Page 27 of The Dark Mirror (The Bone Season #5)

27

CONSEQUENCES

ROME

21 October 2060

I woke in handcuffs. As I regained consciousness, my wrist seared, drawing a faint groan from me. It was swollen again, and every movement was excruciating. I didn’t need Nick to know it was bad.

The memories washed back. My knuckles were bruised and bloody, and my head spun. I must have been sedated.

Jaxon Hall had always meant to reclaim the crown I had snatched from his fingertips. He had plotted my disappearance, seizing the chance Scarlett Burnish had given him, knowing it would create a power vacuum in London. A power vacuum only he could fill.

He was the one who had taught me to be an opportunist. The boy from the gutter, leaving no pocket unpicked, no open window left untouched, no grudge buried. I had to applaud his commitment to vengeance.

The alysoplasm was still going strong. I couldn’t possess anyone to open the door, and my ankle was chained to the wall. For a long time, I lay on the floor, shivering. When the main door opened, a breeze ruffled my hair, and Jaxon was there, on the other side of the bars.

‘Good evening.’

I sat up. From the looks of him, I had fractured one of those perfect cheekbones, as well as split his lip.

‘You bastard,’ I rasped. ‘You’re the Lepidopterist.’

‘One of so many names,’ he said. ‘You really should have double-checked that I was dead.’

He sat on the flagstones, facing me in the dim torchlight.

‘I was tempted to order Eléonore Cordier to kill you,’ he said, ‘but after you knifed me in the back for the whole syndicate to see, I’m delighted I didn’t. A public humiliation is long overdue.’ He took out a cigar and lighter. ‘Call it a taste of your own medicine, Black Moth.’

‘Did you tell her to betray Arcturus?’

‘I told her to get him away from you. His influence on you was far too strong.’

‘What would you have done if I hadn’t given her the slip?’

‘She would have brought you to me at my convenience,’ Jaxon said, ‘and you would have been at my mercy, just where you are now. Exactly where I want you.’

‘Why?’

‘I told you, Paige. Your gift is a marvel,’ he said. ‘If you die, it evaporates. Better to mould my enemies, as the Suzerain does.’

‘How did you persuade Burnish to give you those files?’ I asked. ‘Alsafi was her ally, and he would never have let her trust you with them, after what you did in Oxford.’

‘Alsafi was gone. Burnish had limited time to act, and I was leaving for Versailles. She gave me an address in Paris, promising her sister would find a way to repay me.’

I forced myself to listen, because I had to understand.

‘As soon as Burnish gave me the files, I knew she was the one who had released you from the Archon,’ Jaxon said. ‘Before meeting Cordier, I observed her for a while, taking alysoplasm to ensure my anonymity. Though I never saw you, my suspicion grew that Cordier likely had. My suspicions were confirmed when I met her, and we struck a deal. In exchange for the information her sister had harvested, Cordier would remove you from Scion for seven months, creating a power vacuum in London, and then bring you to me.’

‘And what then?’

‘If you failed to cooperate, I could tip you over the edge, into oblivion. You soon would have forgotten about Arcturus Mesarthim. You would have been mine to remake,’ he said. ‘I might have taken inspiration from this other dreamwalker, and modelled you on him.’

His hold on me had been so powerful. Even now, I shrank from the idea that he could favour someone else; that he no longer thought I was special.

‘Fitzours sounds like precisely the sort of person we need. The person you have always lacked the spine and stomach to become,’ he went on. ‘He has embraced the whole of his gift, while you remain fearful of yours. You still have the stain of your amaurotic father on you.’

‘What, because I don’t want to use my gift to torture people?’

‘Because you are squeamish, Paige. Fitzours is using every advantage the ?ther granted him, and because of that commitment, he will always be the victor. And you wonder how I can believe Nashira will triumph.’ He drew on the cigar, and the end flared. ‘You two may be the keys to this conflict, but you refuse, as ever, to unlock the door.’

‘That’s my choice,’ I said coldly. ‘Tell me about Eliza.’

‘Eliza cut me off after the scrimmage,’ Jaxon said, ‘but she never changed the phone she had been using. After Versailles, I escaped to London, using a dissimulator from Scarlett Burnish. I was in London during the airstrikes, after which I asked Eliza if she was alive.’

That must have tested her resolve. She had always been most vulnerable to his manipulation.

‘She didn’t reply until a fortnight later,’ he said. ‘No one had seen or heard from you since the airstrikes, which troubled her enough to agree to a meeting. As a Scion denizen, she had no way of knowing about the red notice. I told her I would always help if she had need of me. I told her I was leaving Scion – Nashira had conveniently placed a kill order on my head – and how I might be contacted in an emergency.’

I clenched my jaw.

‘Eliza held out as interim Underqueen. My sweet Martyred Muse, wanting to prove that she could be strong,’ he said. ‘And then, on the third of October, some of your subjects tried to kill her, wanting to return to the old ways. They did not fear her gift, as they feared yours.’

‘Who did it?’ I asked. ‘Your loyalists?’

‘No idea,’ Jaxon said. (I didn’t believe it.) ‘Eliza had slowly come to accept that you were never coming back. When Cordier informed me that Nick might be dead, his sub-network exposed by a spy, I made sure to pass on the bad news. The attack was the last straw, proving that even the Ranthen could not protect Eliza. To renounce her position, she had to choose either me or another scrimmage.’

