CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
"An attack like this cannot go unpunished!" Domitian roars as I rush into the senate chamber in the palace. I ran all the way back and changed into my toga as quickly as possible, and still, the meeting started without me. The news has clearly spread quickly.
“These rebels become bolder by the day,” Octavio says. “The laws of the Republic must be respected.”
"Do we have the full details of what happened yet?" Rowan asks.
I stand up. I could leave this to someone else, but if I say it, I can at least control what the Senate hears about the events in front of the Colosseum.
“I saw some of it,” I say. “Alaric’s protestors stole documents from within the colosseum, which Alaric claimed demonstrated corruption among those connected with the colosseum.”
"Spurious claims," Domitian says. "And I note that you don't have any of this so-called evidence with you, Senator Lyra."
“I was too busy stopping people from being killed by the guards,” I counter. “Did you send them, Domitian?”
He spreads his hands. "What else was I to do? I heard that a group of malcontents had attacked the Colosseum. I gathered any guards I could find and sent them to apprehend those there."
"Instead, they waded into the crowd of ordinary people around the Colosseum, attacking anyone who got close to them," I say.
“I’m sure they fought back only with the force they needed against Alaric’s murderous followers,” Domitian says.
It feels as though we're arguing about different versions of events and which one the Senate will take as the truth.
“This can’t be allowed to go on,” Yarrow says. “These people disrupt too much in the city.”
I guess that means they've disrupted some of her schemes in the slums because she wouldn't care about a moment like this otherwise.
“Were any of them caught?” Rowan asks.
Domitian nods. “I believe so. They’re being taken to cells. We will discover the truth from them.”
“Are you talking about torturing people, Domitian?” I ask, unable to believe that he’s even suggesting it.
"Of course not," the senator says, although there's a hardness to his expression that suggests he wouldn't be averse to it. "But the city has psychomancers. We can learn plenty about the plans of these scum and about who is aiding them."
He gives me a pointed look as he says that part as if looking to see how nervous I am following his words. I look around the chamber.
“I’ve told you all before, I’m not a part of whatever Alaric is doing. But in this case, I think we have to listen. If there’s corruption in the games-”
"Again, do you have any evidence of that?" Domitian demands. "Or are you just trying to confuse the issues and pretend that these criminals had some kind of justification for their actions?"
“Is it a crime to protest when you see that things are wrong?” I ask. I look at Rowan. “Are we like the emperor, who punished people for saying anything against him?”
"From what I heard, they weren't just speaking out," Senator Olivia says. "They were violently attacking the Colosseum. How many people did they kill to get to this information you say they were handing out?"
She spreads lies about what Alaric’s people were doing without even a hint of guilt. I don’t know what her relationship is to Domitian’s faction, but I’m sure she sees some profit in it for herself.
“There wasn’t any violence I could see until the guards arrived,” I point out.
"Maybe that's what you want us to believe," Olivia replies. "But everyone knows these people are little better than animals. Good, honest citizens can't feel safe with them around."
"We should root them out and destroy them," Domitian says. "In the old days, people like this would have been brought into the Colosseum and executed publicly."
"That isn't what we do anymore," Rowan says, but his voice lacks its usual conviction. "Not in the Colosseum."
“If we don’t stand against threats to the Republic,” Domitian says, “then soon, we won’t have a republic at all.”
"At the very least, we should wait to see what we learn before we make any decisions," Rowan says.
It's the absence of a decision, merely pushing the problem back.
I wish he would stand up for Alaric's people, and I don't know if the reason he doesn't is because of his personal animosity towards Alaric or because he agrees that Alaric's people should be treated harshly.
"Once we have the full information, once we know what crimes, if any, these people have committed, we can decide what to do with them. "
“We’re meant to just sit and wait, rather than dealing with the threat?” Domitian asks.
“If you want to deal with a threat,” I say, “what about the threat of Selene Ravenscroft?”
I haven't had a chance to bring the threat of her return before the Senate. Maybe if I do it now, it will at least distract some of the Senate's wrath from Alaric's followers. If I can deflect it onto her, all the better.
“What about her?” Domitian asks.
“Lyra went to visit a village where there were claims she’d been sighted,” Marcus says. “A beast whisperer was attacked and taken into the forests between Aetheria and Arboria.”
“And you think this was Selene?” Rowan asks, looking at me.
“I do,” I say. “I think she started whatever she’s doing in Arboria, and now she’s heading into Aetheria. She’s a threat, and she’s heading this way.”
"Assuming it's her," Marcus says. It's the same argument he made to me in his villa. "Lyra was shown the site of the supposed attack by the Arborian delegation when they left. I think it's likely they arranged for her to see what they wanted because they want an excuse to attack our borders."
“You think one of our neighbors is about to attack us?” Rowan asks, looking from me to Marcus and back. “You didn’t think to come to the senate with this news?”
I sigh. I should have brought to the Senate before, but my argument with Marcus drove thoughts of it from my mind at first, and then I didn't think I would find support in the Senate without Marcus by my side.
"And obviously, she doesn't think this is a real threat," Domitian says.
“Selene Ravenscroft is a very real threat,” I insist. “If she’s coming back to Aetheria-”
“We don’t know that she’s doing that, if it’s even her,” Marcus says.
"And you're obviously only mentioning it now to deflect attention from this heinous attack on the Colosseum," Domitian says.
"You're hoping that the Senate will spend all its time focusing on this supposed threat rather than the real threat of these rebels.
Admit it, Lyra, you're working with Alaric. "
"That's enough," Rowan says, cutting us off.
"This discussion has gone a long way from anything we were here to talk about.
We clearly don't have enough information about any threat from Selene Ravenscroft, although I'm inclined to agree with Marcus that this is probably some trick by the Arborians.
We don't know enough about what happened at the Colosseum.
For now, at least, this meeting of the Senate is over. "
I curse silently as the senators start to leave the chamber.
They head for the ante-room beyond, but I don’t go with them.
The last thing I want right now is to have to spend my time talking casually with a group of senators who clearly don’t believe or trust me.
I head back to my rooms, instead, closing the door behind me, changing back into normal clothes and then sitting on one of the couches.
I'm shocked by everything that has just happened, not just the events outside the Colosseum, but the way the Senate has approached it.
Too many of them seem to see Alaric and his followers as traitors, as rebels trying to overthrow the Republic, rather than people who want to stop it from being corrupted from within.
I don't know where the ones who were arrested are being held or what, if anything, I can do to help them.
Should I help them? I'm all too aware that I'm meant to be a senator, that I'm supposed to be helping to uphold the Republic, rather than supporting a rebel group. The trouble is, I have far more sympathy for Alaric's supporters than I do for some of the people in the Senate.
I have questions, too. How did Domitian know that there was trouble at the Colosseum?
How did he send guards there so quickly?
How have there been guards trying to capture us every time I've gone to meet with Alaric?
It's happened too often for it to be a coincidence.
Clearly, Domitian knows that I'm going to see Alaric before I go there.
I think about my midnight meeting with him. The guards weren’t there at first, when both of us showed up early. It was only as it got closer to midnight that they started to arrive. Midnight, the time Alaric said in his message.
Which means that, as I suspected, someone read that message. Clearly, someone is spying on me. He’s bribed or threatened a servant to bring me the messages. Domitian is playing games, and I’m determined to find out exactly what they are. If he wants to spy on me… well, two can play at that game.