Chapter 15. Now: Maris

Maris reaches Iola’s flat in the Lower City, briefly forgetting the last months of violence as she sees the woman who raised her. Iola warns Maris it’s unsafe for a Magistrate’s kin to be across the river and urges her to flee the city. Maris instead asks for help entering the Loyal Legion camp to see Centurion Matius (Luca), revealing she knows Iola works there.

Iola, alarmed for Zuri and herself, suspects Maris of endangering them but deduces Maris has been providing grain. Maris insists the time has come and then discovers Iola has a newborn daughter, Muriel, shifting Maris’s understanding of Iola’s priorities and confirming Iola had already been leaving Maris’s household before the Philosopher’s death.

Accepting the city may soon fall, Maris offers Iola a gold bracelet for the child’s future, but refuses to flee without Luca. After a tearful farewell, Maris departs; Iola follows to say she will get Maris into the camp, though Luca will not like it.

Before they can move, a New Legion legionnaire, distracted by a lover, notices Maris. Weighing exposure without a medallion against impossible escape, Maris runs. A chase erupts through alleys; arrows fly, bystanders shutter windows, and soldiers corner her. Lacking papers, she is seized, struck, and dragged through streets lined with tents and fires.

The patrol brings Maris toward the Illyrium, marked by the three faces of Phaedo. As they force her forward, Maris realizes they are taking her to Luca, the very man she sought, but not on her terms.