‘You or—’ I stopped. ‘The reservation clause.’

‘Very good,’ he said. ‘During the scrimmage, you won the Spiritus Club over by knowing your syndicate law. I read A Concise History of Clairvoyance again myself, searching for any obscure way to snare the Rose Crown. Lo and behold, I found that clause.’

‘If the leader of the syndicate dies or disappears, their mollisher supreme takes the Rose Crown,’ I said quietly. ‘But if they can’t bear the burden of leadership, they can pass it to the last fighter standing in the Rose Ring, other than the victor. That fighter was you.’

‘Yes.’

That clause was the only way to avoid a scrimmage, and a scrimmage would have been too dangerous for Eliza to contemplate. The Mime Order might have collapsed in one fell swoop.

‘I had informed Eliza of the reservation clause,’ Jaxon said. ‘I had also told her how to reach and cross the Fluke, and left her with an Italian phone. The Glym Lord assisted her in leaving Scion, taking the route I had prepared.’

Glym had never liked Jaxon, but he wouldn’t have wanted to risk another scrimmage, and he would have been worried about Eliza. She couldn’t have visited a hospital in Scion.

That had to be why Terebell had suddenly been recalled to London. The other Ranthen could have dealt with the attack itself, but Eliza vanishing into thin air would have left the Mime Order without any of its leaders.

And Eliza would never have told them she was going to the man who had betrayed them.

‘Two days ago, Eliza called me from the Alps, hurt and terrified,’ he said. ‘I persuaded Sala to bring her here, so she could offer me the Rose Crown.’

My heart pounded. With Eliza gone, no one in London had a right to the Rose Crown.

The entire underworld now hung in the balance.

‘Your escape was annoying,’ Jaxon admitted, ‘but I had already set the stage for your return. During your absence, I was chipping away at the Council of Kassandra, trying to convince them to support my bid to take London back. I had seeded an idea of you as an inexperienced and unstable leader, a reckless little puppet of the Rephaim, whose disappearance was a blessing in disguise. And by attacking me just now … you have made them wonder if I was right.’

My eyes closed. I should never have punched him, but I hadn’t been able to see past my rage.

‘So you’ve been dripping poison into their ears for months, all so I could be reshaped once you got me to Rome.’ I huffed. ‘It really would have been much easier to kill me.’

‘But not half as much fun.’ Jaxon blew out smoke. ‘Don’t judge Eliza too harshly. She truly believed there was no other way. In any case, she owes me far more than you understand.’

‘Try me.’

‘When you were in Oxford, you heard the rumours about me. The wicked traitor who betrayed the Ranthen to save his own skin … but there was another survivor of that Bone Season.’

‘The child?’

‘Yes, little Zero,’ he said. ‘She was only three. I should have left her behind, but I took pity on her. I saw in that nameless girl a shadow of the orphan I had been, abandoned by the world. And so I carried her away with me, saving her from the bloodbath.’

‘Eliza,’ I whispered. ‘Eliza was Zero?’

‘A young woman had stopped taking the contraceptive pill, hoping a pregnancy would move Scion to release her,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately for her, she was mistaken. Still, Nashira spared the newborn, to rear her as a perfect soldier. The Suzerain is never wasteful.’

My ears rang.

‘Eliza never knowingly lied to you,’ Jaxon said. ‘Once I had Seven Dials, I palmed her off to some courtiers in Soho, not caring to raise a child as my own. But I did keep her in my sights, in case she grew into someone worthwhile. When she was fifteen, she started using white and purple aster, trying to escape her distant memories of Oxford. I made sure a copy of On the Merits fell into her hands, and she asked me for a job.’

‘Does she know now?’

‘I told her in London,’ he said. ‘She was upset, of course. But you and Nick abandoned her; I never did. And Eliza fears nothing more than abandonment.’

Eliza had been in a terrible position. I had left her behind, and this was the consequence.

‘If it helps, she never told me where the Mime Order was hiding. I still have no idea,’ Jaxon said. ‘Don’t be too angry, Paige. Eliza loves you like a sister, as Nick does, but she is bound to me by more than blood. We survived the Bone Season together. We survived the Novembertide Rebellion. If not for me, Eliza Renton would be nothing but bones.’

‘Which would also have been because of you,’ I reminded him.

‘If not for my actions, neither of us would ever have escaped. I believe the Ranthen would have failed that year, and I needed to leave Oxford.’

‘Didn’t we all?’

All he did was take another drag, making the end of his cigar glow like a dying ember.

The Devil had me on the end of his chain. Perhaps this night was proof that I had never been able to avoid the third card in my reading. I was always meant to end up here.

But the Devil had not been the last card. Whatever it meant, this cell was not the end of my journey.

‘Sala needs me to defend her against Cade,’ I said. ‘So what happens now, Jax?’

‘Wait and see. Even for me, it’s a master stroke,’ he said. ‘Carter despises the Rephaim. Your weakness for the Ranthen is about to be your undoing.’ He showed me a small packet. ‘And look what I have to sweeten the deal. The precious files that Scarlett Burnish stole from the Archon. Entering the wrong access code will erase its contents.’

‘And only you know the code.’

‘Well done.’ He fastened it back into his pocket. ‘Even the amaurotics have their part to play.’

‘Cordier wanted to do right by her sister. It was cruel of you to manipulate her,’ I said. ‘Then again, I would expect no less of you.’

