Page 40 of The Labyrinth and the Threaded Daughter

The golden veins pulsed around him, brightening to the point he could see laid at his feet: Taleon.

Taleon’s skeleton lay in the same position it had been in before, half slumped against the wall with his cloak in tatters and bones bleached pale against the dark stone. While the remains had not seemed to shift at all, Corin was sure this wasn’t the same path where he had originally seen his kin’s body.

Corin stopped, drawing Ariadne’s attention to him. In all the chaos that had brought him to her chamber again, he had forgotten all about his dead kin, and the thought settled heavy in his chest.

“That’s him,” Corin said softly. “Ta–”

“Yes,” she cut in before he could say the name.

“I didn’t… he’s been dead for a long time,” he muttered. His gaze shifted to her. “Right?”

She inclined her head, acknowledging it without ceremony.

“But I met him,” he insisted.

“You did.”

“When the chamber collapsed,” Corin went on, “I tried to go back for him. For… Bristle.” He frowned. “You stopped me.”

“I did.”

“Because you knew,” Corin pressed. “You knew he wouldn’t–” He stopped himself, unsure how to finish the thought.

“Yes, I knew.”

“That he wasn’t really there.”

“He was there, heir.” She turned to face him fully then, her expression gentle and sad.

Corin scoffed. “How could he? How could he be there with me but be long dead at the same time?”

She placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. “I cannot explain it fully. But it was why I was not worried when the chamber collapsed.”

Corin shook his head slowly. “I don’t understand how that works. You have to give me something more than that. How could he be there and not? How does that maze allow that to happen?”

Ariadne considered him for a moment, weighing how much truth the stone would tolerate. “The dead do not always leave cleanly,” she settled on. “Especially here. Some parts of a person linger—it may be a memory, a fear, or a habit. The psyche remembers what the body cannot finish.”

“That’s not an answer,” Corin bit back.

“It is an answer,” she argued. “It is the closest to the answer I can give you. It is just not one easy to swallow, heir.”

Corin looked back at Taleon’s remains, a heaviness settling in his chest. “It’s unsettling.”

Her voice softened. “I would say you get used to it.”

Corin shifted his gaze back to her.

“But I hope you never have to,” she finished.

The words struck deeper than he expected. Not because they explained anything, but because they carried something like care. Something he knew she couldn’t possibly feel for an heir.

“What about Bristle?” The words were out of his mouth before he could think of them. “Did he die? Or was that his psyche?”

“He is around,” she answered.

A breath of relief released from his chest. “Will I see him?”

She pursed her lips. “Perhaps. Though I do not believe he will be up for a journey for some time.”