How much did Vance already know about me? My official record would give her a decent starting point. Jaxon might have told her things, if he had sunk that low. It was clear she knew at least a little about how my gift worked. And she knew I had a father.
‘One reason Vance is lethal is because she doesn’t underestimate her foes,’ Maria said. ‘I suspect we escaped today because she truly didn’t think we’d be mad enough to take the ice.’
‘So we outfoxed her with our stupidity,’ I said.
‘Exactly. But she’ll remember that you took that risk.’ She tapped her temple. ‘It goes into her mental database. The more she learns about you, the better she becomes at predicting you.’
This was making the other staff in the Archon seem feeble. Vance was a puppet with a brain, and that made her far more dangerous than Weaver, who did not think for himself.
‘What we need to work out now,’ I said, ‘is if she’s brought more than a few paratroopers with her. Are we taking on an army?’
Glym made a sceptical sound.
‘No. ScionIDE won’t come here,’ Maria said firmly. ‘This is the heart of the empire. Martial law has never been, and will never be, declared in London. They have to give an impression of peace in the capital, or the whole idea of empire will collapse from within.’
Nick shifted closer to me. ‘Then why is Vance here at all?’
‘To deal with Paige, most likely,’ Glym said. ‘The syndicate will go back to its old ways without her. It will no longer be a threat.’
It was true. The syndicate could survive if I was captured, but it might never again be the cradle of a revolution.
‘We need another lead.’ I rubbed my arms, which were peppered with goose bumps. ‘Nick, talk to Dani again. Glym, go to Paddington and establish the truth of the report – whether the fourth order really is detectable. We also need to prepare for whatever Vance is planning next, which means that all of the Unnatural Assembly have to be properly armed, for starters. Tom, I want you to negotiate a better agreement with the arms dealers.’
When I got up, Maria said, ‘And where exactly are you going?’
‘To make sure that Jack Hickathrift has evicted the remaining members of the Seven Seals.’ I buckled my jacket. ‘Best I prove to Terebell that I’m following some of her orders, if not all.’
‘Hildred Vance is on your trail, kid. You shouldn’t be wandering off.’
‘If I lie low, she’s already won. We might as well go to the Archon and bow to the Rephaim now.’ I stepped into my boots and laced them. ‘For the time being, we keep what happened at the warehouse between us. We’ll regroup with the others at the Mill tonight.’
I hadn’t been back to I-4 since the scrimmage. The thought of being close to Seven Dials, at the time, had been too painful.
The commanders wanted me to take bodyguards. I refused, but agreed to have Eliza with me. As we waited beneath a streetlamp for our rickshaw to arrive, hands bunched into our pockets to keep them out of the cold, Nick emerged from the safe house.
‘I want to come with you,’ he said.
‘I need you to liaise with Dani. We have to know if she can find out anything more about Senshield, even if it’s just—’
‘Paige,’ he said, his voice thick, ‘please.’
When I took a second look, I understood. There were crescents of shadow under his eyes.
‘I know why you want to do this,’ I said gentler, ‘but Vance is on to us, Nick. I need you focused.’
‘You think Zeke will make me lose focus.’ He shook his head. ‘Does that mean you’re not focused, either?’
It took me a moment to recognise what he was implying. What he had just implied in front of Eliza. When it sank in, my jaw hardened. Even Nick looked shocked at himself, but it was too late: it was clear from Eliza’s face that she had caught the scent of a secret.
I drifted to the corner of the street, my arms folded. I heard him say ‘give me a moment’ before he came after me.
‘Sweetheart,’ he said, ‘I’m sorry.’
‘No one else can know.’ I spoke quietly. ‘Nick, I trusted you when I told you about Warden. I need to be able to trust you, of all people. If I can’t—’
‘You can.’ He took one of my hands. ‘I’m sorry. I nearly lost you. I already lost Zeke. I just feel . . . I don’t know. Powerless.’ He sighed. ‘It’s not an excuse.’
Powerless was the right word for it. It was how I had felt in the river, and in the warehouse, knowing that Vance had played me right into her hands. I was a queen at the mercy of pawns.
The rickshaw appeared at the end of the street. Nick looked wretched. I had never argued with him, not once, and I didn’t want to start today. ‘It’s okay.’ I squeezed his hand. ‘Look, if Zeke’s there, I’ll be as kind as I can. And you know I’ll try my best to persuade him to join us.’
He hugged me close. ‘I know. Take this.’ He tucked a heat pack into my pocket. ‘I’ll talk to Dani now.’
I wrapped my hand around the heat pack as the rickshaw trundled away, but the cold was in my blood. Snow floated around us, catching in my eyelashes and the wispy curls around my temples.
‘Paige,’ Eliza said, ‘what did Nick mean, when he asked if it meant you weren’t focused, either?’ When I failed to conjure a suitable lie in time, she nudged me in the ribs. ‘You’d better not have slept with Hickathrift behind my back.’
‘I wouldn’t dare.’
Eliza smiled, but it didn’t quite touch her eyes. She knew I was keeping something close to my chest.
A blood-smeared sky greeted us in Covent Garden. Early morning shoppers were out in force, waiting around the stalls and outside shops for the post-Novembertide sales to begin. I smoothed my scarf over my face, watching for any hint of a military presence. I imagined the wind taking my scent right to Vance.
An alarm went off as we crossed a junction. Vigiles were wrestling a weeping augur away from an oxygen bar, cuffing her hands behind her back. We walked as quickly as possible without arousing suspicion, going in the same direction automatically. After all, we both knew where Jack Hickathrift would be. There was only one place the mime-lord of I-4 could reside if he expected to be taken seriously.
Seven Dials had been garlanded with red and white lights for Novembertide, which were being taken down. In mutual, wordless understanding, we walked past the entrance to the den, to the sundial pillar.
I laid a hand on the bone-pale stone. This had been the keystone of our chaotic world, the heart of the syndicate as we had once known it. I had stood before this pillar when Jaxon had made me his mollisher. Eliza circled it in the same way I was, as if to remind herself that it was real. Behind it, on a nearby building, a line of bleached graffiti was just about visible.
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