‘Whatever you think of me, I always work to protect you.’

‘How is this protecting me?’

‘Few places are safer than a prison.’ He patted his pocket. ‘I hold all the cards. And you have none.’

I swallowed past the drought in my throat, realising I hadn’t drunk a drop for hours.

Jaxon had covered his own tracks with ashes. Almost everyone in the grey market was dead, and only I had ever seen him in the Archon.

‘So you’re going to let the Council of Kassandra control London,’ I said. ‘You’re going to bow and scrape for them, like you did for Nashira, just so you can wear the Rose Crown.’

‘Oh, darling, you should know by now. I don’t think anyone is better than me.’ His gaze bored into mine. ‘I have wanted to rule London since I was a child. If I have to tell this sententious Council a few white lies to keep them out of my way, then so be it. Did you really think I would allow my own mollisher to sit on my throne for good, Pale Dreamer?’

‘I am not your creature any more. Whatever happens to me next, it was all worth it, to be rid of your grip on me.’ I looked him in the eye. ‘You’ll get yours, Jaxon Hall.’

‘Not before you. Best of luck.’

He left me, and I was alone in the dark again, knowing very well that I had been outflanked.

I lay in silence in my cell. The golden cord felt thinner when I took alysoplasm, but I could feel its stifled movements. Arcturus was checking on me. Stay away . I pushed those words along it. Don’t come here.

At some point, Maria was hurled into the next cell. I heard Ver?a protesting in furious Italian before the door slammed.

‘Fuck.’ Maria clutched her arm, panting. ‘That sinister old skeleton. He’s usurping you!’

‘I noticed,’ I said.

‘Apparently this Council of Kassandra thinks it should have the final say on who rules our syndicates. They’ve been trying to meddle in Scion voyants’ affairs for years,’ she gritted out. ‘Jaxon is even claiming he killed Hector for them. They want to plant their own approved puppets in our citadels, so they can take control once Scion is defeated. Now Carter says they need to question you, as if they have a lick of authority over an Underqueen.’

‘Why have they put you in here?’

‘Jaxon gave me one smirk too many. I tried to burn off his eyebrows, but they have three hydromancers. At least I ruined his waistcoat.’ Maria gripped the bars. ‘Does Warden know you’re here?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘but I don’t want him to come. Not when the Council clearly hates Rephs. What time is it?’

‘The middle of the night.’

‘Sala doesn’t have long before Cade arrives. She needs me, or she has no protection.’

‘Jaxon is claiming he can protect her, saying his boundlings can expel any intruders in her dreamscape. You can tell that Sala is a politician, switching loyalties every few hours. Well, fuck Beatrice Sala, fuck Binder and fuck the horses they rode in on. No matter how long you’ve been away, London is yours by right, and if they think they can take it—’

The door to the jailhouse opened. Rohan Mistry stepped into the corridor.

‘Underqueen.’ He was holding a set of keys. ‘Sorry about the sedation. The Council of Kassandra has summoned you.’

‘I’m going with her,’ Maria said.

‘Of course.’ Mistry unlocked our cells. ‘This is not a trial, and you are not under arrest.’

‘Then why is the Underqueen in handcuffs?’

‘For her own safety, and that of the Council.’

Three guards waited outside. I was escorted at gunpoint out of the Tullianum, back in to the Basilica Arcana. The cuffs were tight on my wrists, worsening the pain.

The Council of Kassandra had assembled again, or perhaps never left, but the table had been moved closer to the columns, leaving more of the floor clear. Jaxon was back in his seat with a glass of wine.

‘Paige—’

Nick stood in the corner, held back by guards, while Ver?a hovered beside him, looking uneasy. One of the guards took Maria to them, while I found myself being steered on to the marble sun. Eliza was nowhere to be seen.

Eliza Renton, the child from the Bone Season.

‘Underqueen,’ Carter said, pursing her thin lips. ‘I see you’ve calmed down.’

‘Not much else to do in a cell,’ I said.

She looked at me with a strange mix of pity and frustration. Her hair was in a sleek bun, her gold token hanging below her collar.

‘Underqueen,’ President Sala said, ‘for months, I have heard conflicting opinions about you and your reign in London. I want your help against Fitzours, but given your conduct just now, I see no choice but to call an emergency hearing, so the charges against you can be considered.’

‘What charges?’

‘We’ll come to that,’ Rohan Mistry said. ‘For now, I must inform you of the proceedings. The Council of Kassandra was founded as the first representative body for clairvoyants, but also as our first court of justice, where voyants may be judged by one another, not by amaurotics. We have claimed jurisdiction over all the clairvoyants of Europe.’

‘Bold of you,’ I said, ‘considering most of us have never heard of the Council.’

‘As part of our intended role as arbitrators of the voyant world,’ he went on, undeterred by my retort, ‘we mean to instal or support capable leaders in the syndicates of Scion, and remove those who fail to observe the Kassandran Code. After you became Underqueen, Jaxon had … concerns. He brought these concerns to us when he came here.’

‘Jaxon believes you have colluded with the Rephaim,’ Carter said. ‘He has asked us to support his endeavour to remove you as Underqueen, so he can take your place as Underlord.’

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh, earning a few alarmed looks.

‘And there was me thinking you hated panhandlers, Jax,’ I said.

Jaxon only smiled in that cold way of his. He was going to let this play out without saying a word.

