For a moment, I freeze in panic, despite standing in the middle of an inferno. Is it Brogi, coming to top off his reserves in the dead of night? My signal was too clever for its own good. I know there is trouble, but I do not know what I should do to avoid it. Have I been discovered? Should I leave now or remain hidden here until the danger has passed?

Breaking free of my paralysis, I slide to the side of the room, willing the fire around me to billow up, making it harder for anyone outside to see me where I cower. Slowly I inch along the wall, making my way to the glass door, hand hovering over the relic that controls the doors.

The bright light of the blaze I stand in makes it hard for my eyes to see out into the darkness. I cannot make out Anas or anyone else for that matter. My senses probe at his knife, but it has not moved. Damn me for being so careless! If I am discovered, it will only be my own fault.

For a few long moments, I watch but can make out no movement. At last, I can bear to wait no longer. Heart hammering in my chest, I press the panel, causing the glass doors to slide open. Moving quickly but confidently, I stride out into the training hall, stepping into the shadows.

My pulse thunders in my ears, drowning out all other sound. I hover by a pillar, scanning the darkness. There is no sign of another soul.

But Anas’s knife is still in the sand.

A solution comes to me at once. Unrelenting Fire leaps to my command as I redirect its essence within me and up to my eyes like I did in the garden. The agony boils inside me again, but I call upon a reluctant Iron to dull the pain and keep it manageable.

At once, my vision shifts, no longer relying on light and shadows but instead using heat. If anyone is here, the darkness will not hide them from me. I turn my back to the fire locus behind me that now burns like Sol itself. A pair of figures immediately reveal themselves to me, two pillars down.

I recognize burly Anas’s outline at once. He appears in various shades of red and orange where heat coalesces in his body. The former soldier is pressed up against the wall, held in place by a second figure who holds something cold to his neck that shows to my vision only in the negative.

Frowning, I sweep my animus over them again, feeling for a sense of Iron, but again, I find none. Which can mean only one thing. Anas’s assailant bears a tellus blade.

There is a Censor here.

Terror claws at me, exacerbated by my Fire Symbol’s volatility, but I force myself to breathe. Fear gives my will extreme strength, and I grab Ancient Frost despite its protests while still holding Unrelenting Fire. The Winter Symbol’s cold logic sweeps through me, helping to balance my emotions. My heart still races, but I ignore it. Ancient Frost does not take my fear away, merely numbs it, allowing me to think without being overwhelmed.

I move away from my pillar, keeping to the darkness as I begin to circle them. They are frozen in place, as if the Censor is waiting for something. Perhaps they didn’t see me exit the fire locus and are still waiting for me to emerge.

Regardless, they have given me the opportunity to act, and I am only too happy to take it. My hands feel empty without the comforting weight of my Frost Iron blades in them. Fortunately, thanks to a mad, dead god, I am not without options.

The two of them shift, as if the Censor is trying to get a better angle to watch the exit. I swing further to the right, keeping the pillar between us as I close in on their position. My only hope is to strike fast and free Anas. Together, the two of us will stand a better chance, even if we face a Golden electus.

I make my way through the sand, moving my feet deliberately to keep them silent as Percy taught me what feels like a lifetime ago. Standing out in the open with only a pillar blocking their line of sight is agonizing.

If they shift again, I will be discovered in a moment, and the one advantage I have will be ruined. But the younger Marius brother’s training is etched in my bones, and I heed his wisdom, not letting panic rush my hunt. For a moment, I am no longer a gladiator, no longer Frigus Ventus, but Castor, decurion of the Iron Legions.

Slowly, I round the corner pillar behind my quarry. Reluctantly, I release Unrelenting Fire, returning my vision back to normal. In the dim light, I am close enough to see Anas pinned with his back against the wall. He looks over his assailant’s shoulder, tracking my movement. The woman does not notice as she peers around the corner, watching the fire locus intently.

As I suspected, she presses a gleaming white tellus knife against his throat. His right hand is down at his side, and he opens it to reveal a flat palm, fingers together.

Stop. Warning.

I freeze, giving myself more time to study the situation, looking for the trap that my comrade warns me of. The woman who has him pinned is slight, shorter than both of us with wavy dark hair that blends into the shadows around us.

Fortuna’s Ashes! I curse to myself as I realize who it is.

“Domina, you can release my friend,” I say to Alessandra. She leaps in surprise, turning to stare at me with wide eyes. The dagger does not move from Anas’s throat. “I swear to you that he will not harm you.”

