Page 174 of The Dark Mirror

Scarlett Burnish was the one who had given him the dissimulator. She hadn’t been able to get word out, so Command had still ordered me to assassinate him, not knowing he had been recruited. Not knowing he possessed an item of such value, he could exchange it for anything. Now my gaze was fixed on him, and he was looking back at me, his smile growing as the truth sank into my bones.

Jaxon Hall, the Lepidopterist.

He was the one who had coerced Cordier into abducting me, forcing her to betray Arcturus to Scion.

But I didn’t know why.

I couldn’t work it out.

Nick touched my elbow. ‘Paige?’

I must have turned white. If my gift had been working, Jaxon would already be dead. Instead, my spirit was straining against the poison, only hurting me. A migraine bloomed, turning my stomach, and a thread of blood leaked from my nose. My lips parted, but I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t utter a word to explain the realisation I had just made.

Quick footsteps distracted us all. With a dull roar in my ears, I turned in my seat with the rest. A newcomer had walked into the grand chamber.

‘Ah,’ Jaxon said. ‘There you are, my dear. Just in time.’

Nick stood up. I stared, at an utter loss.

Since I had last seen her, she had cut her golden hair, so it hung in waves to her shoulders. She wore a long skirt with a collared blouse and polished boots.

A slash ran from the right corner of her mouth to her temple, shot through with a railroad of stitches, and she had a black eye. A shallower wound crossed the other side of her face, from the left side of her nose to her cheekbone. She wore red tint on her lips, like she always did.

‘Paige. Nick,’ Eliza Renton said, her voice a rough whisper. ‘You’re alive?’

She rushed across the chamber, and before I knew it, she was embracing me and Nick, one arm around each of us. Nick clutched her at once, while I was stiff as a mannequin.

‘I can’t believe it. You’re here.’ Eliza crushed us to her, in tears. ‘I missed you so much.’

‘Eliza,’ Nick breathed. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘You must be the interim Underqueen,’ Sala said. ‘There has been a development, as you can see.’

‘A development?’ Her gaze snapped to the table, landing on Jaxon. ‘You said Paige was gone.’

‘Apparently not. The Pale Dreamer cheats death yet again.’ Jaxon rose. ‘What a portentous reunion. Four of the Seven Seals, reunited in Italy. Are we not fated to be together?’

‘You called me here. You told me—’

‘Eliza.’ I finally managed to speak. ‘What do you mean, he called you here?’

She drew back, so I could see the fear dawning on her face.

‘Paige, I’m so sorry. I thought—’ Her throat bobbed. ‘We thought you died in the airstrikes.’

‘Eliza is here to formally offer me the position of Underlord, as agreed with the Council of Kassandra.’ Jaxon paced towards us. ‘After all, you were missing in action.’

Nick held me against him. ‘Jax, what have you done?’

‘Wait a minute.’ Maria shot up. ‘This is a coup. That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it, Binder?’

Even as she said it, I understood, the last few coins hitting the bottom.

Jaxon had blackmailed Cordier into capturing me, all so he could usurp me. So he could not only defang me for good, butconvince everyone I was dead. So he could take back the citadel I had stolen from him.

I don’t remember exactly what happened in the moments that followed the realisation. All I knew is that I was suddenly on top of Jaxon, pounding him with both fists. The whole chamber erupted as Nick grasped my arms, trying to restrain me.

‘You evil bastard,’ I screamed at Jaxon. ‘You ripped us apart. You,you’rethe Devil—’

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