CHAPTER EIGHT
I show Rowan into my rooms. It's rare for him to come by like this, even though we both live within the palace. We see one another often enough in the corridors or the ante chambers, but he doesn't visit me.
“Is everything all right?” I ask.
“That's what I wanted to ask you,” Rowan says. “It's obvious Marcus is upset by the way things went in the chamber, and you know him better than anyone.”
There isn't the jealousy there that there might once have been.
Rowan hasn't spent his time seeking my affections, the way he used to in Ironhold.
When it came to Alaric, he was always suspicious, always trying to push ahead of him in my attentions.
It isn't like that with Marcus. Rowan seems to have accepted that we're together, and even if he doesn't agree with Marcus's positions on the politics of the city, he seems happy for me.
It probably helps that, if the rumors are to be believed, he spends his days fending off advances from noblewomen who want to connect themselves to the first senator of Aetheria.
“He's taking it hard,” I say. A part of me wishes that I'd gone to his villa with him, but he doesn't want me there right now. I try not to let that hurt me, but it does. I want to be able to be there for him. “He really wants to see her dead.”
“Whereas you don’t, even though you were far more involved in the rebellion than he was,” Rowan says.
I shake my head. “I don't like the idea of us just killing our enemies.”
“It might need to happen,” Rowan says. “It's one thing to give her the chance to defend herself but if she can't come up with some convincing answers, we might need to execute her for the safety of the city. You know how dangerous she could be if she chose.”
“I know,” I say.
“And it's no coincidence that she's shown up now,” Rowan says. “I wonder if she was expecting to walk into a city ruled by Domitian.”
I consider that. The two were communicating, so it's obvious Selene wouldn't have minded if Domitian succeeded, but I think it's more complicated than that.
“Do you think she would have wanted him as emperor?” I say.
“My guess is that she was working with whoever she could find who would support her aims. She's pragmatic, and she thinks deeply. No doubt she was prepared for both the success and failure of Domitian’s coup. I doubt she cares much that he’s imprisoned.
She’s certainly not going to make an effort to help him if he’s no use to her. ”
Rowan looks thoughtful. “I guess, if Domitian succeeded, she could always have quietly killed him and taken his place. That, or controlled him from the shadows.”
“I don't think Domitian would have been that easy to control if he got real power,” I say.
“We still need to decide what to do with him as well," Rowan says with a grim expression.
“I've tried to think of alternatives to execution, but unless we're going to hold him in a dungeon for the rest of his life, there aren't many good ones.
In exile, he would simply raise an army, and something less than that doesn't feel like enough.”
“No one said it would be easy, being first senator of the city,” I point out.
“Well, you have just as many difficult decisions as a senator,” Rowan counters. “But I get the feeling this one might make the difference between a safe and prosperous city and one that faces a constant threat in the future.”
I know that whatever we decide, tomorrow isn’t going to be easy.
For now, though, I'm all too aware that the hour is growing later.
I need to go speak with Thalia, and I can't tell Rowan that's what I'm doing.
As long as Alaric and his people work outside the laws of the city, Rowan can't know that I'm associating with them.
“I should go see Marcus,” I say, “to make sure that he's okay.”
Rowan nods. “And maybe get him to calm down in his demands for immediate death.”
If I were actually going to speak with Marcus, I might try that, but I'm not.
Instead, I slip out of the palace into the growing darkness and head down through the city, out into the slums. Like much of the rest of Aetheria, they're not empty or silent at night.
There aren't as many magical lights as within the walls, but there are still some, augmented by candles or oil lamps.
People bustle in the streets, conducting secretive business.
The whole place has a dangerous air to it.
I keep a cloak wrapped tightly around myself so I won't be recognized, and look through the eyes of a night owl as I hurry through the slums, watching out for any signs that I'm being followed.
I make my way to the Inn of Seven Eyes, the way Thalia told me to.
It doesn't have a sign but instead has eyes carved into the beams and door frame so that the whole building seems to stare at anyone passing by.
Sounds of revelry come from within, music playing in a burst as one man comes stumbling out onto the streets and falls over, too drunk to stand.
This is the place Thalia wants to meet me. I guess it has the advantage that it's the kind of place where no one would expect to see me, and where most of the patrons will be too drunk to recognize even a champion of the arena. I sigh, then go inside.
I head to the bar and order a cup of cheap wine, then go to sit in a corner, watching the other people there. A serving woman comes to my table, leaning over it to be heard above the noise.
“Can I get you anything else to drink?”
