“Good. I’m …” He raises a hand as if to apologise, then lets it fall again with a sigh. His calm demeanour recovered, though layered with world-weary hurt this time. He focuses on me again. “I take it your expedition to the ruins last night had something to do with helping Lanistia.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Miseram pacem vel bello bene mutari.” Eyes on me when he says it. The vague sense of tension, then a spark of relief in them after a lingering pause. “There were only three of us who knew that phrase. And I cannot imagine Caeror gave it to you.”
He has me there. No benefit to lying about it, anyway. Not when Veridius may actually know something that could help. “She remembered it after the Aurora Columnae.” Most of Caten has heard some version of what happened there by now—it’s still being thrown around as proof of how unchecked Military has become, no matter my own protests—so I don’t bother asking if Veridius is aware of the attack. “She kept repeating the same thing the iunctii were saying, after I ran the Labyrinth and was coming back out. When they were trying to kill me.”
“‘Complete the journey, warrior.’” Soft dread in Veridius’s voice. “She did the same thing seven years ago. Said the exact same rotting activation phrase you just tried. Though at leastshethought she knew what she was doing.”
It stops just short of a frustrated remonstrance. He knows I know it was reckless. He also knows that the alternative was my trusting him. It’s a shared blame.
“So that’s what happened to her?” When Veridius hesitates, I shake my head. “No lies, Veridius. No more secrets. Ulciscor and I have been doing everything we can to block it for months, but they’re about to put her in a Sapper. A gods-damnedSapper. I’ll go back to those ruins and try again if I have to.” I pour weight into the statement. “You say you want to repair what’s broken between us? You can start by explaining how she really got hurt. Otherwise we have nothing more to discuss.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“If you’re being honest about what’s at stake, then you won’t take that chance.”
He stares, then snorts a rueful laugh. “Gods’ graves. I liked you a lot better when you were afraid of me.” His smile fades when I don’t return his amusement. “Perhaps you are right, Vis. Men condemn what they do not understand. It could be that I have held these secrets too long and too tight. Yes, is the answer to your question. Lanistia’s injuries came about because she did exactly what you just did.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a way to access the iunctii guarding the Labyrinth. A kind of external control point, designed to temporarily shut them off. At least, that’s what we all believed based on our translations. What I still believe.” He exhales. Something draining from him at the admission. “That entire underground complex was built to circumvent the security around the Labyrinth. To allow someone to get out—like you did. But seven years ago, it was Caeror who went through during the Iudicium.”
Silence as Veridius pauses and I process. I’d wondered, of course. Guessed that Veridius’s obsession with the Labyrinth and his involvement with Caeror’s death were likely tied. “She was trying to save him.”
“Yes.”
“What went wrong?”
He lets out a regretful puff of air. “We didn’t fully understand it, back then. We still don’t. There is a reason we’re still analysing what’s down there.” He hesitates. Reluctant, but I think he’s accepted now that he needs to disclose everything if he wants my cooperation. “To work, it seems to exploit a sort of loophole. That device you activated is meant to add a iunctus to the Labyrinth defences, but there is a short period—a few days, maybe, at most—where if someone living initiates the process, they’re still in control of their own minds. They can influence the way things work, down there. But in doing that … eventually whoever does it is taken over, and their control is lost. They die. Become a iunctus themselves.”
A long pause. I feel sick as I put together the pieces. “Marcus.”
“A brave man. He was there for Belli, but you owe him your life.”
“And the message on my arm? Was that Marcus too?”
“No. We’ll get to that, but … no.” Veridius shakes his head slowly. “It’ssomething Belli already knew—there was a specific timing to all of it. That message saved you as surely as Marcus did.” His voice is distant. Gaze focused briefly inward.
“Wait. If Vis did the same thing as Marcus, why didn’t he end up the same way? Or like Lanistia?” It’s Aequa; she and Eidhin have been listening with mute, intense fascination. She glances at me. Cocks an eyebrow. “Glad you didn’t, obviously. Just wondering.”
“You said you pulled him off the device as soon as he started talking?” Aequa nods, looking faintly sick with memory. “You interrupted the process early enough. Marcus sacrificed himself so that we had the best chance of getting Belli out. And Lanistia …” He grimaces. “Lanistia was alone, when she activated it. For almost an hour.”
There’s something about the way he says it. Angry. Aching.
“Was she meant to be?” asks Eidhin.
Veridius looks across at him. Looks down again.
Silence, and for the first time since I have known him, the Principalis of the Academy has no words.
“Why did Caeror run the Labyrinth, Veridius?” Dreading the answer. So much has happened since I went through that nightmare, and yet everything seems to come back to this. “I went through that ‘gate’ down there and I knowsomethingis happening to me because of it. But why did Belli and Marcus give their lives for this? How in the rotting gods’ names will any of this stop anotherCataclysm?”
Veridius leans forward. Hesitates for a long second.
“Have you ever heard of the Concurrence?” he asks quietly.
XL
