Chapter Twenty
CHAPTER TWENTY
Days slipped through her fingers as Sarai and Gaius scoured the homicidium archive, lying to the bewildered archivist about researching for a highly secret case of Kadra’s.
Jovian and Livia had been adept at tucking the letters into the gaps in the spines, secured with a dab of bone glue to prevent anyone else from finding them—not that anyone could have understood the language even if they did. Each contained a reference to the book in which the next could be found for the other person, with both Petitors taking great delight in confounding each other with the most obscure references.
Unable to read Urdish, Gaius relied on Sarai’s translations during the search.
“Next one’s the first floater.” He quoted from the letter she’d found and wryly held up the first records of murder by drowning in Edessa, a letter secreted in the spine. “Clever.”
Some letters contained records of daily amusements and commiserations on the job’s hardships. Those, she read with a pang at the picture they painted of their bright-eyed writers, who couldn’t have guessed that their words would be all that was left in a future they’d vanished from too soon. In the months before their deaths, the letters had grown bleaker, harder to find. She translated the newest one to Gaius .
My dear Jovian,
I think I saw something I shouldn’t have.
I know you’ve told me not to think of it ever since you Materialized it out of my head. But I was at Archive of Lands Sold and Purchased for a deed and happened to see the name of that insula on the same page. I only glanced at it. It was sold the week after the strike.
Jovian, the Metals Guildmaster bought it. Just like he did the other patch of land you spoke of after the strike. I wanted it to be a coincidence, so I looked at a plot that was struck months ago. He bought it too.
You needn’t worry. I won’t say anything. Will you distract me, though? Tell me what you’ve found, even if it’s about the STG (Elsar hold her soul). I’ll try to forget this.
Your frightened friend,
Livia
As always, Jovian had responded with the location of his answer.
Forget it all. More on the STG in pre-Tetrarch walls.
“STG?” Gaius frowned.
“Sidran Tower Girl.” Sarai folded the letter, placing it in chronological order to the others she’d found. “His answer might be in another archive. I can’t see anything on walls here.”
“I’ll check the Architectural Archive.” Gaius straightened with a groan.
She thumbed through their collection of letters in the interim. It was nowhere near enough. Helvus having bought land that had been devalued after a strike was helpful but wasn’t determinative proof of his scuta being faulty. If only I could get my hands on a scutum .
Sighing, she didn’t notice the figure at the edge of her vision until Cisuré tapped her shoulder. Sarai started. The other girl looked exhausted, eyes bloodshot and pale hair stringy.
“Are you alright?” Sarai asked worriedly.
“I should be asking you that,” Cisuré whispered. “I just heard about the Metals Guild’s bounty from Tetrarch Aelius. By the Elsar, this is everything I feared.”
Sarai shifted so the other girl could sit beside her. “Don’t panic just yet. This’ll all be sorted out at trial. I’m handling it.”
“Like you handled Tullus at Helvus’s? Do you know how difficult it was for me to see that?”
Sarai voiced the question she’d pondered for nights afterward. “Why didn’t you or Aelius do anything?”
“ Tetrarch Aelius. And how could we? After what you pulled …”
The pit in her stomach yawned, swallowing the rest of Cisuré’s response. If Tullus hadn’t stopped, would Cisuré have just stood there as Sarai had the life choked from her?
“We can still smooth this over,” the other girl said firmly. “Tetrarch Aelius hasn’t announced that there’s going to be a trial yet to give you time to rectify your mistake. I’ve spoken to him. Just retract these bizarre allegations, and this’ll blow over.”
Flummoxed, Sarai ran the entire rush of words once more through her head. “Retract?”
“What’s done is done. Admia killed a man, and she’ll pay for it. There’s no reason to have a separate trial on the basis of her accusations. Just let Helvus be put to rest.”
“Those aren’t just her accusations. They’re mine! I saw—”
“You were confused.” Steel lined Cisuré’s voice. “Helvus was dying, and you were exhausted. Admia believed what she wanted to believe, and you pulled it out.”
“Not you too! Please don’t act like I’m mad. I saw the exploded scutum outside her home! There was iron dust in the core! ”
“That doesn’t mean that Helvus did it on purpose or that every scutum is defective! The Guildsman manufacturing Admia’s must have made a mistake.”
“I Probed Helvus,” Sarai blurted. Cisuré stilled. “I had to know the truth.”
“I can’t hear this.” The other girl rose, her face bloodless with panic. “What have you done? You violated the head of a dying man !”
“None of it made sense to begin with! How can faith power a metal rod against a lightning strike?”
“How can other countries control ice or glass? Why do only certain magical abilities flow in our veins? Runes are the tongue our power speaks and responds to! And if it can call down lightning and mask scars, then who’s to say that they cannot tie us to the gods?”
