CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
It's almost dawn before I emerge from the tunnels, tired and afraid, knowing that whatever stability I've built up in my life has been torn apart by one night of chaos. In the course of an evening, two men I've loved have turned away from me, set on courses I cannot follow.
Marcus is not who I believed him to be. Or maybe he's who he showed himself to be all along. I believed that his focus on the games and on the return of fights was simply a political necessity. Now I see that he's committed to the violence at the heart of Aetheria.
As for Alaric, he's so committed to being a rebel that he can't imagine the possibility of changing anything within the laws of the city. He wants me to be a part of disruption and violent change, but I can't go along with that approach, either.
The two would hate that I see them as having anything in common, but from my perspective they're almost identical.
Both Marcus and Alaric believe the city needs to be changed, and they're so set on their ideas of how it should be done they won't listen to anyone else.
They want life to be better for the people, but they don't care how many of those people get hurt in the process of change.
I do. In the uprising I stood against two rebel leaders in Vex and Lady Elara, one committed to the rule of the nobles the other to the power of the beast whisperers. Each wanted me to join their side, but I fought against and ultimately killed both.
But neither of them were people I was as close to as Marcus or Alaric. Lady Elara was a mentor to me for a while, but despite the rumors, we were never lovers. Vex was my enemy almost from the moment I entered Ironhold.
Marcus and Alaric mean so much more to me than either of them. Can I really stand against them? Really fight to make sure their visions of the future for the city don't come to pass? How far am I prepared to go to protect the Republic and what it stands for?
I don't know, and for now I'm too tired to think about it.
I rested in the tunnels, hiding away and trying to leave it as long as possible so that the guards would stop searching.
I don't know how many people they've caught or what’s become of them.
Because I've emerged in the slums, I keep my head down as I head into the city, hoping that nobody recognizes me in my disguise.
I can feel eyes on me, but I suspect they have more to do with the part where I still look like a courtesan than with any hint of recognition.
Just to stay safe, I use the birds above to watch me and keep me out of the way of any danger as I head back to the palace. When I get there, I half expect to find Marcus waiting for me, ready to try to talk me around, or failing that, guards, waiting there to arrest me.
There are neither, so I bathe and change, casting off my disguise and putting on a dark grey dress edged with purple.
The darkness of it matches my mood, like a thundercloud poised on the edge of a storm.
The whole city feels like that now that I know just how much Marcus and Alaric are working in the background.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do today.
I can't exactly go to Rowan with news of what I did last night because much of it was illegal, and he wouldn't want to hear that I was caught up in the middle of some huge fight.
I don't have the evidence I would want of what Marcus is doing, even though I now know that he's the one running the fights.
I don't have any way to contact Alaric directly.
For the moment, all I can do is try to recover from the night’s exertions, and even in that I'm interrupted by a servant who comes to my door holding a message.
For a moment, I assume it's from Marcus.
Maybe he's going to ask me to be his villa.
Maybe he hopes that if he shows me enough affection, if he makes enough of a show of contrition, I'll forgive him and he can keep going with his plans to have me by his side as…
what? A trophy wife? A political ally? Someone to impress the other senators?
I'm not certain if he loves me or if he just sees me as something useful. I suspect Marcus doesn't really see the difference.
But this doesn't seem to be a note from Marcus. It isn't his writing. This is a neat, flowing hand that I don't recognize. I open the message and read carefully.
Come see me if you want answers. Today. You may not get another opportunity.
Selene Ravenscroft
She's sending me messages from inside Ironhold?
I guess that's possible, but the tone of the message isn't that of a prisoner asking to speak with a senator, or even the kind of message that I might have sent if I needed to speak to one of my patrons back in the days when I was held in Ironhold.
This is a simple summons, something that makes it clear I'm going to her on her terms, not mine.
I could ignore it, but I don't. Partly, that's because of the promise of answers; partly, it's because I don't understand the part at the end that speaks about me not getting another opportunity.
Partly, though, it's the timing. Do I really think it's a coincidence that Selene has contacted me immediately after I've discovered the truth about the death matches beneath the city?
Somehow, she knows what happened last night.
I know I can't ignore her so I leave the palace and head through the city, heading out of it into the slums once more, trying to ignore the rising heat of the day as I walk towards the granite fortress that stands beyond Aetheria.
As usual, I can hear people training within as I arrive, and my heart aches with the thought that I won't see Sorrel there. In fact, all I can see are a few guards working hard to be ready for any violence in the city or to counter any threats from beyond it.
I had through Ironhold slowly, the weight of memory on me as I go into places that used to be for the containment of slave gladiators such as myself. Selene’s cell is down here, and she's waiting, sitting comfortably behind a set of metal bars.
She's dressed in very familiar fashion, in a robe of purple and gold that’s halfway between her old robes as the arch magistrate and the kind of thing the emperor might have worn back in the days before I killed him.
She's reading a series of scrolls and doesn't look up for several seconds as I approach.
Finally, Selene deigns to look my way, smiling faintly.
“You came.”
“You called me here,” I point out.
“And you came running to your betters. Isn't that nice?"
“You said you had answers for me,” I say. “If that's not true, I'll go.”
“We both know that you'll stay. You're eager for any scrap of information you can get. You still want the details of my evil schemes. Isn't that what you think of what I'm doing?”
“What you’re planning, whatever it is, will probably get people killed. You poisoned Sorrel with your magic. You abducted and murdered beast whisperers in Arboria. Why should I think of you as anything other than evil?”
“Maybe I'm just someone who does whatever's necessary for the good of the city,” Selene says. “It's why I made sure you had your full powers, so that you would be able to overthrow Tiberius. All for the good of Aetheria.”