‘We are reluctant to interfere with syndicate law,’ Mistry said, ‘but after your disappearance, we were prepared to support Jaxon. Now we find ourselves faced with two contenders for the Rose Crown. We have no choice but to decide which of you is the more capable.’

I should have known from the moment I saw Jaxon. The only reason he would ever come to the free world was for London.

‘The Rose Crown is mine,’ I said firmly. ‘President Sala, I’m sorry for losing my temper just now, but I realised Jaxon was the one who arranged my abduction from Paris, to keep me from my throne. He manipulated a spy into holding me hostage for months, promising her the data from Burnish in return.’

Sala frowned. ‘Do you have any evidence of this, Underqueen?’

‘None but my word,’ I said, ‘but words are all that anyone seems to have against me.’

Jaxon sipped his wine, watching me with a smile in his eyes. He had his claws in all of them.

‘Paige,’ Sala said, ‘I hoped Jaxon was mistaken about you, or that his claims were rooted in anger. I wanted you to help me set a trap for Fitzours. But before I can take any chances, I need to know that you will be able to comport yourself with dignity, and that you are a voyant whose actions and values correspond with the Kassandran Code.’

‘None of us knew anything about your laws,’ Maria burst out. ‘This is preposterous.’

‘No interruptions, please,’ Mistry said.

‘Oh, I do apologise. Are we Scion voyants too disorderly for you?’

‘One more word,’ Carter said sharply to her, ‘and you will be removed from the Forum.’

Maria clamped her mouth shut, but looked furious.

‘I remind you that this is only a hearing,’ Mistry said. ‘The Underqueen is not on trial.’

I wasn’t sure I believed him. The voice of Pantaléon Waite came back to me from Paris, when I had accused him of trafficking. What is this – a court of piepowders, to try us on the spur of the moment?

I really was about to get a dose of my own medicine.

‘While the finer points of the Kassandran Code are still being debated,’ Mistry continued, adjusting his spectacles, ‘we have set out four central tenets, which all trustworthy voyants are presumed to follow by instinct, even without knowledge of the Council. First, do not defy the ?ther. Do not seek the acceptance of amaurotics at your fellow voyants’ expense. Do not assist Scion. And do not succour the Rephaim.’

‘Well, I haven’t done any of those things,’ I said, ‘so you’ve no cause to hold me here.’

In truth, I had done two of those things, but the Council didn’t need to hear that from me.

‘Paige,’ Carter said, ‘we were willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but we have evidence that you’ve put their interests above those of your fellow voyants of your own free will.’

‘What evidence?’

‘I’ll come to that.’

‘We don’t have time for this,’ Nick said hotly. ‘Fitzours could be here at any moment.’

‘No,’ Sala said. ‘He needs to know where I am. He will come to the Quirinale at the agreed time.’

‘I hope you’re right. If you insist on this charade, Paige should have witnesses to speak in her favour.’

‘If it comes to trial, she will,’ Mistry said. ‘Once again, this is only a hearing, Dr Nyg?rd.’

‘Paige Eva Mahoney,’ Carter said in steely tones, ‘you’ve taken a number of reckless actions that have resulted in serious casualties and setbacks for voyants in Scion. A few months ago, you met the Scuttling Queen of Manchester. Nerio Attard, her late father, had the full backing of the Council of Kassandra. His daughter succeeded him with our approval.’

‘Wait,’ Maria said. ‘Roberta knew about you?’

‘Yes,’ Carter said. ‘Paige Mahoney, thanks to your rash decision to release Catrin Attard from Spinningfields Prison, Roberta was killed, leaving Manchester in a state of chaos. You worked with Catrin to exploit her connection to the Vigiles.’

From the outside, I could see how bad this looked. In my desperation to destroy Senshield, I had cut a deal with a Vigile commandant and unleashed a violent mobster on Manchester.

‘I regret what happened in Manchester,’ I said. ‘You’re right to criticise my interference there. I was under a lot of pressure to deactivate Senshield, and I took a dangerous shortcut.’

‘Deactivate it?’ Carter said. ‘We hear Senshield improved because of you. Is that true?’

‘I didn’t know that would happen,’ I said. ‘I don’t even know why that happened—’

‘And yet there is a pattern forming, Paige.’

‘Are you accusing me of intentionally helping Scion?’

‘No. I am accusing you of recklessness.’

‘You have no right to judge the Underqueen,’ Maria fumed.

‘The Council of Kassandra is an arbitrator and enforcer of clairvoyant justice, as well as our rights. We choose our councillors and representatives through civilised and democratic means,’ Carter said loudly. ‘You voyants of London – the heart of Scion – have not been able to govern yourselves for many years. You’ve left us with no choice but to intervene.’

‘I was trying to change the syndicate. I was succeeding,’ I said. ‘If you’d given me more than a few months—’

‘We might have, had you not vanished off the face of the Earth. You abandoned the syndicate.’

‘Jaxon had me captured,’ I gritted out. ‘Can you not see what he’s doing?’

‘This is all beginning to sound quite farfetched, Paige.’

‘Then you don’t know the White Binder.’

‘No more of this,’ Nick said, his voice hushed and dangerous. ‘Take those handcuffs off Paige.’

Mistry rubbed the bridge of his nose. ‘Once again, please maintain your silence in the court.’

‘I see no court here. Paige doesn’t even have a lawyer.’

