CHAPTER ELEVEN
I sit waiting in the senate chamber within the palace.
The viewing galleries are empty, but only because the guards at the gates are keeping out anyone who isn’t meant to be there.
They’re pushing them out of the noble district, too, which sits like an island of tranquility in a city that I guess is utterly disturbed by the events of the day.
The senators file in, taking their seats. Domitian looks furious. Even Rowan doesn’t look happy as he sits down in the chair of the first senator.
"All right," Rowan says. "Domitian, you're the one who called this emergency session of the senate. I assume this has to do with the way things went in the Colosseum?"
"The details of which you would already know if you were in the stadium," Domitian snaps.
Rowan has stuck fast to his principles by not going to the games, but increasingly, it means that he's out of the loop when it comes to events.
Far too much of the city's business takes place within the halls of the Colosseum.
“Have a care, Domitian,” Rowan says. “I am still the first senator of this city.”
“And I’m sure we all respect that,” Senator Octavio says, standing. “But today resulted in significant disorder. The guards had to intervene in the arena to protect people.”
“That’s not the way I remember it,” I say.
“Of course you don’t,” Domitian snaps. “Because you were a part of that disorder. You're working with the rebels within the city. The ones who want to undermine the Republic and all our hard-won gains!"
Rowan looks over to me. “What does he mean, Lyra?”
Domitian speaks again before I can reply, though. “What I mean is that we all know that these traitors are connected to the former gladiator, Alaric! Her lover! He’s been sending the senator messages.”
“Is that true, Lyra?” Rowan asks.
“That Alaric has been sending me messages?” I say. I nod. “But as the senator says, we used to be together. Does he think we should each pretend that the other doesn’t exist?”
“And you’ve been helping him!” Domitian says. “When the guards came down onto the colosseum’s floor, she controlled the great birds that were there, setting them on the guards!”
“That’s a dangerous accusation, Domitian,” Rowan says. “You’re saying that a member of Aetheria’s senate has been attacking the city’s guards.” He looks at me as he says it, the warning in that stare obvious. “And you’ve been saying that she’s aiding traitors. Another serious accusation.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Domitian says. “The birds started flocking in perfect formation.”
"Birds you ordered to be released onto the sands," I counter.
I know I need to fight back here. This is a contest as dangerous as any I was in during my time in the Colosseum.
"Birds that, as you said to me, run when they're threatened.
Creatures that flee like that will often gather in flocks or herds. "
“This wasn’t the same,” Domitian snarls, pointing at me. “A beast whisperer was controlling them!”
“Do you have any evidence of that?” Marcus asks, standing.
Domitian rounds on him. “Of course you’d protect her. Everyone knows you’re lovers.”
“Make up your mind,” I say to him. “Am I siding with Alaric because we’re together, or is Marcus siding with me because we’re a couple?”
“From the rumors I heard when you were a gladiator,” Domitian snaps. “You would lie with anyone who wanted you.”
The insult stings, the old rumors coming back to bite me. I see lightning crackling in Marcus’ hands, his anger obvious.
“Have a care, Domitian,” Rowan says, in a tone just as angry. “You’re insulting a senator of this city.”
“She needs to hide behind you?” Domitian asks.
“I don’t need to hide behind anyone,” I reply, my voice tight. “And I won’t let you just insult me.”
“You’re on shaky ground as it is, without making threats,” Domitian says.
“What shaky ground?” Rowan counters. “Marcus has a point. Do you have any evidence that a beast whisperer was involved? And that, even if one was, it was Lyra?”
Domitian stands there, glaring angrily, his hands balled into fists. He hesitates just a fraction of a second too long.
"Isn't the truth that Senator Domitian has been trying to make the games more dangerous?
" I say, looking around at the rest of the room.
"That he thought he could create a spectacular moment in the Champions' Challenge, without consulting on the safety of what he was planning?
He released creatures he didn't understand into the Colosseum.
Then, when something started to go wrong, he was surprised when those creatures only added to the chaos. "
Maybe I’m learning to win this kind of fight, or at least to strike back, rather than just standing there and taking whatever attacks my opponents want to level at me.
Domitian looks even more angry, but I can see a couple of the other senators nodding.
Maybe it will limit the damage to me here, at least stop me from being declared some kind of threat to the Republic.
“There’s still the matter of Alaric and his group,” Domitian says. “This is a man who is plotting against the Republic, a noble who probably wants to install himself as emperor.”
“You think Alaric would do something like that?” I demand.
“Of course he would,” Domitian says. “Everyone remembers the reputation he built, as the most arrogant of all the gladiators. The son of a noble house. A man who left the Republic as soon as it was founded. Like you, Senator Lyra.”
“Because we’d done our part,” I say.
Domitian cocks his head to one side. “Is that how you think? That there isn’t anything left to do in Aetheria? The rest of us continue to work for the good of the people.”
“You only work for your own benefit,” I snap back at him. “You care about the games, not the people.”
