Silvius held his son’s look, a bland expression on his face, and Jack sighed. His father wasn’t about to offer up any information on the issue, and, considering the gravity of what Jack had to relate, how Silvius knew of Ariadne’s movements wasn’t of the greatest importance right now.
“It has been a long night,” Jack said, “both good and bad. Did Harry tell you where I’d gone from Ambersbury Banks?”
“No,” said Noah. “But the marking…it went well?”
Jack gave her a smile. “It went well, Noah.” He hesitated, wondering if he should tell her about Grace, and then wondered why she didn’t already know. Hadn’t she missed her daughter at home?
“There is something I need to tell you,” Jack said, “and we don’t have much time before Stella needs to carol in the dawn.” That last was more a question than a statement, and he raised his eyebrows at Stella as he said it.
She gave a nod. “I have a little under an hour and a half, Jack.”
“Very well.” Jack walked over to the cold fireplace, and stood there for a minute or two, looking into the empty grate, his hands deep into his trouser pockets. “I went from Ambersbury Banks to St Paul’s,” he said finally, turning about, “to see Catling.”
“And?” said Noah.
Jack’s mouth quirked. “It was the first time I had ever seen her. My ‘daughter’.”
“She is no real daughter, Jack,” Noah said. “She was only ever a trickery.”
Jack remembered when he and Noah had made love in the magical re-creation of her father’s megaron. Noah had fallen pregnant, and for a time she and Louis, as Jack had been then, thought her child a re-creation of the daughter they had made three thousand years earlier, and who had been murdered by Genvissa.
But she wasn’t. In reality, Catling had been the Troy Game incarnate, turned to flesh to more expertly manipulate all those caught up in the Game’s machinations.
Jack held Noah’s eyes. “Yes,” he said softly, “she actually is my daughter. But not yours, Noah.” His gaze shifted to Stella. “She is yours and mine, Stella. The daughter we made that night we created the Troy Game atop Og’s Hill, when you were Genvissa.”
A complete silence met this pronouncement. Everyone stared at Jack, their minds racing. Remembering.
“No…” Stella whispered.
“That is what Catling had to tell me tonight,” Jack said, his voice suddenly weary. “She said that there was no means by which she could be destroyed, as I was both her father and her creator. She said that she had meant to become incarnate when first we’d made the Game, Stella, when I was Brutus and you Genvissa. We’d gone back to the palace on the White Mound, drunk with power and ambition, and we’d coupled, and, fools that we were, we had no bloody idea that what we’d done was to conceive the Troy Game incarnate.”
“But…” Noah said. She’d gone to Stella, who was so white she looked as if she were about to faint, and had an arm about her waist.
“Ah, yes, that ‘but’,” said Jack. “All of Catling’s initial plans were ruined when Asterion persuaded you, through Mag, to murder Genvissa when she was only weeks away from giving birth. Imagine Catling’s frustration.” He paused, using the time to catch Noah’s gaze. “And think of how much she must have hated you, Noah, for frustrating her plans. She chose you to become her Mistress of the Labyrinth not only because she could see how powerful you would become, but in revenge. In hatred.”
Noah had now gone as white as Stella, and she did not reply.
“Not only did she use your body to subsequently achieve flesh,” said Jack, “but you were going to be the one to complete her. A final punishment.”
“Stop for a moment,” said Harry. He’d been standing listening to the conversation, growing more incredulous, and more terrified, with each moment that passed. “Jack, we can get back to you and Stella’s ill-fated conception in a moment, but what I want to know is…why did Catling say you could not destroy her?”
“Because Jack is both her father and creator,” Silvius said. He’d been listening quietly, his eyes on Jack, his face reflecting the horror of everyone else. “I don’t know the intricacies of it, but I am guessing that the double role in ‘creating’, whether Game or flesh, might tie Jack’s hands somewhat. Who knows? It might be possible.”
Jack’s shoulders slumped. “Yes. It might be possible. I just don’t know.”
