CHAPTER THREE
I leave the senate box, heading into the depths of the stadium while Marcus closes the games. I hurry down to the preparation rooms, and the healers’ slabs there, wanting to make sure Cesca is all right.
The last time Selene fought, she killed a gladiator named Sorrel.
She didn’t do it during their bout, though.
She made it look as though she’d disabled him mercifully, without permanent damage.
But she’d done something far crueler, using vitomancy to put a twisted, growing kind of magic into Sorrel that had consumed him from the inside out.
I need to ensure Selene hasn’t done the same thing again.
My heart beats faster with the fear Cesca might be dying even as I head into the preparation area, into the area reserved for the healers, where stone slabs stand in neat rows, either for gladiators to sit on while they’re healed or for their bodies to lie on when they fall.
Cesca isn’t there, and I frown, looking around for one of the healers. The senate pays to ensure the finest healers are here to help the gladiators with their magic.
“Did Cesca come down here?” I ask one of them.
“She’s already gone,” the healer says. “She didn’t have any injuries to speak of. She’s already gone to the receiving rooms.”
I curse and make my way up through the colosseum, because I can’t take the chance that Selene might have infected Cesca, the same way she did with Sorrel. I’m also worried about the way the two of them walked out of the arena together. I’m worried there’s more going on there.
So I run to the receiving rooms, the spaces within the colosseum that were designed so nobles of the empire could meet with gladiators, gaining reflected glory by being seen with them and giving the gladiators opportunities for them to gain favor.
They've always been places of pleasure and double-dealing, secrets and power.
They’re a place that hold bad memories for me, too.
I used to meet with my patron, Lady Elara, in one of the side rooms there so that she could teach me more about being a beast whisperer, and that got me embroiled in dangerous webs of conflict that ultimately led to me killing her.
The receiving rooms are a space where I’ve been hurt and humiliated, attacked and punished.
Now, as I go into them, I’m one of the important personages who has access to them only because of my status, rather than because of being a gladiator.
There are plenty of others here, including several senators, despite them not being in the senate box.
Senator Olivia is lounging on an elegant couch, augmenting her toga with so many jewels she seems to drip with them, her golden hair adorned by a diamond encrusted circlet.
Senator Octavio stands solemnly at one side, the aging senator always a stickler for the laws and customs of Aetheria.
Senator Yarrow is a dark-haired woman in her forties, who works as a gang leader in the slums when she isn’t undertaking her senatorial duties.
There are plenty of others here as well as senators. There are nobles and merchants, but no common people other than the servants who stand around the edges of the room, ready to provide food, drink or entertainment.
Selene is sitting on one of the many couches there, with Cesca on another not far off.
Both are being attended by knots of supporters, although they’re very different groups.
Cesca seems to attract good looking young nobles who want to take her into one of the side rooms to spend time with her.
It’s one of the ways she builds connections she hopes to use to give herself a better place in the world.
Currently, a handsome young man is sitting close to her, offering her a jeweled pendant.
Selene is surrounded by people who matter far more.
Senator Octavio goes over to her, even though he seems to have no love for her.
I watch as they sit and talk in whispers for a few moments, before Senator Octavio goes out from the receiving rooms once more.
Senator Olivia is next, the two of them sitting there as if they’re old friends, when I know Olivia is frightened of what might happen if Selene gains power.
I doubt Selene will speak to me, and I know she won’t give me a straight answer if she does, so I wait until Cesca is going to one of the servants to get wine so I can intercept her, instead.
“What happened down there in the arena?” I ask.
Cesca hesitates, and it’s as though she’s remembering the answer from somewhere. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You had a chance to stun her with your lightning. Why didn’t you do it?”
There’s another hesitation, a brief flicker in Cesca’s dark eyes. “I don’t understand. She beat me. She was always going to beat me. Begging for my life was the only way to survive. And this way… at least people know I was brave enough to take her on. I’ll get so much more attention this way.”
I can understand that as a motivation for her, but I’m surprised Cesca would just come out and say it.
It’s not the kind of thing she would normally admit to.
She’s more subtle than that, even if she’s usually determined she should be the center of attention.
She doesn’t even seem to care that Selene has more of that attention than her.
Something strange is happening here.
I go after Senator Octavio. I wouldn’t call him a friend.
I’m not even sure how many friends I have on the senate, now that I’m no longer with Marcus, but at least Octavio tries to be fair.
He cares about the law, and about doing the right thing in the city.