“He was spying on you. He knows your secret,” she replies coolly, already back in control after being startled by me. “We cannot let him live.” I blink, surprised by the ice that lies within her.

“No, he was supposed to be keeping watch over me.” I let a little frustration color my voice. If Durus saw one of his sentries pinned to the wall by a palatine magister-in-training, Anas’s back might never heal from the lashes.

“Your lack of judgment does not change the necessity of silencing him.”

“Domina, pull down the right side of the neck of his tunic,” I say, a small smile twisting my face. “You will find something familiar, I think.” She follows my instructions and hisses in surprise when she discovers the XII that marks him as a member of my Legion.

“The Marius brothers will haunt my family wherever we go,” she says with a sigh. But after a moment of reflection, she steps back from Anas, lowering her knife down to her side. “You will keep the secrets you hold, or you will suffer.”

“You don’t need to threaten me, Domina,” Anas replies easily, leaning against the wall as if he wanted to be there all along. “My loyalty is bound in blood. Nothing you can say will be stronger than that.”

“Dead gods preserve us from the legions and their zealotry,” Alessandra murmurs before turning to look back at me with a piercing stare. I return it frankly, understanding that the danger has passed. At last, she twitches, having come to some sort of decision.

“The legionnaire can go. You will stay. It is time we had a discussion.”

Anas looks over her shoulder at me for confirmation, and I shrug. I do not think she wants to kill me, but even if she does, what can I do? She holds my life in her hands. My burly friend bends down to pick up his knife before offering us both a mocking salute.

“Good luck,” he says.

I’m not entirely sure which one of us he is talking to.

“I told you to be careful,” Alessandra snarls as soon as we are alone. She takes a step toward me threateningly, tellus knife still gripped firmly in her hand.

“I am trying to,” I insist, raising my hands and taking a step backward at her advance. “That’s what the guard was for.”

“Telling another person your secret is not what I had in mind!”

“He knew before you,” I protest. “He was there in the North.” Something in my voice cracks through her cold veneer, and she twitches in surprise at her raised knife.

“What did happen?” Her voice is soft. “Plautia has been beside herself since they were sent away…” Percy and Gaius’s mother personally blocked my ascent to Fidelis. There had been no love lost between her and her sons, but even she is human enough to mourn them.

“We were betrayed and sent to die,” I growl, feeling the familiar rage flush through me. This secret is one I have no problem sharing with the world. I should probably be screaming it from the rooftops, so that the cowards that dare turn on the Emp⁠—

A horrible thought occurs to me.

“It wasn’t your family, was it?” My voice is hushed even in this empty room; I do not dare to voice my accusations loudly. I want to believe in Varus, but there is a Norman electus among his Domus, and I have paid too steep of a price to trust any senator blindly.

“What wasn’t my family?” Alessandra seems to bristle at the implied accusation.

“Does your father have something to do with the Imperials working with the Normans to invade the Empire?” I cannot keep some of the heat out of my voice as emotion overtakes me. I take a step toward her, despite the tellus knife between us. Alessandra’s eyes flare, and she recoils in surprise.

“Why would you think that my father—” She pauses as she comes to the same conclusion that I did. “The Shadowbound.”

“Why is the Empress trying to kill your family?” My heart races as I feel like a fool for not seeing the threads that connect before me now. Corrupt senators leverage their wealth and power to fund an invading horde to break the Empire so they can remake it in a new image. It seems so obvious that I feel like a fool for taking this long to consider it.

“Castor!” Alessandra’s voice is sharp as she pulls me from my rabid plotting. “I swear to you, on the bones of whatever dead god that you wish, that my father had nothing to do with this.” She shakes her head softly, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“Perhaps you have not noticed, but my father is not a subtle man.”

I tilt my head in acknowledgment of her point.

“Domus Marius has been a friend of our house for centuries. Even with its current… issues, we have maintained a close relationship with both halves. I know I do not need to remind you who my mentor was when we first met.”

She’s right—the memory of the whipping that I suffered at her command still stings.

“If Gaius and Percy were betrayed and sent to their deaths, it was not something that was conspired here.”

I blow out a long breath, nodding as I consider her words. She is correct once again—it does seem out of character for Varus. Also, if he had killed the Marius brothers, why are his ferra gladiators full of men who served under him?

“This is a distraction.” Alessandra shakes her head, long black tresses flailing behind her like shadows. “You are being reckless and will get us all killed.”

