Chapter Twenty #2
I might have thought of it myself, only I imagined that the story in the Codex, the story that’s depicted in the temples and in every statue of Vayla, was figurative.
I didn’t think there would be a literal torch to be found.
Selara was founded over six hundred years ago.
How could a torch possibly burn for that long? Had it been rediscovered only recently?
Or perhaps it was made by someone, possibly one of Ronan’s more recent ancestors, to honor Vayla. Maybe they imbued it with their light magic, and it recognizes their bloodline.
Or maybe Taran is right, and it’s a Guild trap that we’ve fallen directly into.
“I’m not sure about the torch, but I think we should confront Cyrus directly,” I say, nodding to Taran. “We can see if he knows anything about it.” And find out what else he did to betray Ronan.
“Agreed. Taran, order your guards to bring all of House Horatio to me the second we’re back in the palace.”
“I’m expected on the battlefield, sir. Would you like me to ask Commander Elia to lead the sortie?”
“Dammit, I forgot the sortie. No, you go. I can handle it.”
“I’ll stay,” says Taran. His eyes flash to mine, and I understand his concern. He’s worried about how Cyrus will react to being confronted.
I’m worried about that too.
We wait in the library for House Horatio. Taran has swept the room, insisting on removing anything that could be used as a weapon, complaining all the while about not having this conversation somewhere more secure.
“House Horatio has served House Alta for generations,” Ronan explains.
“As much as I’d like to push him from a balcony if it’s true that he was helping Zara, I need to treat him with the courtesy his status affords him.
If you rule without mercy, you make a world without mercy.
And I don’t want to live in that world.”
“If he was working with Zara, there’s no telling what weapons he might have at his disposal,” says Taran, eyeing the torch I stole with suspicion through the open door.
We’ve placed it temporarily within a sconce on the wall just outside the room. Ronan and I didn’t want to be parted from it, but Taran was right that if it’s some kind of trap, we ought to have at least a doorway separating us from it.
Quinn enters first, wheeling up to Ronan and shooting back an annoyed glance at his guards. “What’s going on? Did something happen with the plan?”
Ronan shakes his head. “They left this morning, from what I’ve heard.
I’ll be on the wall tonight to see it in action.
” Ronan has invited me to join him on the walls of Faros tonight as well.
We should be able to see the fire Octavia, Vesper, and the shadow-born crew set if all goes according to plan.
“Then what? Is there news about the navy?”
Ronan’s lips press into a line. “Let’s wait until your father and brother arrive.”
Quinn withdraws from him hotly, her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “I don’t like this. You’re keeping something from me.” Then she turns to me.
I don’t want to anger her, but she must know that I’ll always support Ronan. “I can’t,” I say to her softly.
She sulks back into her chair and takes her place at the table.
In the end, she doesn’t have to wait long. Typhon and Cyrus arrive together, the nervous movements of their hands similar enough that I see the resemblance even though they don’t look much alike.
“Sit,” says Ronan, gesturing to the table. He wastes no time getting to the matter at hand. “Lord Cyrus, you deceived me about the destruction of the elixirs following the upheaval in the Alchemists’ Guild. Do you deny it?”
Cyrus shifts uncomfortably, spinning his golden wedding band nervously and lowering his eyes but keeping his usual detached tone of voice. “I did, sir. You have my deepest regrets. I only did what I thought was best for the crown.”
“And you met with Zara to discuss matters of Guild importance without my knowledge prior to her death. Do you deny it?”
“I—well, of course I did, sir. I’ve been the Grand Vizier for over a decade now, and I’ve managed the relationship with the Guild and the church for over twenty years.
I did not have quite as good of a relationship with the late Guild Mistress as I did with her predecessor, but I met with her on several occasions about a number of matters concerning the welfare of your kingdom. ”
Ronan steeples his fingers, considering. I think for a moment that he’s going to back away from the conversation, but then he makes the accusation. “And did you advise Zara to keep something hidden from me?”
