CHAPTER NINE
I march up to Ironhold with a group of guards at my side and an official order clutched in my hand. The fact that I'm the one who signed it makes no difference to the officials with me. I'm a senator, and one of those who oversee the games, so I have that right.
For the past few weeks, it’s felt as if my position on the various committees relating to the colosseum and the games has been increasingly meaningless.
I'm on them to try to enforce safety standards within the games but almost from the moment I began, others have sought to undermine those standards.
Now, though, there's a chance I might be able to do something useful with my position. As one of those overseeing the safety of the games, it also falls to me to make sure that the restrictions limiting what Selene can do in the arena remain strong.
In other words, I have the authority to check her dampener as I might check any other piece of her equipment.
How many times have I marched to the fortress overlooking the city, surrounded by guards?
Too many to count, usually when I was being brought back from the games, or from a visit to one of my patrons.
The emperor would often have his guards bring me to him in the palace, and those audiences with him always terrifying.
In those days the guards were to make sure I didn't run away.
Now, they're with me just in case Selene Ravenscroft decides to murder me.
I have no doubt she has control within Ironhold.
We placed her in a prison and, in doing so, we gave her a fortress.
Nominally it's controlled by the guards who train there, by the city officials who work within it, and by the trainers for the gladiators who still perfect their skills within its walls, even if they aren’t forced to do so the way they were under the empire.
Selene is meant to be the only prisoner within Ironhold, these days, the only gladiator who isn't free until she completes her five seasons on the sands. More common prisoners are kept in the prison tower or other places. Even Domitian isn’t in Ironhold, because he isn’t fighting as a gladiator.
Is that why she didn't just have the senate vote to free her? Is she determined to get those five seasons, so there can be no doubt that she earned her place and freedom within the strictures of Aetherian laws?
I don't know what her plans are, and not knowing is frightening when Selene is an opponent who thinks well ahead, and who has access to magical powers on a scale most people can only dream of.
I feel as though I'm a piece caught up in her game, even though I'm a senator and a powerful magical practitioner in my own right.
I feel as though she's manipulating me at every step, so I can't be certain that even what I'm doing now isn't exactly what she wants.
I approach Ironhold, hearing the clash of steel as the gladiators and the guards there train, working hard to perfect their skills.
I try to look inside using my powers, but I still can’t feel any animals within other than those inside the beast pens, carefully contained so they won’t be a danger to anyone else there.
It means I’m effectively blind. If it comes to a fight, maybe I’ll be able to summon creatures from the beast pits, or at least steal power from them to help me fight back.
But I can’t see Selene, can’t judge what she’s up to here when her magic has killed or scared off every creature within the fortress.
Guards meet us at the front gate, standing with their spears crossed, as if they might deny us entry. I hold out my written orders.
“I’m Senator Lyra Thornwind,” I say. “As part of my role on the safety committee of the games, I have the right to inspect Selene Ravenscroft’s dampener. Stand aside and let me do so.”
For a moment, I think they might not, but that would be proof of just how far Selene’s influence has gone, even if it doesn’t show psychomancy behind it. It will be enough to get a response from Rowan and a majority of the senators, I hope.
The guards step back, though, waving me in. “We’ll bring her to you,” one says, as we stand in the sandy courtyard beyond the wall. “Please, wait here.”
The guard seems to be warning us not to go looking around the fortress, not to inspect more.
I wonder what I’ll find if I do. I can see guards working in unison, training with the white and gold uniforms of the Republic shining in the sun.
I hope that they’re all loyal to the city, but the terrifying thing is that we have no way of knowing.
Before, when Domitian rose up, he was able to persuade plenty of soldiers to side with him.
He did that even without psychomancy to help him. What might Selene achieve?
I stand there in the sun for what feels like forever, sweating in the heat while the guards and officials with me look equally uncomfortable. I have no doubt we’re being kept waiting deliberately. It’s just a small way for Selene to demonstrate her power here.