“Then help me,” I snarl in frustration. “I have been given an impossible task. Pliny watches me like a hawk, convinced that I am just not cultivating Ancient Frost well enough to Ascend my Copper Cor.”

“Is that not…” Surprise flickers across her face, and I resist the urge to sigh at my own foolishness.

“Alessandra.” There feels like no need for formality here in the dark as we conspire together. “You just saw me in the ignis locus.”

“It could have been for resistance training. Especially after your experience with the inferna venenum.”

“Then why did you threaten Anas with a knife?” I shout at her in disbelief, but at the same time, I wonder about the effectiveness of such a training method. Ancient Frost faded as soon as I walked into the ignis locus. Could I use those harsh conditions like that to strengthen my ability to summon my Symbol like another version of the pondus? I will have to try.

“Because he was spying on you and is Ironbound! Just the fact that he noticed you was enough for me to consider killing him.” Her voice is tinged with frustration at my stupidity.

“I was in the ignis locus because I bound a new Symbol in the garden and I’m trying to figure out how to use it before it kills me!”

Alessandra’s blue eyes go wide with disbelief. “But Pliny said the Copper veins were just more of your Corda becoming Ancient Frost. That the rasa inside of you was slowly being subsumed by your existing Heart and would eventually allow you to be able to become a more powerful electus for your⁠—”

“Alessandra, you know that before I found my way to Winter, I was Ironbound.” I cut off her panicked babbling. “I do not know how Pliny was fooled, but he is wrong. I do not have a second Ancient Frost Cor. I have a new one, and I cannot cultivate it safely without people asking questions.”

“What Symbol did you attune?” she asks softly, looking up at me through the dim light. I hesitate. I do not know why I bother now. I have already told her too much. Alessandra is right, I am not good at secrecy. It is a miracle from Dead Fortuna herself that I have made it this far.

“Unrelenting Fire.”

Her eyes go wide, and she covers her mouth with her hand. “Are you certain?”

“Yes.” I snort derisively. “You remember the binding ceremony, I’m sure. Did you get your Symbol’s name wrong?”

“No.” She shakes her head, lowering her hand. “No, of course not, I just did not expect—although I suppose it is unsurprising in some ways. It definitely is keeping with a theme.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you know what Unrelenting Fire is?”

And then I understand why she is so surprised. The expression on her face is the same look the Censors had when their relic told them that I was bound to Ancient Frost. I close my eyes, letting the dark shelter me in the calm. “It’s an Elder Symbol, isn’t it?”

“You knew?”

“Not until now.” I sigh, cursing the gods for punishing me for the oaths of my youth under my breath.

“It is also one of the Symbols forbidden by the gods.”

I had forgotten that part. She takes my silence as encouragement and recites a rhyme I have not heard since I was a boy, and my father told me stories of heroes now long dead.

“Iron, cold and hard.

Music, sung by a bard.

Last, unrelenting fire.

These will summon Jupiter’s ire.”

According to the priests, when Prometheus stole the knowledge of Cor from the gods, they planned on destroying us all. Instead, in their mercy, Jupiter and the rest of the pantheon decreed that we could use this gift, except for three attunements. That was why I was able to cut Praeco when the Censors could not.

When the Ferrum Domini rebelled and Ascended to the peak of Iron, they killed the gods. What more could someone do if they were bound to two of the forbidden Symbols? The prickling sensation on my skin grows as I feel the presence of something watching me. I assumed that this new Symbol was still a repercussion for the votum I made with Valentina, Marcus, and Felix. Some symptom of whatever the Wolf did to me when he filled me with these blank Hearts.

But now, as I ponder the possibilities that lie before me, I wonder if it is not from a more vengeful source. Visions of the woman wearing the blindfold that followed me through the winter storm flash in my mind, reminding me of the new dead god that I serve.

Nemesis.

Was it her hand that guided me to the basin of fire? What game does she play? I have sworn to her to kill those responsible for the death of my family and the other families in Segesta. Why do I need forbidden fire to do it?

“I’ll help you,” Alessandra offers abruptly, killing the silence that stretches between us.

“Why?”

“You saved my life. It’s only fair that I return the favor.”

“And if you keep me from getting caught it keeps the Censors from coming down on you and your family.”

“A double blessing.” She smiles tightly. “What can I do?”

“Well,” I say, glancing around the room at the loci that surround us, “if I’m going to Ascend, I’m going to need better fire.”