Chapter 33
Rafael told me he loved me this morning.
I held Rafael's hand as Rhadamanthys drove us through the narrow streets of Rome. He loved me. I still wasn't sure I deserved it, but I was done pretending I didn't want it.
The car stopped on a boring cobblestone street, and we got out, following the Judge. He adjusted his bolo tie and stepped onto the sidewalk. We walked the short distance to the Knights of Malta Square in silence, Rafael and I still hand in hand.
Tourists clustered around the famous keyhole in the green door, taking turns peering through to see St. Peter's Basilica framed perfectly in the distance.
They laughed and posed for photos, completely unaware that two men were about to descend into a labyrinth to fight a man who'd orchestrated our entire lives.
Rhadamanthys stopped at a different door set into the wall about twenty feet from where the tourists gathered. It was smaller, plain-looking. Exactly the kind of door the Pantheon would use.
Rafael's fingers tightened around mine, and Rhadamanthys pulled out a wrought-iron key and slid it into the lock. The door groaned on ancient hinges, and Rhadamanthys held it open for us.
The garden on the other side was breathtaking.
Green grass stretched out in front of us, bordered by ancient stone walls covered in ivy.
Orange trees grew in neat rows, their fruit bright against dark leaves.
The air smelled of citrus and rosemary. Sunlight filtered through the branches, dappling the ground in patterns that shifted when the breeze moved through.
Judge Aeacus stood at the end of the path beside a marble fountain. I recognized her from Luka's trial, though her hair was braided now and pulled back into a severe bun. She stepped forward, her black suit immaculate.
"I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it on time." She looked at Rafael and me, her gaze lingering on our joined hands and the eyepatch covering Rafael's ruined eye.
"We're here," Rafael said.
"And you understand the terms?" Aeacus asked. "Once you're bound and descend, there's no extraction. No rescue. Only one pair may exit the labyrinth, but it's entirely possible all four contestants may die. You'll find no easy victory here."
I swallowed the acid crawling up my throat. "We understand."
"Good." She turned and walked toward the far side of the garden where another door waited, this one built into the stone wall and covered in moss. "Follow me."
Aeacus stopped at the door and pulled it open. Stone steps led down into the cold darkness.
"The binding chamber is at the bottom," Aeacus said. "The chains are already prepared. Once they're locked, the door to the Labyrinth will open."
She started down the stairs without waiting for a response.
Rhadamanthys followed, his footsteps echoing off stone.
We descended into the dark with our hands still joined, leaving the sunlight and orange trees behind.
The stairs spiraled down and down, deep into the earth.
The air grew heavy with the scent of packed earth and stone.
Aeacus struck a light and held it to a torch. Her footsteps echoed as she carried the torch to an iron bracket and slid it into place.
The chamber at the bottom was circular and cold, with walls made of stone. Across the chamber, a heavy wooden door waited.
Aeacus moved to a wooden table in the center. Two short wooden clubs lay on the surface. Beside them sat two canteens and a folded map of the labyrinth.
She picked up a set of manacles connected by a chain. "Left ankle to right ankle."
My stomach dropped. The chains in her hands were roughly three feet long, enough to stay connected, but not enough to give us much freedom.
Rafael stepped forward and held out his right ankle.
I offered my left.
The brass cuff locked around my ankle with a metallic click. The chain between us clinked as Rafael shifted his weight, testing it. His jaw clenched.
Rhadamanthys handed us each a bludgeon. The wood was smooth and worn, as if it'd been handled thousands of times before.
Rafael tucked the map into his jacket pocket, and we each took a canteen.
Aeacus moved to the reinforced door and pulled a lever set into the wall. Metal groaned deep in the stone, and the iron bands on the door drew back.
The door swung open.
Cold air rushed past us, carrying the smell of earth and copper. The space beyond was pitch black, and every instinct I had screamed that I should turn around and run the other way.
"Constantine has already entered," Aeacus said. "You have until dawn. If you fail to find the exit and to defeat Judge Minos before then, the exit will be closed to you forever."
We moved toward the door. The ankle chain forced us into rhythm whether we wanted it or not. Then we stepped through, and the darkness swallowed us whole. The door groaned shut behind us, and the lock engaged with a final clink.