‘Oh, now we’re all concerned about legal procedure,’ Jaxon said. ‘I don’t recall Pantaléon Waite having a lawyer when the Underqueen turfed him out of Paris. In fact, I don’t seem to recall having representation when I was accused of running a trafficking ring, either.’

‘Again, this is not a trial, Dr Nyg?rd,’ Kafayat Ekundayo said from her place at the table. ‘We would all prefer to avoid that. At hearings, we expect voyants to represent themselves. I assure you that if it does come to a trial, I will represent her myself, if necessary.’

‘You’ve admitted to one charge,’ Carter said to me, ‘but there is an even more serious accusation – that you have aided the Rephaim, in direct contravention of the Kassandran Code. By your own admission, you exposed the entire London syndicate to the Ranthen, whose complicity in Scion we’ve all heard you excuse. These creatures not only misuse our auras, but have imprisoned our kind for two centuries, in Oxford and Versailles.’

‘I know,’ I said, incensed. ‘I was in Oxford, and I was the one who burned down Versailles!’

It was crucial that I stayed calm, after I had beaten Jaxon, but this was more than I could take. After everything I had survived, I wouldn’t stand for it.

‘Not just that, but you’ve apparently had an affair with one of them,’ Carter went on, her face tightening. ‘The consort of the Suzerain, no less. You serve this creature, not your subjects.’

The entire chamber seemed to ice over.

‘Do I, now?’ I kept hold of my composure. ‘And who told you this?’

‘A witness.’

‘Come out and say it to my face, Jax,’ I growled. All he did was sip his wine. ‘Carter, he’s taking you for a fool. He’s the one who serves a Reph. He serves the Suzerain.’

‘Do you have evidence of that claim, Underqueen?’

‘Not here, and he knows it, but it’s true. Does he have evidence against me?’

‘Yes, Paige. We have your phone.’

I almost reached for my pocket. My phone, containing exchanges between me and Arcturus. They had confiscated it.

Fuck.

‘You’ve been advising your Rephaite allies to feed on voyants,’ Carter said, heavy disapproval in her voice, while I groped for a reasonable explanation. ‘I truly didn’t believe it until I saw those messages for myself. Don’t tell us you weren’t communicating with one of them.’

I had always known Jaxon was clever, but this had to be his greatest work yet. A stroke of cold-blooded genius. He had taken every last thing I had done to hurt Scion and twisted it.

‘The Ranthen do no lasting harm to voyants’ auras,’ I said. A few outraged protests went up. ‘They have funded and protected us, and I will not apologise for my alliance with them.’

‘Paige, we need you,’ Sala said, while Carter shook her head. ‘We want you as an ally of the Council of Kassandra.’

‘But you must sever this relationship with the Ranthen,’ Carter said, her eyes flashing. ‘Paige, you must have survived Dublin by the skin of your teeth, and here you are, twenty years old, doing your best to help the founders of Scion. Do you not see how lost you are?’

‘You dare accuse Paige Mahoney of siding with the enemy,’ Maria said. ‘Who among you has lived in Scion?’

‘I have,’ Carter shot back. ‘And I’ve returned there many times, at significant risk to my own life.’

‘All right. Anyone else?’

Nobody answered. Mistry pressed his lips together, tapping his pen against his notes.

‘Paige has been forced to make some very difficult and painful decisions in the last few months,’ Maria went on, her cheeks a little flushed. ‘She is the reason that Senshield isn’t already installed across Scion, because she gave herself to the enemy to destroy it. Nick and I will not allow you to sit in judgement – you, who have never assisted the oppressed voyants of Scion, but looked down your noses at us from afar.’ Nick nodded. ‘We all agreed to her alliance with the Ranthen, which won us coin and cover to weather martial law.’

A lump was coming up in my throat.

‘If you accuse Paige Mahoney,’ Maria said, ‘you accuse us all.’ She turned to Sala. ‘Paige has offered to defend you from Fitzours, risking her own neck. If this is how you repay that gesture, we can leave you to rot. We’ll return to Scion, where we belong.’

Once again, the chamber was silent.

‘I am grateful that the Underqueen has offered to help,’ Sala eventually said. ‘Fortunately, we do have a quick and simple way for you to prove yourself, Paige.’

‘Bring it on,’ I said.

Sala nodded to a pair of guards, and they heaved the nearest doors open. When I saw the group of Italian soldiers, and what they were hauling behind them, I stiffened.

Two Rephs, bound with chains of iron, threaded with poppy anemones.

‘We understand these are the Rephaim you’ve worked closely alongside,’ Carter said, while the Rephs were shoved unceremoniously to the floor. ‘Which is your paramour, Paige?’

‘The taller one.’ Jaxon interlocked his fingers beneath his chin. ‘Good evening, Arcturus.’

Arcturus looked at him with burning eyes. He must have followed the cord as soon as I was sedated, only to run into a trap that Jaxon had prepared. Always two steps ahead of the game.

‘President Sala, these two Ranthen are about the most important you could have chosen to insult,’ I said, trying not to sound as shaken as I felt. ‘I urge you to release them now.’

‘If you want us to support your rule,’ Sala said, ‘then we must know where your loyalties lie, Underqueen. Choose one of these Rephaim to provide ectoplasm for my soldiers, and I will be assured of your allegiance to your own kind. You can defend me, as agreed.’

‘You will pay for this,’ Terebell said, addressing the chamber. ‘I am the sovereign-elect of the Ranthen.’

