‘I know I didn’t tell you . . . the whole truth,’ he said. ‘But I meant what I said about Geryon. He’s the worst of the Readers. All the other old ones hate him, even more than they do each other.’

‘He took me in,’ Alice said. ‘He didn’t have to.’

‘If he did, then there’s something in it for him. And Ending is just as bad. You can’t trust either of them.’

‘Even if you’re right,’ Alice said, ‘which I don’t admit, what can I do?’

‘I don’t know.’ Isaac shook his head. ‘Be careful.’

This, Alice thought, was not the most helpful advice she had ever received. But she tried to take it in the spirit it was meant. ‘I will.’

‘All right.’ Isaac looked around. ‘I’d better go. I don’t know how much longer Siren’s power will last.’

Alice nodded, a little uncertainly. She felt like there was something else she ought to say, but she didn’t know how to say it, or even what it was.

Isaac took a step towards her, putting them nearly face-to-face. Alice’s fingers curled around the edges of the book, drawing it tighter against her side, and she fought her automatic urge to back away. Isaac’s face was a mess, scratched, bruised and smudged, but looked at up close she thought it wasn’t a bad face, all things considered.

‘Alice?’ he said, very quietly.

Her voice was barely a whisper. ‘Yes?’

He leaned in and kissed her. His lips were dry, and tasted of gritty stone and dust. Alice’s fingers curled so hard against the book that they ached, and after a moment or two she closed her eyes.

It seemed like an age before he pulled away. Her lips tingled, as though he’d passed along an electric charge.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, with a lopsided grin. ‘It’s part of the spell.’

Alice had a single moment to be furious before the music of the Siren rose all around her, a quiescent orchestra building to an unexpected crescendo. As her mind drifted away on that exquisite, all-encompassing melody, the last thing she felt were his hands on hers, gently tugging the book from her slackening fingers.

Chapter Twenty-eight: A Bit of Blackmail

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

A BIT OF BLACKMAIL

‘I think he’s still trying to figure out what happened,’ Ashes said. ‘And who to blame.’

‘Who can there be to blame besides himself?’ Alice said. ‘This may come as a shock to you,’ the cat drawled, ‘but while Geryon has many sterling qualities, accepting blame is not one of them. I think he would like to blame Mother, but he can’t quite figure out how.’

‘I just hope he doesn’t take it into his head to blame me,’ Alice said.