CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“You want to do what?” Alaric says, when I put my idea to him. We’re both sitting in a back room of the inn together, going over some of the scraps of parchment the resistance stole from the villa, trying to work out what’s useful.
“I want to speak with Marcus,” I reply. I’ve been thinking about this since we came back from the raid, and now I’m certain of it.
“And say what?” Alaric asks.
“I want to know why he’s siding with Selene. I want to try to persuade him to work against her again. I want to know if he’s being controlled using psychomancy.”
I need some kind of explanation, because otherwise his presence at the meeting last night will never make sense to me.
“And when he calls for the guards to come throw you into a prison cell?” Alaric says. “When he decides to prove his loyalty to Selene by handing you over to her?”
I shake my head. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“Before last night, my guess is you would have said he would never work with Selene at all,” Alaric says. He puts his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Lyra. I know it’s hard finding out he isn’t who you thought he was, but that doesn’t mean you should put yourself in danger. Or the rest of us.”
“You think I’d tell him anything about the resistance?” I say. It’s one thing to accuse Marcus of being a traitor to Aetheria; quite another to suggest I might be.
“I think, if you fall into Selene’s hands, you might not get a choice,” Alaric says.
“Then I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.” I stand. “I need to do this, Alaric. Can’t you see that?”
Alaric sighs. “This is a bad idea, Lyra. Even if you manage to see him without him attacking you, I suspect what you’re going to hear is only going to hurt you.”
I can hear the concern in his voice, the determination to protect me from harm, but not knowing the truth about last night would hurt just as much.
“I’ll be careful,” I tell him, then head upstairs to select a disguise.
How do I get close to a senator of Aetheria? For anyone else, the answer would be simple: just go to the public galleries of the senate and ask to speak with them in the ante-chamber after the senate session. As a wanted fugitive, I don’t have that option, so I need to think of something else.
I pick out the colorful robes of a priestess, using the cowl to hide my face. It’s a disguise that will give me the freedom to move where I want in the city, and might get me through some doors that would otherwise be closed to me.
It’s a disguise that might also allow me to speak with a senator in private. The trick is going to be locating Marcus and getting him alone. I’m determined to do it, though.
I head out into the city, keeping my head down and trying to fit in with the crowds. I pause here and there, as I’ve occasionally seen priests and priestesses do, presumably to commune with the magic flowing from the city’s stones.
I do it so I can start to locate Marcus.
I reach out for the senses of the animals around the palace, knowing he’s most likely to be there, but I don’t spot him.
I realize it’s early enough he might still be on his way to the senate, so I expand my search, and spot him below, moving through the streets in his white toga, the center of attention as he makes his way up towards the palace.
I hurry to intercept him, not caring that it must look odd that a priestess has started to run through the streets of the city.
I take side streets, and then switch to the rooftops, hurrying through each district of the city in turn as I try to get ahead of Marcus.
Now I’ve spotted him, I keep a bird circling above him, using it as a marker to let me get closer even as I watch his movements from above.
I pick out the perfect spot ahead, placing myself at the mouth of a small alleyway leading to a walled courtyard with a couple of statues of famous heroes of the arena.
There are a couple of other passageways leading into it, which means there are at least that many easy escape routes.
The presence of a lizard lounging atop the statue also gives me the chance to borrow its climbing skills if I need to get away over the rooftops.
Will I really need to? I can’t believe Marcus will try to attack me, even after what happened last night. I want to believe that even if Selene has somehow managed to control him with her psychomancy, he won’t simply blast me with his lightning as soon as he sees me.
I make sure he sees me, waiting until he comes close and then dropping my hood briefly as I meet his eyes.
I slip back into the alley without waiting to see what Marcus will do, because I know he’ll take it for the invitation it is.
Besides, I’m still watching through the birds above, ready for the possibility he might call the guards, or that someone else might have spotted me and be moving to intercept me as a dangerous fugitive.
