Chapter 18: An Unexpected Encounter
Veyra’s threat hung between them long after her hand had left his throat.
Being inside MIST headquarters came with fewer conversational boundaries than he’d expected.
"Why should I agree with you?" she asked. Her voice was flat. "I can simply keep you here and torture the information out of you."
There was something seriously wrong with this woman.
Who casually suggested torturing an innocent young noble?
Caelus paused.
He supposed "innocent" was doing a considerable amount of work in that sentence.
Caelus kept his expression pleasant. "You could try."
He didn’t say it like a threat. He said it like someone acknowledging a theoretical possibility. Like he’d considered the option and found it lacking.
"You could. But you’d have to deal with what comes after."
"I’m expected back."
He let that sit for a moment before continuing.
"If I fail to return, rumors will spread. Someone will eventually wonder why a Vespera heir disappeared after visiting Belarius. Someone else might notice MIST taking an unusual interest in the Ravencrest Viscounty, despite the case being officially closed."
His smile thinned.
"And once people start asking questions, the Church might suddenly become interested in why the head of MIST possesses a Sacred Affinity."
Veyra stared at him. She was trying to decide whether he was bluffing. Whether any of those threats were real.
She couldn’t know.
That was the advantage.
"You told your father about this?" she asked.
"No." He smiled. "He already knows."
For the first time since the conversation began, she looked genuinely uncertain.
Caelus didn’t explain.
She laughed, exasperated.
"You’re irritating."
"It’s in the blood."
Veyra stared at him as though she was deciding whether strangling him would be worth the paperwork.
She sighed. The sound was long-suffering.
"But that’s not your only request, is it?"
Caelus smiled.
She was learning quickly.
"Don’t misunderstand me. I’m offering a trade, not asking for a favor."
He held her gaze.
"I’ll answer three of your questions. Any three. No charge."
Veyra’s eyebrow rose.
"And what do you want?"
"Your company."
Her expression changed.
"For one night."
Caelus noticed.
Then he realized exactly how that had sounded.
His confidence evaporated.
"No."
Her eyes narrowed.
"No, no. That’s not what I meant."
She stared at him. Suspicious.
"I’m talking about a labyrinth," he said quickly. "The Temple of the Moon. It becomes accessible at night."
Veyra continued staring.
"I need someone capable of surviving it."
He paused.
"That sounded considerably less suspicious in my head."
Her expression didn’t soften. But the tension in her shoulders relaxed slightly.
"You need an escort."
"An escort." He nodded. "Yes. That’s the word I should have used. Escort. Companion. Person who helps me not die in a labyrinth."
She studied him for a long moment.
"Why me?"
Caelus considered the question.
There were plenty of people he could hire.
That was precisely the problem.
Money could buy strength. It couldn’t buy loyalty, discretion, or the certainty that someone wouldn’t sell the location of a labyrinth the moment they realized what was inside.
Veyra already knew too much to betray him without creating problems for herself.
More importantly, she was strong enough that he wouldn’t have to spend the entire night wondering whether the person beside him was more dangerous than whatever waited ahead.
"Because you’re already invested."
Veyra’s eyes narrowed.
"And?"
"You have questions you want answered. I have somewhere I need to go. It seems wasteful for both of us to travel separately."
Veyra watched him carefully.
"So you want to use my curiosity."
"I’d call it mutual benefit."
"I’d call it exploitation."
"Same point."
"..." She stared at him. "Fine."
Caelus blinked. "Just like that?"
"Just like that."
He opened his mouth. Closed it.
I expected more resistance.
I should stop expecting things.
"While you’re at it, can you get me an appearance-altering artifact?"
Veyra stared at him.
"It might improve the quality of my information."
Her stare became flatter.
"The information," Caelus clarified. "Not my face, it’s already good enough."
"I understood you."
"Good."
"You’re using me for resources."
"I’m offering a mutually beneficial arrangement." He smiled. "That’s business."
Veyra sighed.
"Eve."
The shadow beneath her feet moved.
Caelus’s attention shifted instinctively.
At first, he thought it was simply the distortion of the light.
Then a hand emerged from the darkness.
A girl stepped out of her own shadow.
Black hair.
Black eyes.
A simple mask covering the lower half of her face.
Her clothes were dark and practical, fitted for movement rather than appearance. Nothing about her stood out deliberately.
That was probably the point.
Caelus stared.
He knew her.
Eve.
A commoner with Shadow Affinity.
One of the academy’s future standouts who eventually became Veyra’s disciple.
Eventually.
Not now.
He had written their first meaningful meeting years later in the original story.
He had never imagined meeting her here.
In MIST.
Before the Academy.
Before the story was supposed to bring them together.
The timeline was already changing.
He’d expected the story to resist him.
Apparently it had decided to take that personally.
"Get him what he wants," Veyra said.
Eve nodded once. Her body dissolved into shadow and disappeared.
Caelus remained staring at the place where she’d stood.
Veyra watched him.
"Something wrong?"
Caelus said nothing.
He had expected his presence to change things eventually. He hadn’t expected the changes to reach someone like Eve this early.
His knowledge of the original story had always been a map. Imperfect, but useful.
Eve’s presence had just torn a hole through it.
He had expected to meet her at the Academy.
Instead, he’d just asked her future master to fetch him an artifact.
Seems like the universe had developed a sense of humor.
If one event had already moved this far from what he remembered, he couldn’t assume the others were waiting patiently in their original places.
He needed to reach the Temple of the Moon before another piece of that map became useless.
He had spent years believing the advantage of knowing the future was knowing what would happen.
But the real advantage was knowing what had already stopped being true.
The story is already changing. And it would change more.
"You’re doing it again, zoning out."
Caelus blinked.
Veyra was standing far too close.
Her face was only inches from his, her violet eyes narrowed in suspicion.
He leaned back instinctively.
Then, remembering himself, he straightened his clothes with what he hoped was dignity.
This girl needs a tutorial on personal space.
"Maybe because someone almost killed me and threatened me with torture?" he said.
Veyra laughed.
"You’re really not what I expected."
"I’ve been hearing that a lot lately."
He said, cataloging how close she was.
She noticed and stepped back.
"You seem unusually concerned with personal space for someone who just invited me into a labyrinth."
Caelus gave her a look.
"Those things are unrelated."
"So when are we leaving for the labyrinth?"
Caelus opened his mouth.
He closed it.
Right.
He hadn’t thought that far ahead.