“But I had a chance to learn the truth about those inner workings and save lives! That’s why I looked in Helvus’s head!”
“Enough!” Cisuré said shrilly, causing the archivist to stare. “The scuta have saved hundreds of thousands. Faith is believing without seeing. Some people just aren’t capable of that.” She stared at Sarai as if she’d never truly seen her. “As Petitors, our duty is to follow the law, not rewrite it. You’ve damaged our profession.”
Sarai’s nails cut into her palms to stop herself from screaming. “The law isn’t infallible, otherwise it wouldn’t require me to willfully ignore evidence because Helvus is rich!”
Cisuré gripped her shoulders. “Don’t you dare speak like Kadra. Anything he’s said, no matter how enticing, is a lie. This city is a hotbed of corruption because of him. You’re in the palm of a seasoned manipulator, and you don’t care!”
“Because my decisions aren’t based on him!” Sarai snapped and immediately wished she hadn’t when Cisuré’s face crumpled.
“You could be sent to the mines! Do you even have any physical proof that Helvus tampered with the scuta?” A tear rolled down Cisuré’s cheek at Sarai’s silence. “The harder you cling to this, the more it looks like you’ve something against Helvus, and that’s fodder for a calumnia charge on top of your abuse of power. Please just drop it. Pin everything on Admia’s delusions, and you’ll be safe. The public will believe anything about a madwoman.”
Anguish stuck in Sarai’s throat. She spoke past the lump. “They certo will.”
Cisuré flinched. “ Don’t draw that parallel. Admia is a criminal, and you were fourteen! Gods, why can’t you be rational? Why are you choosing him ?”
“I’m choosing myself!” She pulled free of Cisuré’s grip. “Every day, I choose that girl whom everyone failed. So why won’t you choose her?”
Sarai hunched forward, breathing hard. Several breaths later, Cisuré took her hands, their delicate structure standing out in stark relief against Sarai’s trembling fingers.
“I can’t tell you not to choose her,” Cisuré said quietly. “But you’re going about it the wrong way. Violating laws, accusing a dead man who can’t defend himself—that’s revenge, not justice, and it kills the soul. It’s why you’re always angry . Tetrarch Aelius says—”
Sarai’s jaw clenched. “I think I’d rather not hear what Aelius has to say.”
Cisuré closed her eyes. “I only want what’s best for you.” When she opened them, hard resolve filled the brown depths. “I won’t apologize for that.”
“I know.”
Discomfort lingered between them, seeping into every crevice of their silence. Spotting Gaius in conversation with another vigile outside, Sarai sighed.
“I need to head out. Thank you for looking out for me. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s tibi gratias ago .” Cisuré looked wan and fragile. “No commoner speak, remember?”
Hand on the door, Sarai forced a nod. “Of course.”
As she left, her smile vanished.
You’re in the palm of a seasoned manipulator, and you don’t care . Cisuré’s accusation haunted Sarai for days. The manipulator in question continued to hold court without her while she and Gaius scoured the Hall of Records for the rest of Jovian’s and Livia’s letters to no avail.
They’d practically ransacked every archive pertaining to architecture, limestone, and old palaces to determine what Jovian had meant by “pre-Tetrarch walls” and found nothing. The two had either taken great pains to hide their last ones before death, or destroyed them, in which case Sarai was doomed.
Worse, the coming Month of Flowers was notorious for stormfall during the transition between winter and summer. If she’d had even a fraction of a chance to obtain a scutum, it was gone now.
Two weeks from trial, she gave up on the Hall of Records and marched all the way to Sidran Tower before she could change her mind. Her Fall was the only lead she had left. A knot of fear formed in her stomach when the tower’s grim spire entered her vision. Gaius looked askance at her when she stopped.
“I hate to say this, Petitor Sarai, but you won’t find much. Many magi and students searched for clues afterward to no avail.” He followed her gaze to the tower’s uppermost balcony. “That girl fell from the worst possible place. Right onto cobblestone. Any other tower and she’d have lived.”
Clarity hit her with sudden, devastating force. Sarai turned to Gaius. “Say that again.”
“None of the other towers would have resulted in a fall that bad.”
Chills prickled at the back of her neck. “Why?”
“The balconies are largely too low. Most have grass below them.”
Gaius watched in bemusement as she paled and sank to the ground, pieces swimming in her head. Kadra ignoring the Petitor deaths, then suddenly investigating them after she became his Petitor. One. She ripped a flower from the ground. Kadra pronouncing that Jovian had fallen to his death. Two . Kadra looking unsurprised when she’d related seeing Helvus stage Jovian’s death at Sidran Tower. He’d known that there was nowhere else the Petitors could have been thrown from. Three . And he’d long known that the scuta were lightning rods. Her skin crawled .
Every second of their investigation, he’d been a step ahead.
