The Bone Season

She runs back to Magdalen, where Warden pulls her into his chamber and draws the curtains. He gives her clean clothes and instructs her to tend to a shallow cut on her cheek. She bathes and dons a clean tunic. When he returns, he reveals the political importance of the blood-heir, but she has left no evidence of the murder, so she is safe for the moment. She asks about the train, but Warden informs her that it only runs during a Bone Season, every 10 years. Further, he warns her not to try an escape on foot and says that she cannot survive the Emim alone. As further evidence that he is worthy of her trust, he pulls out her copy of Jax’s voyant classification system, On the Merits of Unnaturalness, which he has kept hidden from Nashira. He asks to probe her dreams once more in order to penetrate the barrier of a repressed memory, and she reluctantly agrees.

In a flashback, Jaxon’s voyants try to penetrate Zeke’s dreamscape, but his mind is unreadable. Jaxon orders Paige to break into Zeke’s dreamscape. She tries, but Nick soon shakes her from her trance, fearing that her efforts might seriously injure Zeke. They step outside for a break. When they stop at a rooftop garden, Nick asks her if she’s ever been in love. She is in love with Nick but does not admit it. Nick finally confesses that he’s in love with Zeke. Paige is shattered, and although she tries not to burden Nick with her love, he sees evidence of it in her evasive behavior and subtle hints. He tries to discuss it, but she climbs back down to the street and goes back to her father’s apartment. To forget her heartache, she goes to a dance club and meets a student named Reuben who takes her out back. They have sex, but it’s her first time, and the pain is crippling. She finally realizes that she has made a childish mistake, and that having sex with a stranger will not erase her love for Nick.

Paige awakens from her dream state, embarrassed by the memory that she has shared with Warden, but he understands her fear that “there is nothing to [her] beyond [her] gift” (372). Warden’s perceptiveness unnerves her, and she reminds herself that he is still her keeper. Warden then mentions another of her memories, one with “Blood. A great deal of it” (373), but Paige doesn’t know what he means. Warden hints that he may help her to escape, but when she questions his motives, he tells her the story of Aphrodite and Adonis, whose death blood—according to myth—infuses the red anemone flower with its distinctive color. He further suggests that there may be some truth in the myth. With that, he bids her to sleep. She wakes later to Nashira’s knock at the door and hides. Nashira enters, looking for her, and warns Warden that if there is a repeat of the prior rebellion, “I will not spare a single life. Not even yours” (376). She plans to consume Paige’s ability soon, but for his part, Warden can only play along with her goals.

Convinced that Warden is her ally, Paige decides to heed his advice. She leaves her chamber and finds Warden in a small chapel, playing an organ. He explains why Nashira fears her—she, Paige, is the “Pale Dreamer” who can marshal the power of the Syndicate to challenge Nashira’s power. He leads Paige to an abandoned building—a safe house where rebel leaders meet and organize. She passes through a narrow crawlspace and is met by Warden’s non-voyant servant, Michael. In an underground chamber, Warden urges Paige to use an antiquated but functioning computer to summon the Seven Seals, but Paige refuses to lure her former associates into danger. Warden then suggests that the night of the Bicentenary—to celebrate 200 years of Scion/Rephaim cooperation—will be the ideal time to begin a second uprising. They ultimately strike a deal: she will stay and organize the uprising and Warden will give Liss his last dose of amaranth to jolt her out of her catatonia. Later, Warden and Paige enter Liss’s tent. He gives her the amaranth and a new deck of cards, and the conduct a blood ritual to revitalize Liss’s aura. She awakens.