Harry strode the distance between them and grabbed at the material of Jack’s jacket. The lines on his careworn face had deepened until Harry looked as ancient as the forest itself. “What do you mean—you don’t know?” he hissed.
“He doesn’t know,” said a woman’s voice, “because in all the history of the labyrinth, we’ve never had a Game achieve flesh. We have no precedent to work from.”
Harry let Jack go and, with everyone else, looked at the doorway.
A beautiful, dark-haired woman stood there, dressed in a superbly cut scarlet suit, her feet clad in black leather high heels, and a black leather purse tucked under one arm. Her hair was fashionably waved and set, and her make-up was impeccable.
Ariadne.
“Nice to meet you, finally, Jack,” she said, advancing into the room and giving Jack a peck on the cheek. Then she gave Noah and Stella each a kiss, took a step towards Harry, thought better of it, and sat down next to Silvius on the chesterfield, crossing her lovely legs. She and Silvius glanced at each other, but otherwise did not exchange greetings, which Jack marked as highly suspicious.
“Catling is a clever, cunning little minx,” said Ariadne, “and from what I heard as I stood in the doorway I think I can say that she’s had this planned for a very, very long time. Perhaps everyone is trapped.”
“Ariadne,” Jack said, “just tell us what you know, if you please.”
“The Troy Game wanted human incarnation,” said Ariadne. “Naturally, she chose her Kingman and Mistress of the Labyrinth—first Brutus and Genvissa, then Brutus-Louis and Noah when the first pairing failed—to give her form. You are her parents. She is of your flesh. It is highly possible that she can’t now be undone for two reasons: firstly her parents, flesh of her flesh, literally would not be able to unmake her—which is similar to what Silvius theorised—and secondly, because once a Game becomes flesh, maybe it is incapable of being undone. Who knows? As I said, no Game has ever done this before.”
“It makes a terrible kind of sense,” Noah said.
“Any added comments, Silvius?” Jack said.
“I defer to Ariadne’s knowledge,” he said. “After all, what was I but a straight-down-the-line Kingman who never put a foot wrong?”
Jack noted there was some interaction between Silvius and Ariadne at this point, a faint frisson of amusement that passed between them. If their current conversation hadn’t been so important Jack would have been hard-pressed not to drag his father outside to ask him privately what was happening between him and Ariadne.
There was another long silence. Stella walked over to the drinks cabinet, thought better of it, and sat down in a chair with a thump. Noah just stood, a shaking hand to her face.
“But think of this,” said Silvius. “If Catling has been this invulnerable, all this time, then why hex Grace? Why tie Grace’s fate to hers? If all this is true, then Catling didn’t need a backup.”
Noah dropped her hand away from her face, her eyes suddenly bright. “Do you think she was lying?”
Jack shared a look with Ariadne and Silvius, then shrugged. “I don’t know, Noah. We all,” he waved a hand, taking in Stella, Ariadne, Silvius and Noah, “need to think about it. Games can be unwound. Look at Troy, and Jericho, and all the cities you destroyed, Ariadne.”
Ariadne had the grace to drop her eyes.
“But none of those cities, none of them,” said Silvius, “had Games that were incarnate. We just don’t know. I don’t necessarily believe anything Catling says, but there is a grain of sense in her assertion.”
“Nonetheless,” said Ariadne, “I feel that Catling hexed Grace because Catling is still vulnerable. There is no other reason to do it.”
“Not because Catling has a malevolent and spiteful character and it may have given her joy to see Grace, and the rest of us, suffer?” said Noah.
“No,” said Ariadne. “Remember, Catling’s fate is Grace’s fate, but Grace’s fate is also Catling’s fate. The hex works both ways, and Catling would not have left herself exposed in this manner if there wasn’t a damn good reason to do it. She needed a backup, Grace was it, and that means she must be vulnerable elsewhere. Maybe she can’t be unwound or destroyed. But maybe there’s another chink in her armour somewhere.”