“Petitor Sarai, are you going to pull out all the flowers, because I don’t think the agromagi maintaining them will be pleased,” Gaius said nervously.
She stared at her clenched fists, holding mounds of daisies.
She had to ask. She couldn’t keep spinning wheels in her head. “I need to talk to Kadra.”
“But we just—” Gaius stared at the sky, brow furrowed. “Petitor Sarai, get inside!”
A blinding flash illuminated their surroundings as a seething mass of steel-gray cloud rolled overhead. She and Gaius joined everyone racing pell-mell across the ground to squeeze into the closest instructional hall. Inside, she watched as lightning took the sky from sunset to day. Wind rattled the windows, and a few magi-in-training swallowed, eyes huge in their young faces.
An hour passed in desperate prayer to all the Elsar that there wasn’t a scutum in their vicinity. When the lightning finally dwindled and the rain pattered to a stop, there was a collective sigh of relief.
No one would have seen Jovian and the others die in a storm like that , she thought grimly. Helvus’s clients had known what they were doing.
Outside, Gaius fidgeted nervously until she finally asked him what was wrong.
“Could I return to the station?” he mumbled. “It’s just … my partner was on the city battlements today. Can you return on your own?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to deny it, but she understood his worry. “Of course. Go to them.”
Alone, she oriented herself toward Aoran Tower, selecting one of the westward paths and wishing she’d brought Caelum with her. She plodded along until hoofbeats sounded behind her. Moving off the path to give the rider room, she paused when the horse stopped.
“Petitor Sarai, what a surprise.”
Every one of her muscles locked in place. Inch by inch, she turned to meet Tullus’s smirk, and fear gripped her. This man was not here to talk .
Her throat worked. “Good evening, Tetrarch Tullus.”
“I see your shadow is absent.” He dismounted, eyes fixed on her chest. “Surely, Kadra knows it isn’t wise to leave you alone these days.”
SHIT . A glance around revealed only grass and a few trees, the air thick from the storm. Her breath came fast. They were alone.
“How can I help you?” she whispered, inching to the right, toward his horse.
“You could have two weeks ago.” Tullus tsked. “We even gave you time to withdraw everything. Yet, here we are, with a good businessman’s name ruined and a nuisance of a trial.”
Must get to his horse . “I thought—”
“The Tetrarchy does the thinking, Petitor Sarai, because commoners are incapable of thought .” He arched an eyebrow. “Two months and you’re wrapped tight around Kadra’s fingers. And probably his—”
“I’ve antagonized him at every turn.” Fire rose up her throat. “I agreed to spy on him for you.” And despite it all, Kadra hadn’t harmed a hair on her head. “I saw the exploded scutum—”
“Now that really won’t do.” Tullus had been circling her, radiating menace, but now he prowled closer. “You haven’t learned anything in the past two weeks, Sarai. It’s time you do.”
Her stomach curdled at the heated look on his lined face. And suddenly, everything tumbled into place.
Panic took over. She sprang toward Tullus’s horse, barely getting a foot in the stirrup before stubby fingers seized her braid and wrenched her off. She hit the rocky path, pain shooting through her.
Elsar save me , she thought just as his fist connected with her skull.
She opened her eyes to silence. Every bone ached. Memory surged back in a rush, and she shot to her feet only to find herself bound to a chair. It tipped with the force of her struggles, sending her crashing to the ground with a stifled scream. He’d gagged her.
Again , a buried part of her whispered .
She closed her eyes. Of course . It had been him four years ago too.
Fighting panic, she tried to make out her surroundings. A lit sconce vaguely illuminated the polished floor of a ballroom.
“Ah, she’s awake. Take that thing off her mouth,” a voice ordered. Cool, authoritative. Familiar . She’d been right.
She shrank back to no avail as he approached. Her chair was righted, the cloth around her mouth wrenched free.
“Of all people, I didn’t expect you to be involved in this,” she rasped. “Tetrarch Aelius.”
A chuckle sounded from the shadows before Aelius’s ivory robes came into clear view.
“Well done, Petitor Sarai. I did say you were bright.” He spread his hands. “This is quite unfortunate.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because you have no foresight.” He crouched before her with a rueful smile. “As a result, I’m going to have to oversee Admia’s trial instead of Kadra.”
“You can’t do that,” she said hoarsely. “The murder happened in Tetrarch Kadra’s Quarter. Only he and I can—”
“Do nothing.” Drawing a scroll from his robes, he snapped the seal and unrolled it before her. She recoiled at the first two words, every thought morphing into a sustained scream. Surely, she’d made a mistake. Had somehow inverted those precise letters into the wrong words like a child. But the longer she stared, the more every word solidified.
Arrest Warrant.
