CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“There’s a party being held in the grounds of the palace tonight,” Marcus says, as I look out over the city from one of the villa’s balconies in the morning sunlight. “Selene won’t be attending, but Olivia is throwing it.”
“Just a party?” I ask.
Olivia’s parties are known to be wild, hedonistic affairs, where those attending seem happy to indulge in every pleasure they can think of, and Olivia is more than happy to provide them with the means to do so.
“There are limits to what she can get away with in the grounds of the palace,” Marcus says.
He sighs. “Although those limits are widening day by day. As one of Selene’s closest allies, she’s benefiting as Selene expands her control over the senate.
I need to go to counter that, and I can’t ignore an invitation that so obviously has Selene’s hand behind it. ”
He sounds worried, as if he’s holding something back.
“What is it you’re not telling me?” I ask.
Marcus hesitates a moment longer. “The invitation mentions you, specifically. I’m invited to bring you along.”
I can see the tension on his face and feel a similar knot of worry rising in my stomach.
“Why invite me?” I ask.
“To have the opportunity to torment you, most likely,” Marcus says. “Perhaps to claim that you’re acting in ways that require punishment, or to goad you into reacting. I don’t think you should go.”
There’s another note of hesitation in his voice.
“But?” I say.
“But if I don’t bring you, I’m ignoring the invitation,” Marcus says. “I know this party is really because Selene wants it. If I ignore a suggestion to bring you that comes from her, I risk angering her.”
And being seen to pull away from her. I shake my head.
“You can’t do that. I have to go, even if it’s a risk.”
“Too much of a risk,” Marcus insists, but I put a finger to his lips to stop him from arguing. Somehow, that casual movement seems almost natural.
“Not if we do this right,” I say. “Selene and Olivia want to show off that I’ve been defeated, but that also gives us an opportunity to learn more about who’s on their side. It gives you an opportunity to persuade some of them. I need to go with you, Marcus.”
Marcus sighs. “You’re right. I hate that you’re right, but you are.” He looks me up and down. “The only question now is what you’re going to wear.”
It's a more complex question than it sounds.
If I wear one of the old dresses I used to wear, it will be too obvious that Marcus is taking it easy on me as my captor.
If I go dressed as his servant, not only will that not fit the grandeur of the party, but it will encourage others to think of me as something to command, and I don't want to imagine the commands Olivia might try to give me.
In the end, the solution we come to is to adorn me even more.
The dress Marcus finds for me is a shifting thing of green and silver that seems to show as much flesh as it covers.
My sandals are laced with silver strands halfway up my calves.
Marcus sets pieces of jewelry on me until I suspect I’ll be wearing more than even Olivia: rings, bracelets, a silver torc set with emeralds that’s uncomfortably reminiscent of the iron collar I wore as a slave gladiator.
Marcus’ servants have braided my hair with strands of silver until I gleam like the slivers of moonlight falling through the window.
I look like the shining plaything of a noble.
Like Marcus’ plaything.
"I hope this is enough," he says, as we board his silk-lined palanquin to head to the palace.
It has to be. I have to look both like I’m nothing to him and like he’s claimed me as his own so utterly that no one else will dare try anything.
I sit in silence on the way there. I’m going to have to be careful what I say and do tonight.
This party is every bit as dangerous as the sands of the colosseum ever were.
The palanquin’s bearers set it down as we reach the gates of the former imperial palace.
The gardens glow with light, thanks to the magical globes set at intervals.
The less dangerous animals are still roaming the grounds, so that one guest holds out her hand for a night moth that glows with hints of magical power to alight upon it.
There are senators there, albeit not in their togas for once. There are nobles. There are members of Aetheria’s military. How many of the people here have pledged their loyalty to Selene? How many will, before the night is through?
I move through the gardens with Marcus’ hand clasped around my wrist. We can’t move arm in arm, since that would make us look too much like equals, but he doesn’t want to leave me to walk alone.
“Remember,” Marcus whispers to me. “Everything we do or say here carries a message people will interpret.”
I’m only too aware of that, especially as Olivia comes up to us, wearing an elegant yellow dress that hugs her figure, along with even more jewelry than I’m currently wearing.
“Marcus, how good of you to come. And you brought your… what are we calling her now? Your prisoner? Your house guest? Your pet, given that she’s one step from a wild beast?”
I bow my head as demurely as I can.
“So long as you remember that she is mine, Olivia,” Marcus says.
“Oh, you don’t want to share her?” Olivia teases.
“No.”
“Well, as long as she behaves herself, I’m sure it won’t be a problem,” Olivia says. “For now, there are some people who need to meet you, and the beast whisperer will not be required.”
“You want me to abandon her?” Marcus asks.
“Is that a problem?” Olivia counters. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll be perfectly safe. Selene insists.”
I glance across to Marcus, guessing his dilemma. He probably doesn’t want to leave me where he can’t protect me from others, but he can’t just ignore an instruction from Selene Ravenscroft. I give him the barest nod, encouraging him to go.
“Very well,” he says. He and Olivia set off through the party, arm in arm.
Just like that, I’m alone. Music plays around me, not brought forth by any instrument, but merely summoned into being by someone with the magical talent for it.
People dance to that music, moving slowly together on the palace lawns.
There are tables piled high with food. People are dancing.
This being one of Olivia’s parties, a few of them are sneaking off into hidden corners of the garden together.
There are plenty of people I know from my days as a senator, but I don’t dare to approach any of them. Besides, I see another figure there, one I last saw on Aetheria’s streets after she’d gone to meet with Selene in secret:
Lady Cassandra of Arboria.
