XXXV

Jason and Nico land in Split posing as tourists and spot a winged man casually buying ice cream. He dissolves into wind, leading them toward Diocletian’s Palace. Jason airlifts Nico over the walls into the peristyle, where Nico recalls visiting as a child before the Lotus Hotel, revealing fragments of his past and discomfort with the city’s angry Roman dead.

They note the former temple to Jupiter and the emperor’s mausoleum, both converted by Christians, which fuels the unrest of local spirits. A rust-colored feather and a gust guide them underground. In the cellar, Jason hides a note for Reyna and, startled by a voice, accidentally decapitates a bust of Diocletian before the marble reassembles itself.

The winged man reveals himself as Favonius, the West Wind, cheerful and unthreatening, juggling a quoit and a basket of unripe fruit. He explains Diocletian’s sarcophagus is gone and that his master took the emperor’s scepter for safekeeping. When Jason fears Aeolus, Favonius clarifies his master is Eros—Cupid.

Favonius addresses Nico directly, implying he has watched Nico over the years and alluding to “the one you care for most” now in Tartarus, pressing on a secret Nico refuses to voice. Favonius recounts carrying Psyche from this very spot and says Diocletian built his palace here because of Cupid’s ancient court.

Favonius admits Cupid holds Diocletian’s scepter among his treasures. To obtain it, Nico must face the god of love. Though shaken, Nico agrees. Favonius spins his bronze hoop, and Jason and Nico dissolve into wind as he carries them to Cupid.