, grasping me under the arms. My tears mingled with the blood on my cheeks as he lowered a black bag over my head.

He walked me up a flight of hollow steps. I had left the red shoes behind in the trap room. Beneath the bag, my lips were tender, my cheeks feverish. The rest of me was turning cold again.

The bad people do when they hate other people for no good reason.Finn appeared out of the dark. Alsafi kept a firm grip on my arms.They put bags over their heads and ropes around their necks, to kill them. Even little girls, like you.

Finn had been amaurotic, like all my father’s relatives. He had still foreseen my fate.

Warden was gone. My only Reph ally, and I had let him get caught, just when I needed him most. The only way to save him now was to get one over on Nashira.

The bag came off my head. I was stage left, out of sight of the audience, watching the end of the masque. Ponsonby had just discovered the hoard of evidence in Buckingham Palace – the séance table, the knives, the portal to the pit of unnaturalness, or however the amaurotics understood the æther. Liss was already back on her silks, still in her bloody costume.

Terebell came to my other side. Grasping my shoulder, she lowered her head.

‘Where is Arcturus?’

‘They took him to the gallery,’ I said. ‘They … think he was trying to help me escape.’

‘Terebell and Pleione will assist him,’ Alsafi said. I stared up at him. ‘Distract her, 40.’

One, in particular, has a trusted position we do not want to risk.

‘Alsafi,’ I whispered. ‘You’re a scarred one?’

‘I was not captured the first time,’ Alsafi said. ‘I walk among our enemies unscathed, but always loyal.’ He nodded across the stage. ‘Behold the sign, dreamwalker. The amaranth now blooms on Earth. After all these centuries, the scales tip in our favour.’

I looked towards the piano, which the whisperer still played. The bell jar was slightly aglow. Blood dripped into my eye from my cut, keeping me from seeing clearly.

The Overseer fled the stage. His screams echoed around the Guildhall. The emissaries cheered and laughed as a group of performers chased him into the crowd, all wearing the anachronistic uniforms of Vigiles.

In their wake, Nashira took to the stage again. Terebell handed me the red shoes. I placed them on the floor and stepped back into them.

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