‘You are a parasite,’ one of the voyants sneered. ‘What are you without us?’

Terebell tensed. When she saw Jaxon, her eyes flared. ‘Why are you here, arch-traitor?’

‘How the mighty have fallen, Terebell,’ Jaxon drawled. ‘Did you know the windflower grows wild in Italy?’

‘Listen to him, all of you. How do you think Jaxon knows how to restrain Rephs, or their names?’ I demanded. ‘Because he knows as much about Rephs as I do, if not more!’

‘She just called him a traitor,’ Mistry pointed out.

‘Yes, because they’re not the Sargas, as I’m trying to—’

‘Time is short, Underqueen.’ Jaxon rose from his seat. ‘The leader of the Ranthen, or the Rephaite you love. Choose one of them to serve the Council of Kassandra. We’ll destroy the other.’

‘You are obliterating any chance of an alliance.’

‘We don’t need one with the Rephaim,’ Carter said. ‘We will use them, Paige. As they’ve used us.’

Jaxon pointed an air pistol at Arcturus. The guards blocked me, but somehow, even with the flowers, Terebell threw herself in front of him, taking the dart in her shoulder.

‘Terebell—’ I shoved towards her. ‘Jax, was that pollen?’

‘No.’ Jaxon lowered the gun. ‘Members of the Council, here is the proof of what I have told you all. The danger to which the Underqueen has exposed her subjects in London.’

Not pollen. The dart had been full of alysoplasm, and Arcturus was still weak. Terebell must have known his body might not be able to endure it.

She pulled out the dart, which rolled across the floor. Arcturus spoke to her in Gloss, his tone rough. Nick broke free of the guards. I did the same, and we met beside the Rephs.

‘What does she need?’

‘Salt and aura,’ I said. ‘But, Nick, it’s not what you—’

‘I know, Paige.’ His voice was too low for anyone else to hear. ‘They turn into Buzzers, don’t they?’

I nodded. I should have guessed that he would see it before anyone else.

Nick had faced a Buzzer before. As Terebell started to seize up, he sliced the top of her sleeve with his penknife, revealing the puncture.

‘I need my bag, now,’ I barked at the Council. ‘If you don’t want to end up as a pool of blood on the floor, just do it.’

One of the voyants got up and ran for the doors. Terebell held on to Arcturus, who was still talking to her in Gloss, trying to keep her grounded.

‘Hurry,’ I shouted after the voyant.

He returned with my bag. Working around the handcuffs, I opened my flask of salt water and soaked the wound. Terebell drank the rest. The light waxed back into her eyes. When I gave her a nod of encouragement, she latched on to my aura. I leaned into the pull, rather than resisting.

When the link broke, Terebell sank against Arcturus, racked by shudders. He clasped her to his chest.

‘So you knew,’ Carter finally said, breaking the silence. ‘Jaxon told us the Rephaim can become Buzzers – creatures that eat spirit and flesh. Once again, I had assumed that you were in the dark.’ Her brow crinkled. ‘This is very disappointing from an Irish woman, Paige.’

‘I love Ireland as much as you do.’ I stood, facing her. ‘I have fought Scion tooth and nail for well over a year. My alliance with the Ranthen was to bring them down.’

It stung to be at odds with her like this. Two of the few survivors of the Imbolc Massacre, and we had already come to blows. But I had not taken a stand against Scion to hide who I was, or what I believed to be right.

‘Well, Paige,’ Carter said, ‘you have shown your convictions. We must hold a vote as to whether this proceeds to a full trial. I did hope you would be an ally, to help us reclaim Ireland.’

‘I can be, Antoinette.’

‘That will be a collective decision. Erika, Rohan, please escort the Underqueen back to—’

‘Stop,’ Nick broke in. ‘Jaxon just shot Terebell, knowing full well what would happen. He gambled with all your lives. I can’t stop you judging Paige, but the White Binder is not fit to be Underlord.’ Jaxon gave him a look so cold it would have put a Reph to shame. ‘He colluded with the Rephaim that hunt us. And I can prove it. Paige can prove it.’

I met his gaze, realising.

In London, Arcturus had taught us how to share a memory with many voyants. The three of us – an oracle, an oneiromancer and a dreamwalker – could dovetail our gifts, allowing Nick to share my recollections of the Westminster Archon. The ones only I had ever seen.

Arcturus slowly looked up at me. I returned his gaze, a knot in my throat.

Once, I had made him swear to me that he would never look at those memories. They were to remain untouched in my dreamscape. I hadn’t wanted him to see my torture. I still didn’t.

But I had been as vulnerable with him as it was possible to be. I trusted that he would keep loving me, even if I let him into that dark room. I gave him a tiny nod of permission.

‘Arcturus is an oneiromancer. Paige can share her memories with him,’ Nick said, ‘and I can project them, so you can see.’

The Portuguese voyant spoke up: ‘Is this permissible?’

‘There is no precedent,’ Ekundayo said, leaning forward with clasped hands. ‘Show us, Dr Nyg?rd.’

‘I had no idea we allowed Rephaim to give evidence, Kafayat,’ Jaxon said.

‘The Underqueen has a right to defend herself,’ Mistry said. ‘If this is how she chooses to do it, so be it.’

I dug into my bag again, finding the vial of fortified ectoplasm. If the Council of Kassandra had decided to take me down, I would drag Jaxon Hall with me.

