The Dawn Chorus

The Dawn Chorus: A Bone Season Novella is a novella following the third book of The Bone Season series, The Song Rising, by Samantha Shannon. It comes in the form of an ebook and was published on July 9, 2020.

Synopsis
An ebook exclusive which bridges the story between the previous and forthcoming installments of Samantha Shannon's international phenomenon series The Bone Season.

Paige Mahoney and Arcturus Mesarthim have arrived in the Scion Citadel of Paris. Exhausted by her efforts against Scion, Paige has no choice but to remain in hiding, away from the revolution she started, so she can heal and come to terms with her mental and physical scars.

In the confines of a safe house, Arcturus and Paige begin to reconnect after following separate paths for weeks. As they wait for contact from the mysterious Domino Programme – an espionage network operating in Scion – their present begins to mirror their past.

Plot
It is January 2060, and Paige and Warden are in the Scion Citadel of Paris, staying in a safe house provided for them by the Domino Programme so that Paige can try to recover physically and mentally from her torture in the Westminster Archon. She has learned that she was imprisoned in the Archon for twenty-three days. She knows she spent an entire week lashed to the waterboard and tortured by Suhail Chertan. She had only been able to wash once in the twenty-three days, just before her meeting with Jaxon. Paige is struggling to deal with the words Suhail told her, "That even Warden's standards aren't that low, and that he sees her for what she is, the damp rot of mortality." Because of Suhail's mental torture, Warden's very presence fills her with self-loathing, and she can't bear for him to touch her even though his touch brings her comfort. Warden is giving her Scimorphine for the pain, and since she can't handle being near water, even to drink it, Warden offers to set up an IV instead, which Paige agrees to.

Paige survived her time in the Archon by dividing her imprisonment into steps. She wonders if she can do the same with her healing. She asks Warden if he ever gave up on her, and he says that he didn't. He was willing to propose a hostage exchange, his life for Paige’s. Terebell and Maria forbade it. He might have done it anyway, but an alternative plan arose.

Paige is going through withdrawal from the drugs constantly injected into her. A specter has appeared in her dreamscape as well, a smoke, Rephaite-shaped reminder of her ordeal, staring out from the darkest circle of her mind. While battling with her body and mind, still unable to bear Warden's touch despite how badly she wants it, she realizes what Suhail has done through his mental torture. Nashira must have ordered him to keep invoking Warden, to chisel away Paige's ability to take solace in him, so that even if she escapes, it will always hurt to be in his presence.

As she recovers, Paige has flashbacks to her time in Sheol I. She relives moments in the month that led up to the revolt. Paige thinks about the last card in Liss' reading for her, the Eight of Swords. It represents her hopes and fears. She thinks perhaps her torture is represented by this card.

When Paige's withdrawal symptoms ease, Warden tells her that he knows what it is like to crave a drug, as he must take amaranth for the pain from his scars. He tells Paige that all he had to offer Nashira was obedience and his dignity. In exchange for those, Nashira gave him and the other Ranthen small doses of amaranth. Of course, she made certain to withhold them from time to time. This is the reason why he always had to kneel in front of her.

The pair learns that Scion means to invade Portugal and Spain in a plan called Operation Madrigal that will be announced to the public on January 12th.