Domitian laughs. “And now you’re even echoing the very sentiments of Alaric’s traitors. Are you going to accuse the rest of the senate of being corrupt, the way they did?”
The trap there is obvious. If I speak against the senate like that, then I risk losing whatever slender thread of support I possess.
"That's enough," Rowan says. "If you accuse everyone connected with Alaric of being a traitor, you might as well accuse me.
For now, the chaos in the Colosseum is over.
The guards will continue to look for those who caused it, including Alaric.
If they insist on standing against our city, then they must be brought to justice.
Aetheria is fragile, a dream we've all worked to build. We can't let anyone tear that down."
“You really want to send the guards after Alaric?” I say.
“I don’t want any of this to be happening,” Rowan retorts, “but it is, and we need to deal with it. Now, excuse me. I believe the diplomats from Arboria wish to speak to me.”
He stands, leaving the chamber, and all the rest of the senators start to filter out, heading for the rooms nearby.
They aren't going there to feast and drink wine this time, but I can see them talking in small knots and groups.
Marcus is talking with a young noble whose name I think might be Lucius, a slender man of about twenty, with a short, dark beard and deep-set eyes.
I head over in their direction, and Lucius bows to me.
“Senator Lyra. Forgive me if I don’t stay. I might be one of Marcus’ allies, but I’m not sure if this is a good moment to be seen with you.”
“Be polite, Lucius,” Marcus chides him.
“That is the polite version, Marcus. I understand the senator means something to you, and I can see she clearly cares about the people of the city, but after today, being seen too close to her might cause problems. For both of us.”
Marcus puts a hand on my shoulder. “And yet I’m happy to be seen beside her. Are we done here, Lucius?”
Lucius nods. “And I’ll do the other thing you asked, as well.”
He turns and leaves, hurrying away as if worrying that just being seen near me is likely to damage his political standing. I can understand it in part, given the conversation that just happened in the senate chamber, but it still hurts to think that I’ve become too toxic to be seen with.
And yet Marcus is next to me, still.
“How much does it damage you, being seen with me like this?” I ask.
He sighs. "What do you want me to say, Lyra? I was able to defend you in there, but everyone knows that you interfered in the attempts of the guards to bring Alaric's troublemakers to justice."
“Because they were attacking them,” I shoot back. “The guards were beating them, Marcus.”
"They stepped into the middle of the Colosseum," Marcus points out. "There are those who might say they risked violence just by doing that. And standing up to Aetheria… it's dangerous, Lyra."
"They're not standing up to Aetheria, just to the games," I retort.
Everyone here seems determined to misrepresent what they want.
To suggest that they're trying to destroy the city, when the only thing I've heard from them was the pain they've suffered thanks to the games.
They want the same things I do to stop the games from becoming all they used to be.
The only difference is the methods they employ.
“Those are close to being the same thing,” Marcus insists. “The games have always been at the heart of Aetheria. Without them, we lose something vital when it comes to the heart of the city, and the lands that owe it fealty.”
“I… don’t know what to say to that,” I say. “People were hurt today, Marcus. Even before the protestors got into the arena, the birds made everything far too dangerous. People could have been killed.”
“I’m sure you would have stopped it,” Marcus says, sounding a little bitter.
“You would have controlled those birds at some point. Does it occur to you that it’s what Domitian wanted?
He wants to put you in positions where you have to act in ways a senator shouldn’t, to weaken your position as a senator. ”
“I don’t care about the politics of it, compared to people’s lives,” I insist.
“You should,” Marcus shoots back. “If not for your own sake, then at least for mine, Lyra. Lucius is one of my closest allies. He’s my right-hand man, and he still doesn’t want to be around me if I’m with you.
I want change in this city. I want prosperity for its people, and a powerful nation that won’t be at risk from enemies, inside or out.
Every piece of political capital I use protecting you makes it harder to do that, Lyra. ”
“I don’t want to be a burden to you,” I say. “And if I’m too dangerous to be seen with… maybe it’s better if you aren’t seen with me, for now.”
It hurts, hearing him talk like I’m doing the wrong thing trying to protect people. It seems clear that Marcus cares more about the games than about me, and for now at least, that’s enough to send me hurrying back to my rooms, trying not to let the pain I feel show on my face.
Once more, I’m stopped short by the presence of a note that’s been left for me.
Thank you for helping today. Things are getting dangerous around the games.
The protests were partly a distraction, so we could find more information.
There are secret meetings happening, senators meeting with those who put together the games.
They're talking about a "next step" in the games.
I think they're trying to bring death matches from the fighting pits to the arena.
A
I stare at that note, trying to work out if it could all be true.
Are there senators really plotting some new stage in the games?
It feels consistent with what I've seen so far, but I need more than just Alaric's rumors.
I need to find out the truth of what's going on.
I need proof, something I can bring before the Senate to stop all this.
Domitian will have slipped up somewhere and will have left evidence where it can be located.
I just need to find it.