Soon, though, she comes out to meet us, walking without guards as if to demonstrate that she’s coming to me voluntarily.
Perhaps she’s also saying that she doesn’t feel she needs guards with her, doesn’t need their protection when she has her own considerable power.
She’s wearing the training gear of a gladiator, a faint sheen of sweat on her skin, as if she’s been training hard.
Her violet eyes sweep over my small group, and she smiles, standing before us as if she’s some powerful figure we’ve come to as supplicants.
“Lyra, I’m surprised to see you back here,” Selene says, as if we’re old friends, rather than enemies.
“I’m here to check on your dampener,” I say. “I know what you’re doing, Selene.”
“And what am I doing?” Selene asks.
“You’re using psychomancy to influence the senate and gain power within the city,” I say.
“You imagine I’m controlling the whole senate?” Selene says with a smile that doesn’t begin to deny it. “To do something like that would require more power than any psychomancer we’ve seen in Aetheria for a generation.”
“We all know you’re powerful,” I say. “And I’m starting to understand some of what you did in exile: training and getting stronger so you’d be ready for this moment.”
Selene holds up the arm that has the dampener. “There is the small matter of the restrictions on me.”
“That’s why we’re here,” I counter. “I’m here to check your dampener, to make sure it’s still working. For the safety of the games.”
Selene nods as if I’ve just scored some kind of point against her. “You’re learning to use your position and the laws. It’s a pity you turned down my offer to work with me.”
“I’m surprised you aren’t simply controlling my mind to make me do what you want,” I reply.
Selene sighs. “Beast whisperers are always tricky to control. It’s just one of the things that makes your kind so dangerous. It’s not too late to join me, you know.”
“Just let me check your dampener,” I reply.
Will she refuse? Will she try to fight us even here. My heart beats faster in my chest with the possibility of violence.
Then Selene holds out her arm. I stare at the dampener.
I can feel its power, feel the familiar, nullifying magic of the thing, but I’m not an expert on this.
Thankfully, I’ve brought officials with me who know about such things.
A couple of mages stare at Selene’s arm, examining the dampener as closely as they can.
“There are differences here,” one of them says, in a worried tone. “The runes have been changed to permit the flow of more power in specific areas.”
“Including psychomancy?” I ask. I’ve got her. I have the proof I need that Selene is tampering with the politics of the city.
The mage blinks, then looks at me blankly. “I’m sorry?”
“Has the dampener been tampered with to allow Selene to use psychomancy?” I demand.
The mage blinks again. “The dampener hasn’t been tampered with.”
“You just said it has been,” I insist.
The mage shakes his head. “No, I didn’t. The dampener hasn’t been tampered with.”
The other mage nods. “Everything is fine.”
I glare at Selene and she smiles back. We both know what she’s doing. She’s controlling the minds of these men, implanting one small suggestion that they can’t overcome. I take a step towards her.
“What are you going to do, Lyra?” she asks. “Attack me here? In a place filled with guards? Do you think they’d come to your aid, or mine?”
I hesitate, because I don’t know the answer. Selene has outmaneuvered me here.
“I can still go back and tell the senate what I saw here,” I say.
“And would they believe you?” Selene seems very satisfied with herself. “When the experts you brought with you say the opposite? Who’s to say that any official you talk to will let you finish? Do you know which ones you can trust?”
Real fear rises through me at those words, because Selene is right. I don’t know how far her influence runs. I have no way of knowing whether anyone I speak to will have been influenced by her suggestions, no way of being certain I can get enough senators together to take her on.
“You should leave now, Lyra,” she says. “Your officials and your guards have seen what they need to see. Go back to the city. I’m sure you won’t want to miss what happens next.”
I back away, still wondering if I should try to fight.
I can’t risk it, though, not here. I leave with the others, heading back in the direction of the city.
I don’t plan to head back to the senate chamber when I get there.
I don’t know who I can trust within it now.
Rowan will do what he can, but the senate will never vote to stop Selene now.
Alaric and his resistance are our only hope.