You can restore her, Ahri.

‘You’re right,’ I say.

Under other circumstances, I might have laughed at the expression on Efrayl’s face in that moment. At his complete and utter surprise at being told he is right.

‘You cannot prevent death,’ I say. ‘But you will ensure that Sofika reaches Dimmamar.’

He frowns at me. ‘And then you will switch off the machine?’ he asks. ‘After Dimmamar?’

I can’t help but glance at her a moment, sleeping between us.

‘And then I’ll switch off the machine,’ I say.

He breathes a heavy sigh. ‘Good,’ he says.

I nod, and then unhook the holster at my hip and take out my pistol.

‘Here,’ I say.

Efrayl blinks, and shakes his head. ‘I do not carry arms,’ he says. ‘Call for Zoric, or Yumia.’

‘You know that I’m not going to do that.’

He shakes his head again. ‘You should tell them,’ he says. ‘They both care for her.’

His tone isn’t admonishing now, it’s just sorrowful. Part of me knows that he is right, too. About both things.

‘Not until the time is right,’ I say, and I hold out the pistol. ‘Take it.’

He hesitates. Like Zoric and Yumia, Efrayl’s life before this one ended with a bad choice. One that took everything from him. His home, his fine clothes. His status. But it changes nothing.

‘I won’t leave her unprotected,’ I tell him. ‘Not with the warp screaming all around us.’

Efrayl breathes out slowly, and then takes the gun from me.

‘What exactly do you think I am going to need to shoot?’ he asks, as he checks the pistol’s safety once, then twice.

‘Anyone who tries to get to her that isn’t me,’ I tell him.

Evangeline

EVANGELINE

The Unbroken Vow creaks and groans as if it is being twisted by great, invisible hands as Ashava and I patrol the spinal corridor. All of the arched viewports are shuttered to keep the madness of the warp from spilling in, so the only light comes from the stuttering overhead lumens and from the oil lamps carried by the few cherubim who still have the heart to fly. With the tremors and the strange, wending light taken together, it feels as though we are trapped inside some kind of paper game. A vast zoetrope.

‘Adelynn once told me that the warp exists to hate us,’ I say to Ashava. ‘She said that the devils don’t so much dwell in the warp as wait there, like caged animals.’

‘That travelling through the abyss is like willingly slipping through the bars and challenging the beasts in their own den,’ Ashava says, with a nod. ‘She told me something similar, once.’