Chapter 2. Now: Maris

Maris sits for her official portrait in Magistrate robes, resenting the public image that will replace her mother’s. Her uncle Nej, a scribe to the Consul, critiques the portrait to make Maris appear older and warns that suspicion over her mother’s suicide will shadow her first tribunal.

Maris recalls taking a low-profile noviceship under Priestess Ophelius to avoid political entanglements, a choice now tainted by Ophelius’s role in the rebellion. Nej reminds Maris she lacks allies in the Forum, though he vows to support her. Six days earlier, Maris discovered her mother dead by poison, triggering the old protocol that seated Maris in the Forum and set the portrait in motion.

From the villa, Maris surveys the city: the New Legion swells across the Sophanes River, their insignia of a haloed legionnaire visible on the Illyrium. The sight evokes Maris’s private grief for Luca, whom she once loved and has not seen since the war began. Nej coaches her conduct for the tribunal and the upcoming dinner with the Consul, urging visible loyalty to preserve influence.

Maris privately resolves to use the dinner to seek a peaceful transfer of power if the Citadel falls, a view she hides from Nej. As they speak, Nej freezes at the south window: three bodies hang from the bridge—more Magistrates caught fleeing through the Lower City. The bell tolls for the tribunal, confirming the forum’s dwindling ranks.

Nej gathers scrolls to bolster Maris’s appearance of competence. Shaken but determined, Maris accepts his guidance and leaves for the Forum, intent on surviving the tribunal and positioning herself to negotiate when the moment comes.