CHAPTER NINETEEN
The days acquire a pattern that’s surprisingly easy to fall into.
In the mornings, I work with Marcus, training with him, training to increase my strength, or working out ways to counter particular gladiators he’s heard might be a part of the Grand Tournament.
He doesn’t have the skills of a trained gladiator, but he can still help me to prepare, and he still seems determined to get me into the best physical shape possible.
His servants massage my muscles with oil, and have started feeding both of us a diet that has less to do with the rich fare of a wealthy merchant and more in common with the food of a gladiator.
As soon as Marcus leaves for the senate, Alaric takes over. His preparations are all about pushing me hard with weapons, forcing me to improve in practice bouts where we tumble and whirl, exchanging rapid series of blows.
Half the time, Alaric uses his illusions to mimic Selene, so that it feels as though I’ve fought her a hundred times now, rather than just on a couple of occasions.
He doesn’t have her magic, but he can send out illusory darts and beams of purple force, commenting each time they strike me on the damage they might do.
“That one would numb your left arm,” Alaric says, as a dart strikes home. “Only use the right.”
I drop my net and use my trident one handed, trying to fend off slashes from the curved blade Alaric holds. He forces me further and further off balance, before another blast of illusory power strikes me in the chest.
“And that one would kill you,” Alaric says.
“You don’t know that,” I insist. “Neither of us knows what magic she would use.”
“But we know it’s powerful,” Alaric insists, “and that any touch of her magic could prove debilitating. You need to avoid every blast of it, or she’ll have you at her mercy.”
We both know how little mercy Selene will have, given the chance. I scramble back to a ready position, hoping that this time, I’ll be able to avoid everything Alaric throws at me in his guise as Selene.
Marcus comes over to us, still wearing his senatorial toga.
“How’s Lyra doing?” he asks Alaric.
“Her physical skills are improving,” Alaric says. “But her lack of magic is a problem. Lyra doesn’t have anything that will let her counter Selene’s magic directly, so she needs to avoid all of it.”
“I’m right here, you know,” I say. It’s good that Marcus and Alaric are getting along a little better, but right now, I’d appreciate a little more encouragement from them.
“And you need to keep working here until you dodge everything I throw,” Alaric says. He throws a blast of illusion my way, but I’m expecting it and duck out of the way, already thrusting with my trident.
We start to exchange blows again, and Alaric’s right about the effect the disparity between our magic has.
I’m put into a position where I must dodge each one, continuously moving.
I dive and roll, snatching up my net and flinging it in one movement.
For once, Alaric isn’t able to get out of the way.
The net wraps around him, holding him in place just long enough for me to jab forward with my trident, touching it to his chest.
It's a reminder that, despite Alaric’s warnings, I do have a chance.
I’ve always had to fight against bigger, stronger opponents, against foes with the power to kill me with a single blow.
The very essence of the fighting style I learned with the net and trident is to hit and move, dodging attacks rather than standing and blocking them.
Selene might have the power to kill with a single blast of her magic, but I also only have to connect with one of my attacks.
If I tangle her in my net, or if my trident connects, any fight between us will be over.
Alaric is still disentangling himself from my net as a servant runs over. His appearance shifts once more, thanks to his illusions, becoming that of a trainer who looks only a little like him. Not that the servant is looking his way. Her eyes are fixed on Marcus, and on me.
“Senator, a visitor has come to the villa.”
“I’m in the middle of something, Talae.”
The servant nods. “I understand, Senator, but… it’s Selene Ravenscroft.”
Alaric’s expression hardens. “Selene Ravenscroft is here?”
He looks as though he wants to charge into the house and cut her down. Marcus seems to realize that.
“Thank you, Talae. Lyra and I will be right in.”
The servant hurries away.
“We could deal with her here and now,” Alaric says.
“And then a senator has murdered her in his own home,” Marcus points out. He shakes his head. “Even if I thought murdering Selene would stop her followers, rather than making her a martyr, I’d rather not do it in a way that sees all three of us imprisoned afterwards.”
Alaric still takes half a step towards the house, but I get in his way.
“Let’s do this the right way,” I say. “Go. Marcus and I will see what she wants.”
Alaric looks troubled, but he nods and heads for the gates to the villa. Marcus and I head inside. Selene is waiting for us, sitting comfortably on a couch as if Marcus had invited her to come over to talk.