When I drank the ectoplasm, a few shocked murmurs broke out. The ?ther returned to me in a rush. At once, I sent my perception rippling outward, as far as it would go, making sure Cade was nowhere close. So far, I couldn’t sense him. He hadn’t arrived early.

Arcturus held out a hand. I looked down at him.

‘I ask your forgiveness,’ he said, too soft for anyone but me to hear. ‘For what I must do.’

My jaw tightened. I reached back as best I could with the cuffs, and he gently took hold of my good wrist, knowing I would need the comfort.

The Basilica Arcana faded away, replaced by the terrible darkness of the Westminster Archon. Arcturus knew where to look, because he knew exactly when I had been tortured, and for how long.

I closed my eyes, breaking into a cold sweat. He skimmed over the memories of me on the waterboard, tormented by Suhail. My knees buckled as he found the right point in time, when Jaxon had invited me to speak to him. When Jaxon had confessed it all – the grey market, his treachery in Oxford and his belief in Nashira Sargas.

Only the Sargas can regulate our insanity . I heard his voice as if through a thin wall. I fell wildly in love with her mind – her deep understanding of the ?ther, her hunger to comprehend it entirely. Arcturus tuned the memory, sharpening the words. I betrayed the Ranthen in order to survive …

Nick caught me. Fuelled by the ectoplasm, I dreamwalked into him. My golden and silver cords tied all three of us together, and Nick projected the memories at the Council.

The whole chamber watched as Jaxon appeared before them, dressed in the clothes of a Scion official, detailing his treachery in his own words. Arcturus had no salvia – the memory was blurred, our voices muffled – but I had been angry when this happened. They could all hear it well enough.

She wanted me to be her Grand Overseer, given my talent for spotting powerful voyants. I was allowed to leave Oxford, but only as a Scion employee … I needed wealth to achieve my dream of taking Seven Dials … I reported its mime-queen and her mollisher, who were detained within a day …

The whole conversation unfolded. I held on to Nick.

‘Go forward,’ I whispered to Arcturus, part of me still in the past. ‘Go to … half an hour ago.’

Arcturus didn’t typically use his gift like this, but this was his chance to get even with Jaxon, and he knew it. The three of us went rocketing forward in time, stopping in the Tullianum.

I had seeded an idea of you as an inexperienced and unstable leader, a reckless little puppet of the Rephaim, whose disappearance was a blessing in disguise. And by attacking me just now … you have made them wonder if I was right . This recent memory was even clearer, sharp and fresh. I have wanted to rule London since I was a child. If I have to tell this sententious Council a few white lies to keep them out of my way, then so be it …

At last, the vision faded, and the Council of Kassandra blinked.

‘Quite remarkable,’ one of them said. ‘The three of you can twine your gifts, as sibyls do.’

‘He sees the past, not the future.’ Mistry looked thoughtful. ‘An unprecedented gift.’

Nick held me close. I was shivering.

‘I hope you’re satisfied,’ he said bitterly. ‘That’s what Paige has done for London. What has Jaxon done?’

Mistry glanced towards the other two members of the Triumvirate. Carter and Sala both stood in grim silence.

‘We must deliberate on this,’ Mistry said. ‘Underqueen, we’d like to keep you in the Tullianum until we’ve discussed the events of this hearing. Erika, please make sure the Underqueen is comfortable.’ A sibyl nodded. ‘Jaxon, for the time being, you may not leave the Forum.’

Jaxon scoffed. ‘Do you really believe in these parlour tricks, Rohan?’

‘The Council is duty-bound to investigate any potential complicity with the Rephaim. You must understand that.’

‘Of course.’ Jaxon sat back. ‘After so many years of loyalty, I would hate for the Triumvirate to doubt my commitment now.’

‘Cade will be here soon. You’ll be grateful for a dreamwalker,’ I warned as the guards led me away. ‘You need my alliance with the Ranthen, President Sala. Don’t waste it on the Grand Overseer.’

‘So we’re all fucked,’ Maria concluded.

We did make a sorry picture. Terebell and Arcturus on one side of the jailhouse, me and Maria on the other, the bars dividing the humans from the Rephs. I had drunk some more alysoplasm, buying more time in the shadows, but removing my ability to escape.

‘So the Buzzers are you. The plot thickens,’ Maria said to the Rephs. ‘How long have you known, Paige?’

‘I found out in Paris,’ I said.

‘You would never have worked alongside us, had you learned the truth sooner,’ Terebell said. ‘Do you imagine it pleases us to carry this potential in our bodies?’

‘No.’ Maria lounged against the wall, one ankle crossed over the other. ‘I do find it a little rich that you sneer at humans and wear those prim gloves of yours, all while you can rot from the inside.’ She glanced at me. ‘It was brave of you to show us those memories, Paige.’

‘Thanks.’

My wrist was killing me. I grimaced, cradling it between my fingers.

‘Paige,’ Arcturus said. ‘What happened to your wrist?’

‘You know how Jaxon looked as if he’d run his face straight into a wall?’

‘I see.’ He considered. ‘You should have used your stronger hand.’

Maria snorted.

‘You’re the one who specialises in hindsight.’ I kneaded the hollow at the base of my thumb. ‘Maria, where did Eliza go?’

‘She’s still weak from the ambush. I think the shock of seeing you and Nick alive was overwhelming, since Jaxon convinced her you’d died,’ Maria said. ‘Nick is looking after her.’

‘Did she say who attacked her?’