I place myself by the statue, ready to duck behind it for cover if I need to, and I hate that I must take precautions like this with Marcus. I should simply know he isn’t a threat to me, rather than having to make sure of it.
He comes, standing before me in the small courtyard.
“Lyra?” he says, and I can hear the surprise in his tone. “What are you doing here?”
“I needed to speak with you, after last night,” I say.
I reach out for him with my powers, wanting to feel Marcus’ emotions as we speak.
I send bursts of happiness and sadness through him, raising those instincts and then letting them fall.
Appealing to those fundamental instincts has helped people overcome Selene’s mind control before.
“What are you doing?” Marcus demands, his voice suddenly wary.
“I need to know you aren’t being influenced by psychomancy,” I say, but I can’t feel any of Selene’s power at work in Marcus, and he isn’t showing any signs of mindlessly obeying commands.
“You think Selene’s controlling me?” Marcus says.
“I hoped she was,” I reply. “Because at least then I might have an explanation for why you were promising to smooth her path to power last night.”
“It was you on the roof,” Marcus says. “Of course it was, when the hounds didn’t do their job.”
“You would have preferred them to hunt down Alaric and his people?” I counter. “Are you really that much on her side, Marcus?”
“It isn’t that simple,” Marcus says.
“Then explain it to me,” I snap back, “because it looks pretty simple from here. You’re siding with Selene. You’re going to make it easier for her to take power. What am I missing, Marcus?”
Marcus sighs. “I’m pretending to side with her because I don’t think there’s another choice.”
“Pretending? The same way you claimed you were only in charge of the death bouts to root out their corruption? The same way you were only siding with Domitian to uncover what he was doing?”
“It worked with him,” Marcus points out. “Why wouldn’t I do it again?”
I hesitate. “You want me to believe this is all some ruse?”
“It’s the truth,” Marcus says. “By joining Selene’s supporters, I can influence them and turn them away from the most violent outcomes. I can try to stop them hurting people, even as I learn more details of Selene’s plans. Maybe there will be something in there to stop her. And if not…”
“If not, you still get a place of honor by her side?” I guess.
“The senate is almost completely hers now,” Marcus shoots back.
“She has control of plenty of guards, some of the gangs, merchants… everywhere I look, she has levers of power to match and exceed my own. I could try to oppose her at every turn, but I’d fail, and probably be killed in the protest. I could throw myself into pointless efforts to frustrate her like Alaric and his resistance, but they aren’t really achieving anything.
At best, they’re slowing her down, not stopping her. ”
“So you’re going along with the inevitable and hoping to profit from it?” I say.
Marcus winces. “I’m hoping to find a way to change things and stop her.”
I pay attention to the currents of his emotions, trying to determine if Marcus is lying or not. I already know I can’t tell just by watching his expressions. He’s fooled me too many times for that.
“Lyra,” he says, reaching out for me, but I pull back. I can’t even trust he won’t shock me with his lightning, leaving me helpless as his prisoner. “I’m on your side.”
I shake my head. “I wish I could believe that.”
Beyond the alley, I see a couple of guards moving into it. Are they just trying to check whether the senator is all right, or has someone told them I’m in here? Has Marcus?
I can’t even be certain he hasn’t betrayed me now, so how can I trust anything else he says? The truth of that hurts even more than seeing him at the villa last night. It makes tears blur my eyes, turning my last view of him into something ill defined, composed as much of memory as reality.
“Goodbye, Marcus,” I say. “I hope you’re telling the truth.”
But I have no way of knowing for sure, and no time to work it out.
I turn and run, heading through one of the side passages, then out into the street.
I pull my hood up again, making my way to the temple district, where there are plenty of other priestesses around.
I lose myself in the mass of them, crying silent tears even as I make sure I’m not being followed.
I was hoping to learn the truth from Marcus. Instead, Alaric was right, and he’s only hurt me. I can’t be sure Marcus is our ally, and that means I must treat him as a potential enemy until proven otherwise.
Just the thought of that hurts worse than I could imagine, even as I’m determined to defeat his schemes, alongside Selene’s.