“Ah, Marcus, there you are,” she says.
Marcus smiles that politician’s smile of his. “Selene. So good to see you. I wasn’t expecting you to come over today.”
“I was hoping to speak with Lyra,” Selene says. She looks me up and down. “I see you’ve been training. I hope your hard work has been paying off.”
She doesn’t seem surprised. She certainly doesn’t seem unhappy about it.
“Lyra has been working to regain her skills as a fighter,” Marcus says.
“And you’ve encouraged that,” Selene replies. “To the point of trying to enter her in the Grand Tournament.”
“I made much of my reputation as an organizer of the games,” Marcus points out. “Doesn’t it make sense, if I have a gladiator under my control, that I should put her into the greatest tournament held in Aetheria?”
Selene’s smile gives nothing away.
“I was hoping I could speak to Lyra, Marcus,” she says.
“Of course,” Marcus replies, gesturing to me.
“Alone.”
Marcus hesitates, and I can guess at his concerns. If I’m alone with Selene, there’s always a chance she might try to kill me while my dampener limits my ability to fight back. I don’t have any real weapons, and I can’t just summon creatures to my side.
“Don’t worry, Marcus,” Selene says. “I won’t hurt your lover. You have my word.”
Marcus looks at me, then nods, his politician’s smile sliding smoothly back into place. “Of course. I’ll be in the next room once you’re finished.”
He steps away, leaving me alone in the room with Selene. She waits for me to go, then steps forward, power glowing in her hands. Should I cry out for Marcus’ help? For him to come back with lightning already flashing towards her?
Selene lets the power fade away. “I wonder how he’d react if I broke my word? It’s obvious he still loves you. I wonder what you had to do for him to persuade him to try to put you into the Grand Tournament.”
“It wasn’t easy to get him to do it,” I admit. Marcus wanted me to be safe, after all. “Why have you come here, Selene?”
“I wanted to reassure you that I wasn’t the one who sent the assassins,” Selene says.
“That was Olivia,” I say. I want Selene to understand that I know that much. “She was trying to keep me out of the tournament.”
Selene nods. “Well done. I wasn’t sure if you’d work out that part. She won’t do it again. I’ve made it clear to Olivia that I won’t tolerate one of the people around me trying to kill another.”
“Shouldn’t you be telling Marcus that, not me?” I say.
“Oh, I’ll make it all clear to him soon enough,” Selene says. “But I wanted to have this conversation with you, Lyra. I don’t want you thinking I was trying to keep you out of the Grand Tournament.”
“You want me there?” I say.
Selene nods. “Olivia wanted to keep you away to make sure I would have an easy victory. She’s already arranged bribes and threats to give me an easy path through the tournament. But we both know it can’t be too easy.”
“The crowd would see the difference,” I say. “For all your power, you still need the people on your side if you’re going to claim power.”
Selene shrugs. “I could take it without their support, but a ruler can’t rule Aetheria for long without a power base. I have magic and I have political friends, but Tiberius showed how easily that can go wrong.”
The emperor fell when the city finally rose up against him. All his power and guards couldn’t stop it.
“And so, you want to face me in the tournament,” I say.
Selene nods. “I’m persuading people that those with the most magical power should rule. If I defeat the legendary beast whisperer, the former champion of the colosseum, I’ll show them that there is no one to match me magically.”
Thus legitimizing her claim to power. She’ll create the kind of moment where she can shift the whole of Aetheria.
“I could kill you,” I say.
Selene nods. “There’s always that risk. But what is life without risk? I came here to tell you that I’m not afraid of facing you, Lyra. I’ll see to it that you’re a part of the Grand Tournament.”
Selene says that with a casual confidence that suggests she isn’t taking the threat from me seriously. Does that mean she’s simply arrogant, or does it mean she’s arranged advantages for herself in the games that I simply don’t know about yet?
Selene steps away from me. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I want to reassure Marcus that I didn’t order his death. I look forward to seeing you in the colosseum, Lyra.”
She walks in the direction of the room Marcus went into, leaving me behind.
I should feel worried about her confidence when it comes to facing me, but for the moment, all I can feel is joy that I’m going to get what I want here.
I’m going to get to fight in the Grand Tournament.
If I fight my way through it, I’m going to get the chance to face her.
I’m going to have the opportunity to stop her, but that means when the moment comes, I need to be ready.