Her flame-red hair is tied back from strong features and piercing green eyes. She wears a gown that seems to be composed of living leaves. She seems to spot me in the same moment I spot her. She stands there and beckons me closer. I go to her and she looks me up and down.
“My, someone has gone to a lot of trouble to decorate you,” she says, with a faint smile. “I understand your status has fallen somewhat, Lyra. If we were back in Arboria, I’d have to have you kneel.”
Arboria is one of Aetheria’s neighbors, a land of sweeping forests and mages whose magic focuses on the natural elements. It’s also a place that seems to value strength and power over all else, their queen ruling absolutely and their nobles having total power over those beneath them.
“As it is…”
She sweeps me up in an almost crushing hug instead, then steps back.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” Cassandra says. “I thought you were a traitor.”
"I've been given over to Marcus' custody," I explain. "He brought me with him tonight."
“And left you where someone might steal you away? Most foolish.” Cassandra laughs as she says it, but I suspect she’s not entirely joking. Arboria doesn’t respect those without the strength to protect what they claim. If someone can steal away land or people, they own those things without question.
“Shouldn’t I be surprised to see you?” I counter.
“You could be,” Cassandra says. “But that would be foolish. You know why I’m here.”
“To pay homage to Selene Ravenscroft openly, rather than secretly,” I guess. “Why, Cassandra? Why help her to steal a throne?”
She shrugs. “We aren’t helping with anything. My queen was… well, frankly, I'm stretching her orders by holding back this much. But what other options are there? The Senate? It's obviously going to fall. And if there's chaos…"
“You’ll invade,” I say.
Cassandra nods. “I had thought you could give me another choice, but you’re clearly not in a position of strength anymore.”
I wonder if I should tell her that I’m still working to resist Selene. I wonder if I can trust her that much. I’m still wondering it when another familiar figure comes to join us.
"First, Senator Rowan," Lady Cassandra says as Rowan walks up to us. "At least for now. I assume you want to speak with this one, rather than me?"
“If you wouldn’t mind me borrowing her, Lady Cassandra?”
“Of course,” Cassandra says.
Rowan leads me away. “Are you all right?”
I nod. “Just about. I was probably safer with Cassandra than wandering alone. Olivia has taken Marcus somewhere.”
“Probably to discuss all the things Selene wants from the senate,” Rowan says. He sighs. “She has almost complete control there now. Even without Marcus’ faction, she would have a majority big enough to topple me as First Senator. I’m surprised she hasn’t done it tonight, frankly.”
I shake my head. “She’ll wait until the Grand Tournament. She wants to win it, then take power.”
“Riding on a wave of popularity,” Rowan says. “While my own support ebbs away.”
“How?” I ask.
Rowan shrugs. “I’d like to put it all down to bribery, corruption and influence, but I think some of it is simply that the way the Republic is going is becoming less popular. The senators blame me, and maybe they see which way the wind is blowing.”
“I guess it didn’t help that you used your authority to save me,” I say.
Rowan hesitates, then shakes his head. “Many are on my side because they believe in the law, and in avoiding tyranny. Forcing your case back before the senate made it look as though I didn’t believe in the same things.”
“I’m sorry, Rowan,” I say.
He takes my hand in both of his. “Don’t be. I’d do it again in a heartbeat, and I’m still doing what I can for members of the resistance who are brought in. We’ll need them, soon enough.”
“Along with any guards who’ve stayed loyal,” I say.
Rowan nods. “They’ll be there.”
I can see Marcus approaching. He looks tense as I step over to him.
“I think it’s time for us to leave, Lyra,” he says.
I know better than to argue when, even with Rowan, we’re playing the roles we’ve chosen. I set off through the party with him, his hand on my arm again.
“Is something wrong?” I ask him.
“Merely that I saw how strong Selene’s position has become,” Marcus says. “Three members of my faction have become hers. She isn’t undermining me completely, but she’s making it clear she could.”
“Does she know what we’re doing?” I ask.
Marcus shakes his head. “But I think she’s suspicious of the way I’m treating you. Olivia can sense the distance between us.”
“Then we need to show them something different,” I say. Marcus might have a grip on my arm, but I’m the one who leads him to the knot of figures dancing on the palace lawns.
“Lyra,” Marcus begins.
“Shh,” I whisper. “You need to take the lead here, Marcus. Show them there’s no distance, nothing to worry about.”
Marcus hesitates only for a second, before bringing me into his arms, pressing me against him as we dance in the moonlight.
I can feel the eyes upon us as we dance, feel the people watching as Marcus holds me in place with effortless strength.
We move together, and I can feel his muscles moving beneath his clothes as we both move to the rhythm of the ghostly music around us.
I’m caught up in it, and in him as we spin and move, always following his lead.
Marcus bends me backwards looking me in the eyes, and I know a moment before he does it what he’s going to do next.
Marcus kisses me. It’s a deep, powerful kiss with me crushed against him.
The kind of kiss that I could lose myself in utterly.
The kind of kiss I do lose myself in for several seconds, even though I’m not sure whether it’s something real or something for the benefit of those watching.
I’m breathless by the time we straighten up.
“Now, we should go,” he murmurs.
I go with him, still thinking about that kiss. I’m thinking about Marcus, and what I’ll say if he wants more from me when we reach his villa.
But I’m not just thinking about Marcus. I’m worried about how little we’ve accomplished here tonight, and how dangerous our situation is.
We’re walking through a world of influence and subtlety, but somehow, I know none of this will be decided that way in the end.
Somehow, I know the fate of Aetheria will come down to violence, and I’m determined to be ready.