Page 43 of The Bone Season

I had to warn Jaxon. Whatever Nashira wanted with him, I couldn’t let her bring him here. How did she even know about him?

Scion was aware of the syndicate, of course. More than once, undercover Vigiles had been planted among us to root out the Unnatural Assembly. Though they had failed, Scion must be familiar with some aliases. The anchor might even have learned that the White Binder was behindOn the Merits, an open secret in underworld circles.

But if Nashira was interested in the syndicate, surely her key target should be Hector. Jaxon was just one mime-lord of many.

Jax, what have you done?

Julian raised his eyebrows when I returned. ‘What did you say to him?’

‘Nothing. Just shook him up a bit,’ I said. ‘Are you definitely not eating that bread?’

‘No. You want it?’

‘Seb will. I’ll leave it in his cell at Amaurotic House.’

‘So they lock up voyants in London, and amaurotics here.’ He handed me the bread. ‘You shouldn’t risk it, Paige. I’m sure they’ll feed him.’

‘They haven’t fed us,’ I pointed out. ‘Seb might not be able to visit the Rookery.’ I pocketed the toke. ‘I’m still knackered from the flux. I’ll come back tomorrow. Will I meet you here?’

‘I’ll be here.’ Julian glanced at his residence. ‘If I can get out.’

Amaurotic House was dark and quiet when I arrived. This time, I knew better than to try my luck with Graffias. Instead, I climbed straight up to the window.

Beyond the bars, the room was empty. There was no fireplace in there, no music. Just a single unmade bed and a wardrobe. Seb must have been sent to one of the residences.

The back of my neck prickled. Suddenly wanting to leave, I took the bread from my gilet and slotted it between the bars, hearing it drop to the floor. I lowered myself back down to the street.

Too late, I was sharply aware of the æther. I turned to see a pair of heavy-lidded eyes, cold and unforgiving, locked on mine.

AMONG GIANTS

Warden was standing very still – a statue in the shape of a man. Tonight he wore a black doublet with a high collar, its shoulders trimmed with gold. Its sleeves concealed the arm I had bandaged.

He gazed down at me with no expression. His eyes no longer glowed yellow, but electric blue. I grasped in vain for an explanation.

‘So,’ he said quietly, ‘you dress woundsandfeed the helpless. How quaint.’

Pure revulsion filled me, laced with fear. I considered running, but then I saw the other four Rephs, all with ironclad dreamscapes.

Graffias had stitched me up. These Rephs had waited for me here, to catch me in the act. When I took up a defensive stance, three of them chuckled. They laughed the way a raven talked – a mimicry of the real thing.

I should have sensed their dreamscapes coming. Tension and fatigue were grinding my guard down, along with my lack of life support.

Warden did not laugh. He looked at his fellow Rephs, then at me.

‘Terebell,’ he said, ‘go to the blood-sovereign. Inform her that we have found my tenant.’

Terebell considered me with steady golden eyes. Her dark hair was short and glossy, curving around her lean face like a hood. This was the Reph who had taken Tilda and Carl into Oriel.

‘It will be done,’ she said.

She strode ahead of the others, the darkness swallowing her whole.

‘You are some way from the residences,’ Warden said to me. ‘A white-jacket has no cause to venture beyond the lamplight.’

‘You told me to acquaint myself with the city,’ I said. ‘That’s what I was doing.’

‘Amaurotic House is out of bounds, as you are well aware. The Grey Keeper informed me of your attempt to bribe him,’ he said, confirming the obvious. ‘He also ordered you not to return.’

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