Chapter 25. Before: Luca

During the Fourth Feast, Luca keeps a three-day vigil as his uncle Kastor Matius nears death. The city remains tense after the tribunal’s unanimous vote to amend the dole, which sparked violence that killed seventeen, closed the bridges to the Lower City, and muzzled the Philosopher. Luca notes Magistrate Casperia’s unprecedented consolidation of the Forum’s factions and senses the gods’ favor slipping as harvests fail.

Receiving a stream of officials offering incense, Luca is repulsed by the Forum’s performance of grief for a man most despised. He and Vale, fresh from the training grounds, speak privately, sharing contempt for Kastor and the legacies they stand to inherit. Luca, increasingly certain the Forum’s structure serves only the Consul, abandons hope that taking seats will change anything.

When Maris Casperia arrives in a silver stola to lay laurel on the coals, she and Luca exchange wary condolences that double as acknowledgments of duty. Maris frames his future as protector of the Matius seat, and Luca echoes the fatalism of their roles. The tension of their separation resurfaces.

Before leaving, Maris discreetly presses a gold token bearing the Casperia crest into Luca’s palm—the key to her family’s private bath chambers. After she disappears into the smoke to pay respects to Kastor, Luca, stunned, pockets the still-warm coin and wonders if she has truly made up her mind, sensing their bond may not be over.