‘The Winter Queen, the last surviving member of the grey market,’ Maria said. (The one I hadn’t been able to find.) ‘She assembled a group of voyants with a grudge against the Mime Order, including some of the disgraced Nightingales. Taygeta managed to get Eliza away.’

‘She was the child from the Novembertide Rebellion,’ I said. ‘That’s why she came for Jax.’

Arcturus narrowed his eyes. ‘Are you certain, Paige?’

‘No, but I believe Jaxon, on this occasion. I don’t see why he’d lie about that. She was desperate enough to turn to him, but while we’re all debating in Italy, London is vulnerable. No one there has a right to the Rose Crown. If we stay much longer, we lose the capital.’

‘As soon as I am free of this cell, I will return,’ Terebell said. ‘Pleione and Errai will come for us. I summoned them.’

‘Fine, but even then, you don’t have a right to the Rose Crown. The only people who do are me, Nick and Eliza,’ I said, ‘and Jaxon, thanks to the reservation clause. And we’re all here, hundreds of miles away.’

Just then, the door creaked open. A guard came in, and Maria was plucked from her cell, leaving me alone with the Rephs. Ver?a had probably convinced someone to let her out.

Arcturus caught my eye across the gap between our cells. I forced myself to meet and hold his gaze. He had skipped like a stone across the worst memories, but he must have glimpsed enough.

‘Paige,’ he said, ‘if you wish, I will take white aster. I do not know if its amnesic qualities will work on an oneiromancer, but I can try.’

‘No,’ I said softly. ‘I trust you with the memories.’

He nodded.

‘Nashira told the truth about the two of you,’ Terebell said. ‘Did she not?’

When I realised what she meant, I turned cold. I waited for Arcturus to contradict her.

‘You do not deny it,’ Terebell observed, when neither of us spoke. ‘I have suspected for some time. When we found Arcturus, I knew from the way you grieved, Underqueen.’

Arcturus watched her. Terebell looked at him, her expression as inscrutable as ever.

‘It is not only the folly of it,’ she said, ‘but the fact that you lied to me, Arcturus. It was before our eyes, and you thought us blind, insulting me as you desecrated your sarx. Errai and Pleione both shared my suspicions, but we had faith in your word. You are Ranthen.’

‘He would have told you,’ I said. ‘He was trying to protect the Mime Order. And me.’

‘I had reason to fear your wrath.’ Arcturus spoke in a low voice. ‘You know this, Terebell.’

I had no idea what he meant, but that was the least of my concerns. Terebell had been with Arcturus during the civil war. She was his closest friend, his sovereign, the person who understood him best. I didn’t want to be the cause of any discord between them.

‘You are very fortunate that I am in chains, dreamwalker,’ Terebell said, her eyes blazing.

‘Yes.’ I slid into the far corner of my cell. ‘I’m sure I am.’

‘I should have you spurned,’ she said to Arcturus, ‘for endangering our return to power.’ She must be using English for my sake, so I could grasp what a mess I had made. ‘We are finally convincing our former allies to return to us, and you risk our standing for a mortal.’

‘It is their doctrine, not ours,’ Arcturus said. ‘The Sargas do not rule us, Terebell. It is time we stepped away from their laws, as we did in Oxford. Regardless of my personal feelings for Paige, we are in open league with her. It ill behoves us to degrade our human allies.’

‘So we lower ourselves to their level?’

‘We raise them to ours,’ he said. ‘Paige is my equal. I see no reason not to take her as my partner.’

Terebell ignored him. Her face chilled me to the bone.

‘Do not insult me further by cowering,’ she said. ‘I will not kill you. In any case, Arcturus is right. I have thrown in my lot with you, and you with me, for better or worse. If I were to reveal what is between you, I would look a fool. But the two of you must end this.’

‘We already tried,’ I said. ‘It’s not happening, Terebell.’

Terebell slashed her gaze between us.

‘I will not pretend I understand it,’ she said. ‘I must inform some of the others. Pleione has never cared overmuch for doctrine, and Errai is too devoted to our cause to damage it. They will keep the secret. But if you cannot stop this, you will continue to conceal it. Your liking for their music is one thing, but this is too far, Arcturus. It is desecration.’

‘Terebell, think for yourself,’ I said, frustrated. ‘We first touched a year ago, and nothing has changed.’

‘The veils are thinning. How can you be certain your transgression is not the cause?’

‘Oh, come on. I don’t flatter myself by thinking that the entire universe hinges on my dating life.’

‘None of us can be certain,’ Arcturus said, giving me a look. ‘But we cannot live in fear of all things.’

Terebell didn’t reply. In fact, she acted as if he wasn’t there.

He spoke to her in Gloss. Wanting to give them some privacy, I turned my back and curled up on the floor, wondering if I would be given a bed. Somehow I doubted it.

After a long time, Terebell answered Arcturus. Their conversation lulled me, despite what they must be talking about. Gloss was becoming a balm to my spirit.

I must have slept. The two Rephs were dead silent in the other cell.

And then I woke, my body cold, a vision filling my sight to the edges.

Nick usually sent me static pictures, easy to fashion and project – but ever since I had joined the gang, he had been working on crafting more complex ones. At some point, he must have got the hang of it. This wasn’t a snapshot, but a living scene, unspooling as if it was taking place before my eyes. I was seeing exactly what Nick was seeing.

And what he was seeing was Cade.