Sarai of Arsamea, Petitor to Tetrarch Drenevan bu Kadra, is hereby charged with calumnia for her malicious Probing of Helvus of Edessa. Her charges will be heard at the Aequitas along with her accusations of faulty scuta …
The world blurred as though she were looking at it from the bottom of a frozen pond, suffocating under ice and water and more terror than she’d known she could hold. Calumnia . A thousand lashes. A punishment no one could survive.
“You can’t say that you didn’t illegally Probe him. Twice at that. And you can’t say that it wasn’t out of malice.” Aelius genuinely looked disappointed. “The Metals Guild will testify against your claims of defects in the scuta. And you’ll be guilty of perjury too. At this point, the trial is a formality.”
“The scuta were a sham from the start, weren’t they?” she spat. “Faulty or not, they would never have worked, but Helvus wanted to buy up devalued land so he took things further. Did you three enjoy watching people buy up worthless steel and blame each other when they died? How dare you call yourselves godly—”
Tullus slammed a fist into her jaw. The chair fell, knocking her head so hard against the ground that she nearly passed out. Blood filled her mouth.
“Well, we’re the most powerful men in all Ur Dinyé.” Aelius cupped her cheek. Her flesh screamed at his touch. “If the gods gave a damn about you or those who’ve found out before you, they’d have struck me down. But they’ve only given me more . There’s nothing wrong with making coin, and I’ve brought them more devotees.” He considered her and chuckled. “You commoners all hate the wealthy, but fantasize of joining us. I gave you a chance to do so. You chose transgression. I’d normally give you over to Tullus to use you and kill you but …” He trailed off with a crooked smile when she began struggling at her bonds in a panic. “You’re in a rather favorable position, so let’s try this again.”
His thumb halted at her jugular, digging in.
“You’re going to search Kadra’s tower and bring me anything that I can frame him with,” Aelius said amiably. “Or I’ll file the warrant. You’ll be found guilty, whipped until your blood glues you to the post, and die a pariah.”
Her eyes were hot with fury. “If Cisuré knew who you really were—” Her words were lost in an onset of laughter as Aelius doubled over, clutching his thighs. Even Tullus chortled .
“My dear girl.” Aelius wiped a tear, tapping her cheek with the scroll. “Who do you think signed your warrant?”
Her heart stopped.
It shattered when he jabbed a finger at the signature beside his.
“Bless her, I think she believes she’s helping you.” He tutted. “Here’s how this will work. We’ll hear your silly little accusations in—how long did I give them, Tullus?”
“They’ve two more weeks.” The other Tetrarch leered.
“Splendid. At the trial, I’ll initiate a no-confidence vote to have Kadra unseated as Tetrarch. You will bring me everything in Aoran Tower to support this vote. Ruin Kadra, and I’ll destroy this warrant. Turn on us, and I’ll destroy you.” Aelius’s grin was all the more terrifying for its lack of malice. He truly thought he was being reasonable. “This is truly fortuitous. He’s given you all the rope to hang himself with by letting you in his home. Every Tetrarch and Petitor must be in unanimous agreement for a Tetrarch to be removed from office. And in two weeks, we will be, won’t we?”
I must have lived through this before . What choice had they given her then?
At her silence, Tullus moved in. Fire winked at his fingertips, wrenching her from her shock-induced haze as agony seared its way across her skin.
“I won’t—” She screamed when Tullus seized her throat in a grip of molten iron. Smoke rose from her clavicles.
“One word and you can walk away.” Aelius’s voice was whisper soft. “I don’t want to hurt you. Just give us Kadra.”
Her flesh sizzled. Blood ran down her neck, pain and terror blinding her to all thought. Her pulse battered against her eardrums.
“Yes! Yes!” she heard herself scream from far away.
Tullus tore his fingers from her skin, sending spots across her vision. He rubbed his fingertips, burnt shavings of her skin littering the floor.
“Excellent.” Aelius looked relieved. “Report to me through Cisuré. ”
When she found her voice again, it was a croak. “You can’t believe the gods condone this. You assaulted—”
“Ah, but I haven’t touched you, Petitor Sarai. Tullus got carried away, but that’s his peace to make with the gods.” He shot Tullus an irritated glance. “Arrange for a large donation to the Temple to atone, and toss her back outside.”
Tullus scratched a grizzled cheek. “The students might say something if they see her outside Sidran Tower.”
She was in Sidran Tower? Her eyes darted around the room until they found the outline of a balcony. The balcony . Darkness seeped across her sight like fog. She strained at her bonds, vaguely hearing Aelius ask Tullus what was wrong with her.
“Theatrics.” Tullus sounded bored. “Are you sure I can’t fuck her a little?”
“I said no.” Aelius crouched beside her. “We aren’t the villains here, Petitor Sarai. This wouldn’t have happened if you’d behaved. So, you see, this is really your own fault.”
She tumbled into unconsciousness with those words ringing in her ears.