One of the soldiers nodded. Maya gestured Beq inside and closed the door behind her. Then she hugged her, as Beq exhaled and relaxed.

“You—” Beq said, as Maya pulled away. She paused, started again. “I heard what happened with the Council.”

“You think I’m crazy,” Maya said.

“No one challenges to get their cognomen, not anymore.” Beq shook her head. “I didn’t even know you still could.”

“It’s in the rules,” Maya said. “Never been changed. That used to be the only way to become a centarch. Back then there were more candidates than haken, so—” She trailed off. “Sorry. I did a lot of reading in my cell.”

“I gathered.” Beq smiled. “Usually it’s me getting excited about ancient history.”

Maya laughed out loud. She offered Beq the chair and sat down on the bed, unable to stop herself from fidgeting with the covers.

“Have you seen Varo?” Maya said. “They haven’t accused him of anything, have they?” She felt a stab of guilt for not asking earlier.

“Not officially,” Beq said. “But the Council was quick to send him on another assignment. He’s somewhere in the south now, I think.”

Maya nodded, then took a deep breath.

“And have you … made any progress?” she said. “On what you … found.”

“I think we should be safe to talk in here,” Beq said. “And, yes, a little. It turns out there are a few different codes, and I’ve found at least two in the master archive.”

“And Nicomidi was working with Raskos,” Maya said, leaning forward eagerly.

“Maybe. He writes carefully, even in code.” Beq frowned. “Why are you so sure?”

Maya’s eyes flicked to the door, and she lowered her voice. “Nicomidi came to me in the cell. He wanted me to give evidence to the Council against Jaedia. Offered to get me off the hook. When I wouldn’t do it, he threatened you.”

“Threatened me?” Beq squeaked. “Why?”

“I don’t think he knows what you’re working on,” Maya said. “He just knows that we’re friends, and he thought it would motivate me.” She found her hands clenching into fists. “A member of the Council threatened to murder an Order arcanist. This is the fucking Republic, not some Splinter King’s court. We don’t assassinate people.”

“Can you tell the rest of the Council?”

“He’d just deny it,” Maya said. “But if you can prove he was part of Raskos’ corruption, they won’t be able to ignore that.”

“Assuming he is part of it.”

“He must be. Why else would he go this far? Sending us to Deepfire, and then trying to keep me from looking into what happened to Jaedia—”

“Wait,” Beq said. “You think he was involved in that too?”