Page 168 of The Bone Season

The electric shock came at once, searing like white heat under my skin. Screaming inside, I crawled back towards the zone, racked by spasms. My whole body was cold as ice, almost frozen by contact with the breacher. I managed to get back to my feet, my breath coming in clouds.

And then something else collided with me, grabbing me hard before I could fall.

When I saw Nick, I thought I was hallucinating. I stared up at my best friend – still disguised, so close I would have felt his breath on my face, if not for the mask.

Disbelief rooted me to the spot, turning into joy. I was tired, and the line was so close, yet so far away – but Nick was here. He had come for me.

He pulled me across the street. There were columns there, creating a small colonnade that led into the Underground. Thanks to whatever was now happening on Westminster Bridge, distracting both denizens and Vigiles, this colonnade was deserted. All the strength drained from my bones as Nick deposited me on the ground behind a column. His face was ashen, dark circles under his eyes.

He was going to be caught. I tried to tell him to run, to get away from me.

At least he had thrust me back into the containment zone. The pain from the tracker stopped, but another pain now grew in my body. A sticky warmth bloomed under my ribs. I had the distant thought that I probably shouldn’t have dropped my armour.

I never did say I was sensible.

‘Traitor,’ Nick said in a cold voice, the one he used on rival gangs. ‘I don’t know how you found us, but you failed tonight. We are the Seven Seals, and Scion will not take one more of us. Do you hear me?’

My lips strained against their binding.

He needed to run. The Vigiles would only be distracted for a sliver of time. Soon they would come to collect me, following the tracker.

‘The White Binder will not be accosted in his own citadel,’ Nick said. ‘Let this serve as your reminder never to cross him again, if you live.’

That was when I understood.

Nick had stabbed me.

Of course. All this was still a sort of syndicate business. I had brazenly attacked the White Binder, the mime-lord closest to Trafalgar Square. Such an insult could not go unanswered, even by an agent of Scion.

Nick let me go, leaving the blade where it was. He was going to abandon me. With the last strength I could summon, I nudged his dreamscape.

He stiffened at once. I watched the slow realisation on his face, a flicker of hope, and then denial. His fingertips hooked under the chin of the mask. It took some force to break the seal, to peel it off my face.

When he saw me, he dropped it, gathering me straight to his chest.

‘Paige—’

At once, he tried to staunch the bleeding, laying pressure on either side of the blade. Always a medic, even when he was a criminal. I reached for his arm, trying to hold on tight enough for him to know I was happy to see him.

Nick stared at me in absolute shock, tears lining his eyes. ‘Paige, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.’

I nodded, understanding.

‘We looked for you for weeks. Eliza searched half the North Bank, but—’ His words shook. ‘We thought they must have killed you. Jaxon almost gave up.’ He was turning white. ‘Paige, what have they done to you?’

The wound didn’t hurt too much. Perhaps the chill had numbed me through.

‘Sweetheart, look at me.’ Nick grasped my cheek. ‘Look at me, Paige!’

I was finding it difficult to look at anything. My eyelids were so heavy. At least I would die in London, with him. Better Nick than Nashira.

He stroked a curl from my brow, shaking his head. Looking at him, I wanted him to carry me to safety again, like he had once before, when I was cold and scared.

I wanted so badly to let him take me back to Seven Dials.

‘Paige, don’t you dare close your eyes,’ Nick said. ‘I’m getting you home. Do you hear me?’

All I could do was make the tiniest sound in my throat. A tear seeped into my hair.

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