Page 12 of Silver & Gold
Seth had such absurdly high standards for himself. His sense of responsibility was out of control. It exasperated Raider, but this wasn’t the moment to argue it, so he only said, “Come on. Let’s figure this out.”
Seth took a deep breath that expanded his powerful chest. Then he nodded. They walked back to where Julian remained huddled against the wall.
“Julian, come here,” Raider said, waving him forward. “Seth is going to remove the shackles.”
Seth let out a barely audible grumble that Raider ignored. Seth would do it because it was the right thing, and pretty soon Seth would remember how much that mattered to him.
But Julian didn’t budge from the wall.
“I would never kill anyone, especially not Varelli,” Julian insisted, his wide brown eyes darting between Raider and Seth. “He was like a father to me. You can’t listen to Catalus. He’s the one who did it. He’s not what you think. He’s not who you think.”
“Who’s Catalus?” Raider asked.
“He’s the head of the Department of Alchemy,” Seth replied, looking perplexed. “He’s the one who assigned me to this mission. He said he witnessed Julian fleeing the Arcanum with that book in his hands. He described the cover perfectly: the moon overlaid with an eye, that image set within the sun as it burst through a triangle.”
“An amazing amount of detail for him to have glimpsed as I fled,” Julian pointed out.
Seth looked uncomfortable. “That did occur to me, but he’s been a respected member of the Arcanum for—”
“Ten years,” Julian supplied, sounding more confident now that Seth was clearly listening. He straightened from his huddle, though he didn’t leave the wall. “Ever since he fled Kastari.”
Raider stilled.
Julian said, “You called the book evil, so you must know what it contains and who wrote it.”
“I only know the subject of it,” Seth said. “I haven’t read it. But I do know that it was written by Kahzir.”
When Raider shuddered slightly, Seth glanced at him. But both of them looked at Julian again when he said, “Catalus is Kahzir.”
Raider froze. So did Seth.
Seth recovered first. “That … can’t be.”
Julian pushed away from the wall and into a kneeling position. His shackled hands came up slightly, like he was pleading. “I need that book. I’m taking it to Empress Zarina as proof of her uncle’s location. He’s been squatting in the Alchemy Department under a false name for the past decade.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Seth demanded through clenched teeth.
“Varelli is the one who figured it out, and that’s why Catalus killed him! That’s why he sent you after me!”
Seth closed his eyes, clearly gathering himself. Then he said, “Start at the beginning.”
Julian launched into his story like he’d been dying to tell it for months (which he probably had).
“Varelli was my mentor,” Julian explained. “I was closer with him than with my own father. I would never hurt him! As if I even could! We used to talk long into the night about arcane paradoxes and obscure alchemical theory.
“One night, I told him that Catalus had offered me an internship in his surgery—” Raider flinched at the word. Seth’s eyes flicked to him. “—but Varelli discouraged it. I didn’t understand. It was such an incredible opportunity. Catalus was the finest surgeon in the Arcanum, in all Masir. I kept pushing for why until Varelli finally confided his long-held suspicions about Catalus. He told me how Catalus had shown up at the University a decade ago, a brilliant arcanist out of nowhere. He told me how, within a month, the head of the Department of Alchemy had mysteriously vanished. Catalus offered to serve as interim department head, then never surrendered the position. This was before I came to the Arcanum, but, Seth, you surely remember?”
Seth said, “I wasn’t in Masir at the time, but I recall the news. The timing alone doesn’t prove anything.”
“I said the same!” Julian exclaimed. “Varelli also told me about things that Catalus had done in secret, experiments and such—” Raider’s stomach churned. “—but even that I didn’t believe—mostly because I really wanted that internship. So it’s my fault, you see! Varelli was determined to prove his suspicions right, to protect me. He said he’d looked away for too long but he wasn’t going to let me get entangled with the likes of Catalus. So he broke into Catalus’s rooms, hunting for evidence, and by Kasha did he find it!
“I was in the library the night Varelli came running in. He was frantic. He shoved that book at me and told me to run, to take it to Kastari, to the empress. I just kept saying, what! what! what! like an idiot! Catalus came upon us. He lunged for me—for the book, I guess—but Varelli attacked him so I could get away. And he died for it! For me, for this!
“Maybe if I’d gone straight to the port I could have stowed away on a ship, but I hid in the kitchens. I was terrified! When I worked up my courage, I slipped into my apartment for my things. By the time I made my way through the city, Catalus—Kahzir—had raised an alarm at the port. There was no way I could get on a ship at that point, so I fled on foot. I had to fulfill Varelli’s dying wish because he died for me. So you see, I have to do this!”
Seth was frowning. “Why didn’t you go to someone, another scholar, someone on the Governing Board—”
Julian was shaking his head. “You’re not involved in the politics of the Arcanum. You have no idea how influential he is, how he can manipulate people. If anyone listened to me, he would just get rid of them! And if you managed to take me back to Masir, he would kill us both. That’s undoubtedly what he intended from the moment he sent you on this mission. That’s why I need the empress!”