CHAPTER NINE
I prepare carefully the next morning before heading down to the senate chamber. I try to look as poised as possible, knowing that plenty of eyes will be upon me. I wait for the servants in the palace to bind up my hair in its usual elaborate set of braids.
When did I start to care about my appearance like this?
Back in the arena, I just wore what they gave me, but maybe that's part of why I care now because the organizers of the games always wanted to show off as much flesh as possible, to present the gladiators fighting there as little more than pieces of meat.
I want to show how far I've come from those days and that they no longer hold any power over me.
It isn't true, though. Every reaction I have to the games is shaped by my time in them.
Even the worry that I have about today is based on the way Selene used to hold power over so many of us in the colosseum.
As a member of the senate, I'm trying her today, but some small part of me still reacts as if she is standing in judgment over me.
There's a knock at my door. Marcus is standing there in his toga.
“Are you ready?” he asks me.
“How can anybody be ready for something like this?” I counter. “Ready to decide if someone lives or dies?”
Marcus spreads his hands. “It's part of the responsibility of being on the senate,” he says. “We need to make the difficult decisions to do the things that will keep Aetheria safe.”
“It sounds as though you're trying to persuade me which way to vote,” I say.
Marcus puts his arms around me. “I know you better than that. You’ll make your own mind up, Lyra. And I know that you'll always do what you believe is best for Aetheria. I just worry that, in this case, you might not be ruthless enough.”
I look at him carefully. “Remember that I've killed people in the Colosseum and in the fight against the emperor. I had to slay my own patron, but I still did it.”
Lady Elara gave me no choice about it. She was going to unleash a wave of beasts to tear through the city, killing indiscriminately. She wouldn't listen to reason, so I had to do what was needed to save the people of the city.
“You're saying you do what's necessary,” Marcus says. “I'm just trying to show you that in this case, killing Selene may be the only option.”
I'm still not convinced about that, though. I don't want to be responsible for a death if I can avoid it. But I must admit I'm not sure what else we can do.
Marcus and I head to the senate chamber. I expect it to be full, and in one sense it is. A crowd stares down at us from the viewing galleries, obviously eager to see what will happen to the former arch magistrate.
But the benches of the senate are not so populated.
Half of the senators seem to be missing, which seems strange given that we're going to be discussing something of such importance.
I could understand it if this were a minor matter of what to build where in the city for its reconstruction; senators miss those discussions all the time.
But not this. Not the fate of one of the most powerful individuals in the old empire, a woman who has been condemned to death in her absence, and exiled permanently.
I can't see Olivia or Yarrow, and their absences are telling, because I couldn't imagine them missing something this important without a reason.
I can start to guess that reason, thanks to the nervous glances the senators give one another as they wait, the sense of fear that pervades the chamber, and the way most of them are keeping servants or guards close.
They're afraid. These figures who are so involved in the governance of Aetheria are afraid of what might happen to them if they stand against Selene Ravenscroft.
No doubt she has a reason to hate many of them already for their roles in the overthrow of the empire.
Many of the rest won't want to risk her anger by speaking against her here.
It's as if they all assume that she will find a way to escape and gain power within the city, taking revenge for both the overthrow of the emperor and the attempt to execute her.
For me, the fear only shows that we need to decide this today.
It shows how dangerous Selene is. We can't allow her a path to come back to power, especially not when it seems she's been murdering beast whisperers. Am I coming around to Marcus’ view that she should be killed?
I don't know if I'm prepared to say that yet, but we can't do nothing.
I sit and wait, holding my hands together so they won’t move nervously.
I can feel the tension rising in the room and see the senators shifting uncomfortably in their seats.
There is silence even in the gallery above as Rowan takes his seat and looks around with disappointment, as if realizing how many people are staying away.
I start at every sound. I can't help but feel that Selene is planning something; it's just a question of what. Will she try to fight her way out of custody using her considerable magic? Will she seek to overthrow the senate here?
There's a chance that everything she's done so far has been to get us all in one room with her, trusting that she can defeat us all using her magic and thus regain the city from the Republic.
I hope she would fail in any such attempt.
Several of the senators have considerable magical powers of their own, and while individually, there might not be a match for the former arch magistrate, together, we should be able to take her down.
So why do I still feel so nervous?
I lean forward in my seat as I see guards bringing Selene into the senate chamber.
She's wearing shackles, but despite those, she still seems almost preternaturally calm, as if nothing about the proceedings touches her.
The guards look faintly afraid of her, perhaps knowing that if she chose to escape, they would be the first victims of her magic.
She walks tall and proud into the middle of the chamber, looking around at the viewing galleries before her gaze settles on Rowan.
