Page 30 of The Bone Season

I tilted my head. ‘Can you?’

Perhaps I could trust one person with the truth. Liss had been here for a long time. I needed her to tell me whether to hide or use my gift.

‘I can try.’ Her fingers drummed on the floor. ‘Your aura is red. That makes me think you’re an oracle – but I hear oracles have come here before, and Arcturus Mesarthim never took an interest.’

I saw the idea taking root in her mind.

‘You have to be something else. Something unprecedented. You have to be—’ The realisation dawned. ‘A dreamwalker.’

I nodded once more. Liss sank back as if her stomach was punctured.

‘Well,’ she said, ‘that solves it.’

‘What?’

‘Why he took you under his wing. Nashira must already suspect what you are. She wants you protected by her own consort.’

‘Why would she care?’

‘You won’t like this.’

I waited.

‘Did you notice that aura of hers?’ Liss asked. ‘She doesn’t just have one ability. She walks several different paths to the æther.’

‘I’ve never met a voyant with more than one gift.’

‘This place has its own rules.’ She pulled her knees up to her chin. ‘Nashira has five angels.’ (Another impossibility.) ‘This is just a theory, but we think they used to be voyants, and that she can use the gifts they had in life.’

‘Not even binders can do that.’

‘Exactly.’ Liss shot me a perturbed look. ‘If you want my advice, give no inkling of what you are. If she sees for sure … you’re done for, Paige.’

I kept my expression neutral. Three years in the syndicate had hardened me to danger, but here, I would have to keep my wits sharp.

‘I know how to hide what I am,’ I said. ‘I did it for eleven years.’

‘It’ll be harder here. They’ll test you to expose your gift. That’s what the tunics mean. Pink after your first test, red after the second.’

‘Did you fail yours?’

‘By choice. Now I answer to the Overseer.’

‘Who was your keeper?’

Liss breathed out through her nose, her jaw tight.

‘Gomeisa Sargas,’ she eventually said. ‘The other blood-sovereign.’

‘Was he at the oration?’

‘No. He lives in London now, but I imagine he’ll visit soon, to hear about the Bone Season. Nashira shares her power with him.’

‘Arcturus is her consort.’

‘Yes, but he’s not a Sargas. That’s whatblood-sovereignmeans,’ Liss said. ‘Only their family – their blood – can rule. Arcturus is from a smaller family. His conjugal title isblood-consort. Like a prince consort.’

‘But he’s also the Warden.’

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