CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It's late the next day, by the time I finally get back to Aetheria.
It's a long time to be away from a city where things are moving so quickly.
I hope events in the Colosseum won't have moved on too quickly.
I have no doubt that Domitian and the others will have used my absence to progress their schemes.
But most of my thoughts aren't on them at the moment.
Instead, I'm thinking about the young man who was taken by Selene Ravenscroft, about the evidence we found of a fight, and what it might mean for me and the city.
It's clear that the former arch magistrate hasn't faded neatly into obscurity the way we hoped.
She's planning something and now she's progressed from Arboria to the fringes of Aetherian soil.
When I get back to my rooms I find a note waiting for me, but this one isn't from Alaric. It's from Marcus, written in a neat hand and smelling faintly of his scent.
Lyra,
I’m missing you while you’re away. When you get back, come to my villa. We must celebrate your return. Every moment apart from you is like agony to me.
Marcus
The note doesn't give me a time to come over, but then it isn't as if he knew when I would return.
I think of waiting until the morning but the truth is that I'd rather see him now.
No matter how far apart we're driven politically, it's hard not to think about him, about the feeling of his body pressed against mine, about the strength of his arms around me.
I bathe and change into an elegant dress before heading to his villa.
It means walking through the noble district where the darkness is anything but absolute, cut through by magic and the glowing lamps at the corners.
When I reach Marcus' villa, the servants let me in immediately, running ahead to tell him I've arrived and presumably to make preparations for food and drink.
Marcus comes out to meet me, dressed in a pale tunic, belted at the waist. He takes me in his arms and kisses me. It would be so easy to lose myself in that moment, in him. To forget everything I've seen in the heady joy of being with him.
Bus, I can't forget all the things I've seen, even as Marcus leads me through to sit at the marble dining table where we’ve eaten so many times before.
“How was your journey?” he asks me.
“It was difficult,” I reply. “I looked at the place where a young beast whisperer was taken. The damage there was consistent with what I've seen of Selene Ravenscroft’s powers.”
“So you really think she's out there?” Marcus says.
“And she's getting closer,” I reply. “The Arborians reported the first attacks but this was on our territory. Cassandra was even talking about taking over the village if we couldn't protect it.”
“Well then,” Marcus says, with a look of triumph. “That explains most of it.”
“What do you mean?” I reply, caught by surprise.
“Isn't it obvious?” Marcus asks in a tone that suggests I'm missing something obvious. “They faked this to show you. Probably, they're responsible for the disappearance of this young man. All so they'll have an excuse when they want to invade.”
“You really think they'd do all that just to attack us?” I counter.
Marcus nods. “Of course they would. It's what I'd do in their place.”
“Or it could just be Selene coming back,” I retort.
Marcus laughs. “What are you going to get over your naivety, Lyra? You’re a senator. Surely you must understand the complexities of politics by now?”
He really would rather believe that our neighbors are arranging all of this rather than accept that a real threat is coming.
“I've seen plenty of politics by now,” I reply. “It doesn't mean I like the way it works. Saying one thing while meaning another. Bribery behind closed doors. A slow drift into corruption.”
“Are you saying I'm corrupt?” Marcus asks, raising an eyebrow.
I should say no. I should defuse this whole situation, but the truth is I'm tired. I'm tired from my journey, but I'm also tired of pretending, tired of holding back. I have too many doubts now not to voice some of them.
“I don't know,” I say. “Are you?”
Marcus looks hurt by those words, reeling back as if I’ve struck him. “You can’t seriously be asking me that. You’ve worked alongside me. You’ve seen how much of an effort I put into helping the people of Aetheria.”
“I’ve seen the effort you’ve put into bringing back the games,” I counter. “It isn’t quite the same thing. And I’ve seen you making deals with people in the backrooms of the palace.”
“That’s just the way politics works!” Marcus insists. He stands, gesturing sharply. “I said you were na?ve before, but I didn’t realize quite how na?ve. You continue to think you can work as a senator while never getting your hands dirty.”
“And yours are covered in filth?” I say.
Marcus winces. “I do what I must to counter the efforts of other senators. If I don’t do it, if I stay pure like you, do you know what happens, Lyra?
They win. Domitian gets to do what he wants with the games.
Yarrow turns the slums into one giant criminal empire.
Olivia has all the nobles dancing to her tune.
Would you rather have them running things? ”
“That depends on what you’re trying to do,” I say. “You won’t believe that Selene Ravenscroft is a threat. You say it’s all a big conspiracy by the Arborians, but I don’t know if there isn’t a bigger conspiracy here in Aetheria.”
“You think I’m behind it?” Marcus asks, sounding offended. “Why? To what end, Lyra? I’m already wealthy. I’m already a senator.”
“Maybe you want more than that,” I say. “Maybe this is all about taking Aetheria back to what it used to be. Do you want to be emperor, Marcus?”
He looks horrified. “Do you really believe that of me? Do you really know that little about me, Lyra?”
I can see the pain etched on his face, the sincerity, but Marcus always looks sincere. It makes it hard to know if he’s ever telling the truth.
“All right,” I say. “Maybe you don’t want to be emperor, but tell me you don’t want the games to be exactly what they used to be?”
“This again?” Marcus says.
I decide that this is the moment to reveal some of what I know. “Before I left, I went to a gambling establishment for the rich. A place where there were fights with live blades, and someone almost died.”
“And?” Marcus demands. I can hear the anger in his voice now. I’ve insulted him with my accusations, but if those accusations are justified, what else can I do?
“And your friend Lucius was there at the heart of it,” I say. “This was right after you talked with him. He was talking to another noble, talking about the inevitability of deathmatches returning.”
“You think I’m telling Lucius what to do?” Marcus asks.
“I don’t know what to think,” I say. “I think that you’ve put a lot of effort into bringing back the games. You haven’t been as tough on the safety measures as I am. Your friends are talking about deathmatches.”
“I work with the people I must,” Marcus says. “And I’ve done my best to help and protect you. You’ve spent so much time with me, Lyra. Don’t you know who I am by now?”
The problem is that I’m not sure. It makes me hesitate, and Marcus picks up on that hesitation. He sighs.
“You need to pay more attention to the political reality, Lyra. I do think the games are important, yes. They generate wealth for the city. They placate the worst elements of the masses, the ones who need an outlet for violence that doesn’t involve killing one another in gang wars.
And yes, it does the same with some of the nobles.
It also gives them a place to talk and make deals, to arrange the life of the city.
All of that is necessary, and trying to ignore that, to just get rid of the games… it’s foolish, Lyra.”
“There’s nothing foolish about wanting to protect Aetheria from corruption,” I say. I stand, too, heading for the door.
“Lyra, wait, stay,” Marcus says. “We can work this out.”
But I’m not sure we can. I feel so much for Marcus, so many complicated things, that it would be easy to turn around and let myself be persuaded by him. To at least fall into his arms and forget the argument for a night.
But this isn't just an argument. It's a fundamental difference of opinion about the way the city should be run and the direction in which it's heading.
I can't stay here when I don't know if Marcus is planning to change the city back into the kind of place it was under the empire if he's complicit in increasing the violence of the games.
I head for the door, knowing that whatever I had with Marcus, however much it hurts to leave, I need to go.