Chapter 38. Now: Maris

Maris watches the New Legion’s camp across the Sophanes from her Tribunal chambers, fearing what Valshad’s arrival means. Donning her white Magistrate robe, she braces for execution, believing the Consul will end the war by killing her in the Forum.

Nej arrives, blood on his tunic—Ophelius’s—and coolly quotes civic piety while admitting enemies can be useful, implying collaboration with Valshad. He accuses Maris of sacrilege for Ophelius’s death and derides her wasted power. When Maris challenges him about her mother’s death, Nej implies he engineered Iola’s end. He threatens symmetry: the war began with a woman’s execution and will end with one, then orders the Magistrates to the Forum.

After Nej leaves, Maris destroys her own portrait, hearing the Tribunal mobilize. Screams rise from the streets as the New Legion crosses the bridge and begins methodically hunting magistrates inside the Hall, doors splintering and blades ending cries behind her door.

With seconds left, Maris throws her white robe and medallion into the night, renouncing Casperia and her rank. Faced with capture and hanging, she climbs onto the window ledge and lets herself fall toward the river, choosing the plunge over the New Legion’s purge.

As Maris drops, a blinding gold light gathers and wraps around her. She hits the water and survives, carried by the current until she grasps an iron grate. The glow persists beneath the surface, coalescing into a gilded, unfurled-wing cuff bonded to her arm. Maris understands: the gods intervened and saved her.