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‘What?’

‘You had the choice of any of the Ascendant’s sublimes, you said– so how did you pick yours?’

‘I. . . I don’t know– I didn’t want them in the first place. You think I’ve fallen so low that I’d take to abusing children for my own pleasure?’

She may have had no eyes to roll, but somehow, she still managed to convey the sentiment. ‘Can you put your righteous indignation to one side for the moment? Your lack of intention did not stop you from accepting the Ascendant’s gift, did it? Sohowdid you choose, Cade?’

You’d think it would be hard for an eyeless woman to stare at you with such obvious irritation, willing your slow-witted, plodding pace to reach what should have been the glaringly obvious conclusion.

‘I chose the youngest,’ I realised suddenly. ‘I picked the most terrified-looking, the one I thought would come out the most damaged if anyone but Corrigan picked him. Lucien said his captains had to select two each, so I also chose Galass, the girl Fidick was clinging to, because I thought separating them would have made things worse for the kid.’

‘So,’ Hazidan said, starting to pace around me as if I were a piece of furniture, ‘despite your feeble attempts to rebel against your own instincts, turning mercenary, trafficking in Infernal magic to gain work as a petty wonderist, all so you can convince yourself that you’re beyond redemption, your actions remain entirely predictable. Continue.’

‘I’m not—Fine. So I brought Fidick and Galass to my tent, they witnessed me negotiating with Tenebris, and when I stormed off, the boy apparently repeated my ritual word for word, which, in retrospect, was a remarkable feat, given he’d nev—Oh, shit. The kid was a plant, wasn’t he?’

‘Given you’ve just described a terrified little boy performing a demoniac summoning ritual and getting it right on the first try, I’d say that’s a reasonable assumption.’ Hazidan smacked my head. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. ‘And stop swearing in my presence. Cursing is the lazy man’s wit.’

‘That’s sarcasm.’

She smacked me again. ‘Continue. You’re almost there.’

It’s an uncomfortable feeling, examining events in which you assumed you were in control of your own actions, only to realise you were a puppet blind to his own strings.

‘Okay. . . so either Ascendant Lucien—No, he was an idiot. It had to be one of the Lords Celestine themselves. So, one of them communes with a young sublime– one who just happens to have a natural affinity for Infernal magic– and teaches him how to focus his will. The ritual itself isn’t especially difficult, as long as one knows how to draw on one’s attunement to the Infernal plane. Torturing a diabolic using the spell-sand I’d left behind– well, that should have been really hard for an innocent eleven-year-old boy, but if a Lord Celestine was secretly whispering in his ear. . .’

The Auroral Voice. It’s more than a sound or a whisper. It’s asongthat infuses you with blissful serenity and theabsolutecertainty that you’re doing the right thing:the sure and certain knowledge that you arerighteous.

‘So Fidick forced Tenebris to make the deal for a hellborn conjuration and commanded it to rip Lucien to shreds. The murder gets pinned on me because Cousin Green, the kid who’d begged to become my apprentice when I joined the Ascendant’s crusade– also, apparently, in the pocket of the Celestines–tells the other wonderists it was my spell that did the deed. That forces Corrigan to save my life by killing the other wonderists.’

‘Such wonderful companions you choose to consort with,’ Hazidan said drily.

‘With my pardon now in more tatters than Lucien’s flesh, I had no choice but to take the first job that would get me away from the justiciars.’

‘A job you’d earlier refused, I assume?’ Hazidan asked.

‘Damned right. No details, no contact with the client, just a bunch of nonsense about needing seven wonderists, without even specifying what attunements were needed. . .’

‘Cade?’

A thought had just come to me: a terrible, awful, give-me-somebody-whose-neck-I-can-wring thought. If I’d been dizzy from all the twists and turns of this scheme before, now I felt sick to my stomach.

‘Galass,’ I said at last.

‘The girl?’ Hazidan asked. ‘The one you said was so protective of the boy?’

‘She loved him more than anything in the world.’ There was nothing else I could say.

How the hell was I going to explain to her that the second part of Fidick’s deal with Tenebris– the sacrifice of his own life in exchange for transforming her into someone who’d never again have to fear being abused by others– was nothing more than a devious scheme by the Lords Celestines to ensure they hadexactlythe right kinds of mages for the job they’d ambushed us into taking on?

‘Aurorals can’t actually imbue a Mortal with blood magic, can they?’ I asked hopefully.

‘You know they can’t,’ Hazidan replied tersely. ‘Only diabolics can awaken such an attunement, and only then in someone who already possesses the potential.’

Which meant Fidick had likely met her in the camps, not at whichever sublime abbey had raised them. He’d been ordered to play on her sympathies, cuddle up to her at night, doubtless calming his sobbing only when she held on to him. I’d lay good silver on him having suggested they pretend to be brother and sister so neither would feel so alone.

‘Whatever rebellion or war is brewing up north, the Lords Celestine are betting that a blood mage is going to make a difference to the winning side. That’s why they needed Galass.’

Hazidan placed her hands on my shoulders. ‘And you,’ she said. Her voice was oddly quiet, almost tender.