I use small animals within the colosseum to locate him, heading for one of the boxes.
I rush after him, borrowing a little speed from some of the birds around the arena so I can move faster.
I’m certainly moving quickly compared to the aging senator, who doesn’t exactly hurry at the best of times, but now seems to be moving almost like a sleepwalker, ambling along at a sedate pace.
It means I catch up to him before he reaches his box. I don’t even know why he’s going back there when the fights are done for the day.
“Senator Octavio,” I say. “May I speak with you?”
The senator turns to me, smiling. “Yes, of course, Senator Lyra, what can I do for you?”
“I was wondering what you were discussing with Selene Ravenscroft,” I say. It’s a direct approach, but I hope Octavio will appreciate that directness. He’s never been someone to enjoy the political games some senators play.
“I’m not sure if I should say,” Octavio says.
“It’s just, I never thought the two of you were allies,” I point out. “You’ve always been so interested in the laws of the Republic, and she’s its enemy.”
“But, as she points out, she hasn’t actually broken our laws,” Octavio says.
“In fact, she’s the embodiment of the laws.
You know, I don’t think she’d mind me telling you.
We were discussing whether a way could be found to give her a place in the senate and end this nonsense of her fighting to the death. ”
That catches me by surprise. “But isn’t this what the law requires?”
Octavio looks blank, hesitating for a moment or two as though unable to remember what he was about to say.
“Oh no, it can’t be,” Octavio says. “After all, Selene would never ask for anything that breaks the law. She’s the embodiment of the law.”
“Yes, you said that,” I say, starting to feel a gnawing worm of worry rising within me.
“The embodiment of the law,” Octavio repeats, “which is why a place should be found for her on the senate. I’m sure you agree.”
That repetition could just be Octavio’s age. He’s nothing if not rambling when he addresses the senate. But his mind is also sharp, with a clear knowledge of all Aetheria’s laws and customs. For him to talk this way is more than strange, it’s actively disturbing.
I need to talk to Olivia as well.
“Thank you for your time, Senator Octavio,” I say, hurrying away from him. I go to try to find Olivia, and the birds above show a gilded palanquin bearing the symbol of her noble house heading back in the direction of her villa within the city walls.
I rush from the colosseum, not caring that there are still duties to undertake there, plenty of details to oversee as the day winds down.
I run through the streets instead, pushing through the crowds making their way from the colosseum back to their homes, or more likely into the entertainment district to continue carousing into the evening.
Olivia’s home is an opulent villa in the middle of the noble district, a place decorated with painted statuary that depicts gods and monsters on almost every available surface.
The outer walls are painted in vivid colors and even the pillars in front of the house have been gilded.
Olivia lives for ostentation, pleasure and subtle influence.
A servant opens the door to me and looks me up and down in surprise, obviously knowing who I am. I’m the last person who would normally visit Olivia’s home, but I need to now.
“I must speak with Senator Olivia,” I say, and the servant nods.
“Of course, Senator, let me show you through.”
He leads the way into the house, to a space where Olivia is lounging on a couch, surrounded by a mixture of wealthy men and women attended by servants and entertainers. She's currently being fed grapes by a bare-chested young man. She looks up from her couch as I approach.
"Lyra, this is a surprise. Finally, come to take up my invitation to a party?"
Her parties are notorious for their hedonism and licentiousness. Just the thought of what I could have walked in on if I’d been a little later to get here makes me blush.
“I needed to talk to you,” I say, moving closer.
She gestures for me to sit on the couch next to her, and I do so, uncomfortably. The young man with the grapes doesn’t go anywhere. “What about?”
“About whatever you were discussing with Selene.”
“Oh, that?” Olivia says. “She was just explaining how much more pleasurable things would be if she got a seat on the senate. I must admit, I’m inclined to agree. Aren’t you?”
Her fingers brush my shoulder.
“No,” I say.
She frowns. “But why not? She’s explained that things will be so much more pleasurable for all of us with her there, rather than fighting.”
There it is again, that note of repetition.
It’s something I’ve seen before, in Cesca, back when a psychomancer named Ravenna was controlling her mind.
Horror fills me at that thought. Is it possible…
is it possible Selene is somehow doing the same?
I know she’s an Archon, but does she really have the power to control minds now?
Has she somehow learned it during her banishment?
If so, it makes her more of a threat than ever. It means she’ll be able to attack the Republic in ways we never anticipated. The rest of the Senate needs to know about this.