The darkness was absolute, pressing against me like a living thing, so thick it had weight. The silence was so oppressive that the only sound was my own breathing.
Constantine was somewhere in this maze with his eagle. That bird could probably see just fine in the dark. Meanwhile, we couldn't even read the map, which was the one advantage we had.
"Lorenzo." Rafael's grip tightened. "The rosary. Florica's rosary."
My brain stuttered. "What?"
"She showed me. There's a mechanism." Fabric rustled as Rafael dug into his pocket. "Hold on."
The mechanism clicked. I flinched back as flames shot out of the damn thing. Rafael's face appeared in the flickering light, his remaining eye reflecting the fire.
"Oh thank fuck," I breathed.
The light didn't reach far, maybe ten feet in any direction before the darkness swallowed it, but it was enough to see the tunnel stretching ahead of us, stone walls pressing close on either side.
Rafael held the rosary higher. The flame danced and sent shadows across the walls. "We need to move. This won't last forever."
"How long?"
"I don't know." His jaw clenched. "But we're not standing here in the dark waiting to find out."
I adjusted my grip on the bludgeon and looked at the chain connecting our ankles.
"Left foot first," Rafael said quietly. "Then right. Match my pace."
I nodded. Rafael took a step forward with his left foot. I followed, lifting my left. The chain went taut between us, then slack, then taut again as we found an awkward rhythm. My short legs meant I had to take longer strides to keep up. Within twenty steps, my thighs were already burning.
Rafael held the flame higher. "I love you," he said suddenly. "If I didn't say it clearly enough this morning. If we die down here, I need you to know that."
My throat closed. "I can't die today."
He frowned at me. "Why not?"
"Because this isn't my best suit. Everyone knows you wear your best to a funeral."
He chuckled, shook his head, and we moved on. The tunnel sloped downward, the walls narrowing until my shoulders nearly scraped stone on both sides. The air grew colder with each step. Our breath came out in white clouds that vanished in the rosary's light.
Then the tunnel opened up, and my breath caught.
We stood at the edge of an underground cavern so massive the ceiling stretched up into darkness that even the rosary flame couldn't touch. And below us, carved into the stone floor of the cavern, sprawled a labyrinth.
Walls of stone rose roughly ten feet high, stretching out in geometric patterns that hurt to look at. The pathways twisted and turned, doubling back on themselves, creating dead ends and loops that I struggled to track. The whole thing was easily the size of a football field. Maybe bigger.
"Fuck," I breathed.
Torches lined some of the walls at wide intervals, their flames barely pushing back the darkness. There was just enough light to see the nearest sections of the maze, but not enough to map the whole thing.
Rafael's fingers trembled as he pulled out the map. "Constantine's somewhere in there," Rafael said quietly. "With Caesar."
I scanned the maze. Caesar could fly, but he was chained to Constantine just like we were chained to each other. The eagle couldn't scout from above. We were all in the dark together.
"We need to move," I said. "Standing here makes us targets."
"Agreed." Rafael unfolded the map and held it close to the rosary flame, studying the parchment. "Left at the entrance. Then right. Then straight for fifty yards."
We started down the stone steps that led from our entrance to the maze floor. The ankle chain made the descent treacherous. Rafael moved first, testing each step, and I followed. My heart hammered against my ribs.
Once we entered that maze, there was no overview. No way to see what was coming. Just stone walls and darkness and the very real possibility that Constantine was waiting around the next corner with a bludgeon.
Or worse, Caesar.
We reached the maze floor and stepped through the archway together. The walls rose on either side, blocking out what little light the distant torches provided. The rosary flame was all we had now. It illuminated maybe six feet ahead, leaving everything beyond that in darkness.
Left foot. Right foot. The chain clinked between us with every step. Our breathing echoed off stone.
The first turn came up fast. Rafael paused, consulting the map in the dim light. "Left here."
We turned, but the new pathway looked identical to the first. Same stone walls. Same darkness. Same cold air that made my skin crawl.
The passage stretched ahead into shadows. Rafael moved faster now, his longer legs eating up distance. I had to jog to keep pace, and the chain kept going taut and yanking at my ankle. The brass cuff was already starting to chafe.
"Slow down," I said through gritted teeth.
"We need to put distance between us and the entrance," Rafael said. "Constantine knows we came in that way. He could be circling back."