Cyrus’s eyes lift and make contact with Ronan’s immediately. “Not from you. Did the new Guild Mistress find it then, sir? Did she threaten to contact one of the High Priests?”
I share a look with Ronan. What is he talking about? “What was it that you told her to hide?”
“The list, of course. Does she have it?” Cyrus’s voice rises from its usual disinterested cadence, his hands moving frantically. “I searched Zara’s journals, but I found no mention of our discussion, and the list I gave her wasn’t there.”
“Cyrus, explain yourself, and start at the beginning.”
Cyrus looks at his last remaining children, sensing the danger he’s in for the first time.
He turns and looks Ronan directly in the eye as he addresses him.
“Last year around the solstice, I brought to you concerns that the Guild Mistress was conducting research into unauthorized areas of alchemy. Sacrilegious areas.”
“And I told you that she was doing so at my direction in order to find alternatives to the phoenix cypress ash, although I wasn’t aware of any sacrilege. You were to order her to discontinue any research that could create issues with the church. Is that what you did?”
“No, sir, I did not. Not straight away.” He blanches under Ronan’s stare. “I intended to, but I decided to see if I could get her to divulge what she was working on. I posed as an ally to her to get more information.”
“Father!” Quinn groans. “If that’s true, why not tell Ronan as much?”
“I wanted her to believe I was on her side, and she believed Ronan to be a threat to her work. If Ronan took action against her, it would have given me away. And I’m not convinced that she was working alone.
I knew others at the Guild must have been involved in the research, and I suspected they’d continue it without her. ”
Or he was working against Ronan all along.
“What did she share with you? What did you tell her to keep hidden?”
“She told me about a book of apocrypha she’d come across during her travels before she joined the Guild, part of the Selaran Codex that was removed from all records.
She found it by chance while studying alchemy at an institute in Parthis.
No one there realized its significance, but she said that the book offered a unique perspective on the nature of magic that she thought made more sense than any of the religious or scientific texts she’d read.
She was convinced that understanding was critical to making further breakthroughs in the field of alchemy, and she brought it with her to the Guild to see if she could validate her understanding.
“This, of course, was sacrilege in Selara, and I told her as much. Just having the copy of the apocrypha put her in danger were any of the high-ranking members of the church to find out. I told her to keep it hidden, and I directed her to discontinue her research immediately.”
“Did you truly?” asks Ronan. “Or did you let her continue in hopes that she would find something? Did you hope that if she found an answer that would free us from our predicament, that I would be forced to accept it, no matter what the cost of obtaining that answer?”
“No, sir, I swear it.”
“Do not lie to me!” Ronan’s fist strikes the table.
“What have you done?” asks Quinn. “Father. Tell me you didn’t do this.”
“Father,” says Typhon quietly, shaking his head.
“I swear it! I should have come to you, I know that, but I thought I had it under control. You had enough to worry about with the Grand Festival, and frankly, sir, you don’t understand how the Guild works—”
“Do not tell me what I don’t understand. I’ll tell you what I don’t understand—how you could let someone act against me, act against the church, and sit by and let it happen. Zara nearly killed me. She nearly killed Sylvie, and you sit there and tell me you had it under control.”
“I swear, I believed her to have dropped the matter. I gave her a new direction for her research. Something in line with the Codex, something I’d found in my own research when trying to find a solution for the ash problem.
She told me she was pursuing it. I thought the matter was resolved.
Please, your majesty. She was the Guild Mistress.
A light-born, one of the few in existence.
I believed her to be good, like your family.
I truly had no idea what she was capable of. ”
Cyrus’s feelings have grown so desperate that I’m able to sense them, weakly, through my slowly recovering magic and my connection with Ronan.
They feel sincere—he certainly believes at least most of what he’s saying, especially the part about the goodness of light magic and House Alta, which is surprising given his general disdain for and underestimation of Ronan.
I believe there’s a part of him that took these actions, however ill-advised, out of a misplaced belief that he was keeping Ronan safe from himself.
“What did you give her?” asks Ronan, his voice gone cold and detached. “What direction?”