I glared at him. “So, what? Are you accusing me of being mad now? You heard the comm the same as I did!”

His eyebrows knitted. “Of course that’s not what I’m saying. I’m just telling you to use some reason here.”

My temples throbbed. I rubbed my forehead with the heel of my hand, trying to calm my temper. “Then where is Ceilos?” I asked. “Who commed me?”

“The geroi?” said Isaak. “I mean, I think we’ve basically confirmed at this point that they’re pretty shady.”

“But why would the geroi patch me in to a private session of the gerotus, specifically for the purpose of making me distrust the geroi?”

“Maybe someone else,” Gitrin broke in. She turned to Eos, saying something quickly in the old language. I only caught snatches of it—without the System boosting my memory, I had to struggle to think of every word.

“Yes, it could be,” Eos said. “We’ve heard rumors from the runners recently, when they come back from missions. Attacks on the System… and on the citidomes themselves. Things that we had no part of, but have been attributed to the Liberator. We assumed that it was just the geroi spreading more of their lies, trying to turn the people against Elytherios, but—”

Attacks on the System. Like the one Melusin told me about. “It’s true,” I said. “Someone hacked the System’s early warning protocol on Ascendant Dawn, and an earthquake hit the citidome with no warning. Several people were killed, and their gerouin was seriously injured.”

Eos frowned. “I was not aware of that. I refuse to believe anyone in Elytherios could have done such a thing, though. Our society is built on principles of non-violence. We would never wish harm to anyone, not even the geroi. Besides, our access to the System is extremely limited—mostly small hacks to create illusions to steer System-users away from the city. I don’t think anyone here has the capability to perform a high-scale hack like that. Someone is trying to implicate us in something that we have no part in.”

“So, wait,” Isaak said, thoughtfully running a hand through his dark hair. “You mean there’s another band of separatists out there besides you guys? Who also call themselves ‘Liberator’? And they’re the ones who have Ceilos?”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Marin said. “How could all of this have escaped our notice?”

My voice faltered. “And how am I supposed to find Ceilos now?” He couldn’t just be gone. I had to find him—had to save him. I couldn’t leave him on his own, not after what had happened. I’m your partner, he’d said. He had never abandoned me, never turned against me, even after Tibros ordered him to. I couldn’t lose him now. Not before…

Not before I could at least say I’m sorry.