“As you requested, we’ve brought you before the senate to answer for your crimes,” Rowan says. “You will have the chance to speak before we render judgment.”
“And what are my crimes?” Selene demands. “What do you accuse me of?”
Marcus stands. “You were complicit in all the worst excesses of the empire,” he says. “You were a part of all its worst cruelties, and you helped to oppress the people of Aetheria. How many people have died at your hands in the name of the empire’s justice?”
Selene doesn't look fazed by the accusation. “I was the arch magistrate, so yes, I enforced the empire's laws. Nothing I did was in breach of those laws. Are you going to punish me for that?”
“When what you did contributed to the suffering of the people?” Marcus counters. “Absolutely. Then there's the part, well, you've been killing beast whisperers out in Arboria.”
“Isn't that rather beyond the jurisdiction of this senate?” Selene says. “I was doing what was necessary.”
“You killed at least one on Aethereian soil,” I point out, but Selene pretends not to hear me.
“You all want to make accusations against me, but let's not pretend this is anything other than political,” Selene says.
“You want me dead because of my connections to the empire.
You think you can't go ahead with your new Republic before getting rid of the last of the old guard.” She's looking to the viewing galleries, not to the senators, as she says it.
“You’ve decided it's more convenient to kill me, even though I haven't broken any of your laws in the time that this Republic has been in existence.”
“You came back when you were exiled,” Marcus points out. “The penalty for that was set when you left. It was commanded that you could be killed the moment anyone saw you. This hearing is a courtesy, nothing more.”
“It's a sham,” Selene says, still looking at the audience in the galleries. “You've already decided what you want to do, haven't you, Marcus?”
“I want to give you a chance,” Rowan says. “Maybe you didn't realize that you were exiled. Maybe you didn't understand the consequences of returning. So, if you wish to leave and go into exile again, you can. Just don't return, because then you would be executed.”
It's obvious Rowan is trying to find a way out of this that resolves the situation peacefully, but I can also see how it plays into Selene’s hands.
“Listen to the first senator,” Selene says. “Already he's making decisions as if he's an emperor. The truth is it's inevitable that an emperor will arise. I'm surprised it's this common born stone shaper, though, rather than…”
She looks around, not specifying who she's thinking of, in an obvious tactic to make every senator there think about whether they could be the ruler of the city. Do her eyes linger on Marcus a fraction longer than anyone else?
“You’re simply trying to divide us,” Marcus snaps.
“Even this hearing shows what a danger you are to the Republic. First Senator Rowan, I move that Selene Ravenscroft isn’t sent into exile, but instead is taken from this place and impaled, her body left where the citizens of the Republic can see the fate of those who support the old empire. ”
It's a harsh, even cruel, thing to call for, and the venom in Marcus's voice catches me by surprise. The other senators in the room seem to be considering it, though, looking to one another as if wondering if they can dare send this powerful magic user back into exile.
“Then we'll need a vote,” Rowan says, although he doesn't look happy about it. “We need to vote on whether we send Selene Ravenscroft back into exile or whether we have her executed.”
“Before you do any of that,” Selene says. “There is one more thing I need to bring up.”
“And what's that?” Marcus demands.
She smiles faintly. “Why, my right, as a powerful magic user, to trial by combat in the arena. You've accused me, but I have the right not to wait for you to render judgment. I can submit to the arena, and if I survive my fights, I go free.”
There’s instant uproar at her words, senators talking over one another, the people in the gallery trying to work out what’s going on.
Rowan stands, shaking his head. “Those are the old ways, the ways of the empire. We don't have fights to the death!”
“But did you change the law to stop anyone from doing this?” Selene asks, her smile only widening.
Rowan hesitates, and I know that he hasn't.
It must have seemed obvious that no one could opt for this when the games weren't running, and it's just as obvious it goes against the spirit of the reformed games.
I see him looking to Senator Octavio, hoping that the senator who has the greatest knowledge of our laws will find a way to prevent this.
Octavio shrugs. “Technically, the possibility is still there.”
“No,” Rowan says. “We can't allow this.”
“You’re going to go against your own laws?” Selene asks.
Rowan curses. “All right. A vote. All those in favor of allowing Selene to fight in the Colosseum to earn her freedom?”
Hands start to rise. Maybe half the room, although not half the senators, given how many are missing.
“And those against?” Rowan says raising his own hand.
I consider raising mine, but Marcus touches my arm lightly shaking his head.
“It wouldn't do any good, and maybe we can deal with her once and for all like this.”
I don't raise my arm, abstaining from the vote instead. Rowan looks disappointed.
“Very well,” he says. “It's decided. Selene Ravenscroft will fight for her life in the colosseum. For now, take her to Ironhold.”