“So you're casting yourself as a good person now?” I ask.
Selene smiles faintly. “Am I good? Am I bad? I'm not sure such labels mean very much for the powerful. You should know that, given that you're meant to be a senator. The likes of us make decisions that affect the lives of others. I pick my decisions for the benefit of the city.”
“Or for your own benefit,” I suggest. “You've told me that you stepped back to let me kill the emperor because you saw that he was mad. But I think you did it because you saw a revolution coming, and you realized it was the best way to ensure you survived.”
She laughs then, with a delicate sound that’s at odds with the harshness of her cell.
“Is that all you think this is about for me?” Selene says.
“I don't know. Why don't you tell me? Before, you said ‘what grows beneath the city will consume it with or without me’. Are you ready to tell me what you mean?”
She shrugs. “You've seen what's growing beneath the city.
Discontent, dissatisfaction, violence. Your precious Republic thinks that it has created the ideal conditions for people to live in, but it's being pulled in every direction by those who are unhappy with it. No one has the strength to take charge.”
“No one but you?” I guess.
Selene doesn't seem offended by the cynicism in my tone.
“You've experimented with giving power to the people and it hasn't worked.
You must have seen for yourself by now that the people want violence and entertainment.
That they're corrupt if allowed to be. They need a ruler with the strength to point them in the right direction. The games are a part of that, but so is the magic of the city and the sense of purpose and identity the empire used to possess.”
“So you want to put yourself in Tiberius’ place after all?” I say.
Selene shrugs again. “Tiberius was a madman at the end, but just because he was a bad emperor, that doesn't mean emperors are a bad idea.
I could offer the city a sense of order, and I would be much fairer than he ever was.
There wouldn't be mindless cruelty, but nor would there be the weakness that your Republic has allowed to thrive.”
“And how exactly do you plan to make yourself empress?” I ask.
“You must understand some of it by now, Lyra,” Selene says.
“You aren't stupid. I left the city to let the ill feeling settle down and to see what shape the new society in the city would take. I trained and grew more powerful, and if I managed to create a little disruption that will set the Arborians against Aetheria, so much the better. I find civilizations work better when they have an enemy.”
“But then you came back and were caught,” I point out.
“I surrendered to the guards,” Selene says, spreading her hands. “It's not quite the same thing. I knew what would happen. I knew I would be able to force you to let me fight in the games. You, of all people, must know how easy it is to gain popularity among the ordinary people that way.”
I do. Fighting and winning in the games made me a hero to the people of Aetheria. Selene has only fought one bout, but it's already enough to get people talking. And it's done more than that.
“So you get people on your side and you also force the senate to have matches where death is a possibility.”
“Exactly. And, of course, it's allowed me to talk to many important people in the receiving rooms. Do you think, even with you watching me, you were able to stop me from talking to all of them?”
Her smile suggests that she has made contact with exactly the people she wanted, and that she will have supporters in the city.
“So your plan is just to take the throne?” I say.
She's so calm, as if we're discussing the weather rather than treason against the Republic.
“There's no need to make it sound like something so horrific,” Selene says. “The people need to be led, and so I will lead. Aetheria is a place of magic, and I have more magic than anyone. Even you.”
“So you'll rise up and slaughter us all?” I say.
Selene shakes her head. “That's the thing, Lyra.
It doesn't have to be like that. I know there are plenty of people around you who think in those terms, but why should gaining control of the city need this brutal battle?
You and others could simply join me. There would still be a senate.
It's simply that it would advise me as your empress rather than seeking to control everything like a bunch of squabbling children.
There would be a place for you in my court if you wanted it.
You're a champion of the arena, Lyra. I want such people in positions of influence.”
It's my turn to laugh. “I have no intention of ever serving you, Selene.
And all of this plotting… it runs into one problem.
Ultimately, you're still a prisoner. You still have a dampener on your wrist. You’re still someone who has to fight for her survival in the Colosseum.
I'm pretty sure that the senators are planning to make sure you don't survive the next bouts.”
“I’m sure too,” Selene says. She approaches the door to her cell, just inches away from me through the bars. “But I think you're the one who's miscalculated things here. You are, after all, missing one crucial piece of information.”
“And what's that?” I demand.
Selene pushes the door to her cell, and it swings open smoothly, not even locked. Horror fills me as that happens.
“I'm the one in control here,” Selene says. She gestures to her cell. “This is for your benefit. All this is a show. I’m going to get what I want. Don't go calling for the guards. Not all of them serve me, but enough. You're not the one they would help.”
She's suborned at least some of the guards. We imprisoned her here, but she has more control and freedom than anyone in her position should have.
I start to draw myself up, anticipating a fight.
“What are you going to do, Lyra?” Selene asks. “Try to kill me? I’m sitting happily in my prison, waiting to fight out my five seasons. You’re going to undermine your own Republic like that?”
I would be going against the Senate, going against a decision we’ve already made. I would be putting myself above everyone else. Like an emperor.
“Besides,” Selene says. “Do you really want to fight me here like this? Are you so confident your dampener still restricts me? I know their magic better than anyone.”
Could I beat her? Could I win one-on-one in a space like this? I don't know, but she seems far too confident.
“I think you should go, don't you?” Selene says. “None of the guards will bother you on the way out. You have my word. Run back to the senate. Run to the so-called first senator. Tell him what happened here. Tell him the way things are going to change in Aetheria.”
I back out of the cells, keeping my eyes on her for as long as possible. As soon as I'm back outside, I run for the gates of Ironhold, heading out to the fortress even as guards watch me with unfriendly expressions.
I start to run for the city. I need to tell Rowan just how much danger we're all in.