It takes me a moment to recognize her voice and then her face. This is Thalia, wearing a wig and the outfit of a server, the effect changing has so much that it's hard to recognize her as the same spiky haired woman I met in front of the colosseum.
“Or maybe I can offer you something… else? We have rooms upstairs.”
She's speaking loudly to be heard over the noisy environment, but I guess it's for the benefit of the room, establishing why I would go off with her. I nod, and she leads me upstairs, to a tiny room towards the back of the inn.
“Why meet me here?” I ask as soon as she closes the door.
“The innkeeper’s sympathetic to our cause,” she says. “And it's easy to get in and out of.”
“I wasn't expecting you to send a message to me so soon,” I say. I'd half assumed that our relationship would only work the other way around, with me leaving messages for her when I wanted to speak to her. “Is anything wrong? Is Alaric…”
“He's fine,” Thalia assures me with a note of exasperation. “Not everything's about him. You know he asks after you as well?”
I didn't know that, but it suggests Alaric hasn't forgotten about me or given up on me; he's just too caught up with his movement to try to change the city to actually see me.
“Why did you ask me here then?” I ask.
“Well, for one thing, I want to know what you found out in the gambling den,” Thalia says. “Did you get a location for the death bouts?”
I shake my head. “The bookmaker was too wary to allow me anywhere near them. I tried playing the part of a servant asking about them for her mistress, but that just made him more suspicious. It turns out they already have noble backing. Or I assume they have.”
“What makes you think that?” Thalia asks.
“Some of it was the guards at the place. They looked more professional than the usual hired gang members. And everybody was wearing this symbol, a drop of blood against a sail.”
Thalia looks thoughtful. “That fits with the idea of noble money. I haven't heard anything about the gangs running these fights, so it makes sense. My guess is they can't keep them completely secret, though, because they'll want people to watch them.”
“If so, they’re holding back the information until the last moment,” I say.
Thalia nods. “That would make sense. If it's all last minute, then there's less chance of the guards or us interfering.”
“Does that mean we need to wait until they let the news slip about where the fights are?” I ask.
“Maybe,” Thalia says. “That piece of information you gave us about the symbol may help. It will tell us what to look out for. I may be able to find out more.”
“If you do, I want to be a part of this,” I say. “I want to find out what's going on.”
“You still think that bringing everything before the senate will make a difference?” Thalia says, rolling her eyes. “From what I hear, they're too busy worrying about Selene Ravenscroft.”
“She is a concern,” I admit. “But I don't want to take my eye off this, either. So, if you find anything, let me help.”
Thalia hesitates, but then nods. “All right. I'll try to find a way in and then let you know how we're doing it.”
I don't like not knowing the details, but for the moment, it seems there's nothing to know. I have to trust that Thalia will make all the arrangements.
“Is there anything else?” I ask.
“Just make sure Selene Ravenscroft gets what's coming to her,” Thalia says. “I remember what she was like as one of the organizers of the games. She always hid behind rules and order, but she was responsible for making the games as cruel as anyone else.”
I can't promise her that I'm going to push for Selene to be killed. I'm not sure what will happen when she stands in front of the senate.
I leave the inn, heading back to the palace. It seems like a while since I've slept in my own rooms rather than in Marcus's bed, but if he needs space tonight, I can give him that. I sleep, and with sleep comes dreams.
I dream of people being hunted through a forest, people who call out to the animals around them, desperately seeking any help they can get. A moment later, I dream I'm the one running through that forest. I know I'm being chased, and I know that if I slow down for a moment, I'm going to die.
I run at full speed, borrowing from a wolf nearby to let myself lope through the undergrowth. I'm moving so fast nothing can catch me, nothing can keep up with me. I just need to…
I feel something snag my leg, and I'm lifted into the air. I've stepped into a snare, and it has trapped me, leaving me dangling as someone approaches. I recognize Selene instantly. She smiles my way.
“All your speed, all the things you can steal from animals, don't matter to me. However fast you run, you're always running into my trap, Lyra.”
She lifts her hand wreathed in magic, and as the blast of destructive power flies towards me, I brace for the impact.
I wake up in a cold sweat. It's still night. I hadn't realized how much the presence of Selene Ravenscroft rattled me, but it clearly has. I don't want to go back to sleep, so I get up and go over to the window of my rooms, staring out across the city to the prison tower at the edge of the walls.
Selene is in there somewhere. Tomorrow, she’ll come before the senate. What will happen then? Will her life be forfeit, or will something else, something more dangerous, start to take shape?
Are we all just running headlong into her schemes?