Page 169 of The Bone Season

There was no way I could tell him, not without my voice. I tried to draw his attention to my arm, where the tracker had been injected – surely he would understand – but he was too distracted by my other injury. Even with the knife in place, blood was leaking from my side.

Nick hated Scion. That was why he had been willing to stab me, beyond his loyalty to Jaxon. He had to know the truth, or no one out here ever would. I couldn’t slip away without telling him about the lost city. I had to give the performers a chance. I had to do this one thing for Liss.

My fingers were smeared with blood. I touched my damp side, then reached for the wall and traced the first three letters of its old name.

‘Oxford,’ Nick breathed. ‘They took you to Oxford?’

I let my hand fall.

‘It’s okay, Paige.’ He started to lift me into his arms. ‘I’m going to patch you up. I’ll fix this.’

A deep exhaustion was setting in, but I still tried to give him the warning. My fingers scratched at his back, and I kept up my faint, desperate sounds.

Nick was too afraid to hear. He turned west towards Canon Row, stopping dead before he could leave the colonnade. Gathering me to his chest with one arm, he pulled a pistol from his jacket and pointed it at something in front of him. A silhouette in the shape of a man.

‘There is a tracking device in her arm,’ a quiet voice said. ‘Scion is watching. If you take her back to Seven Dials, you will doom them all, Red Vision.’

‘How do you know me?’

‘There is no time to explain. The Vigiles will spare no pains to pursue you, but their priority is to detain Antoinette Carter. You are likely to avoid them if you leave now and make with all haste for Vauxhall.’

‘No.’ Nick had backed into a wall. ‘Paige—’

‘Give her to me, and I will see to it that she lives.’

Nick held me tighter, his breathing rough, a tight sob escaping him. I pressed my bloody hand to his chest, so I could feel his pounding heart. My hearing and vision were fading. I didn’t have long.

I don’t know exactly how long it took Nick Nygård to make his decision. Take me back to Seven Dials, risking the others’ lives, or hand me over to a stranger from Scion.

‘I’ll find you,’ Nick whispered. ‘Just live.’

He squeezed my elbow and pressed a firm kiss to my forehead, and then he was gone. I was enfolded by new arms, lifted towards eyes like candles.

‘I have you, Paige,’ Warden said softly.

That was the last thing I heard.

CONFESSIONS

Time fragmented into slivers of awareness, interspersed with darkness. Sometimes there were lights, and sometimes voices. I became aware of someone cutting my undershirt. I tried to push away the intrusive hands, but my body mutinied. Distantly, I recognised the smell of disinfectant.

When Jaxon sent Nick to answer an insult, he never aimed to kill. Even a light maiming went against his nature. Still, there was no good place to be stabbed, and Oxford had no hospital. I already knew my chances were slim.

When I woke for the first time, I was on a polished table, a fire to my right. I knew this chamber. I was laid out like a corpse in the Residence of the Suzerain, surrounded by Rephs. Thuban was there; so were Kraz and Alsafi. Nashira loomed on one side, Warden on the other, both speaking Gloss. Nashira glanced down at me, her eyes ablaze.

She was going to kill me now, before I bled to death, and I couldn’t lift a finger to stop her. My side and head were in too much pain. I stared up at Warden.

He held my gaze for a long moment. His jaw tightened, and he looked up to speak once more to Nashira. I watched her give him a small nod before I slipped away.

The next time I became aware of myself, that sinister gathering of Rephs seemed like a hallucination. All I knew was pain. My side was in agony, my upper arm on fire. I made a weak sound: half sob, half groan.

‘Paige.’

The voice came as if from underwater. I looked around, my vision dark and blurred.

‘Michael, bring the scimorphine.’ A gloved hand covered mine. ‘Hold on, Paige.’

I knew that touch. My fingers hooked between his knuckles. I felt the slow brush of his thumb on my cheek before I slipped back into sleep.

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