CHAPTER NINETEEN
I'm used to moving freely through the colosseum, either as a gladiator or a member of the Senate.
It's very different doing it as a wanted fugitive, having to press myself into an alcove while a guard passes.
My heart beats faster with the prospect of being caught, and I hold my breath, not daring to make a sound.
I send a rat scurrying through the shadows, distracting the attention of the next guard so I can slip past. I move silently through the familiar depths of the colosseum, relying on my knowledge of its twists and turns to avoid attention.
I head for the healers’ chambers, moving to a spot where I can see its stone slabs, equally useful as places for gladiators to lie while they’re healed or spots to leave the corpses of the slain until they can be dealt with.
For the first time since the fall of the empire, there are multiple dead bodies laid out there.
Not that they’ll be taken back to Ironhold to be buried.
As criminals, the dead will probably be thrown in a pit and burned, or displayed as a warning on the edge of the city if Aetheria truly wishes to follow the old ways of the empire.
“Must I sit here while the scent of death surrounds me?”
Cesca’s voice is clear and sharp, her displeasure at the situation obvious.
“You’re almost healed,” one of the healers replies.
The presence of the healers means I can’t just walk in to speak with Cesca. Doing it at all is a risk, so that I wonder if I should just turn around and leave, rather than standing and waiting in the shadows. What’s to stop her calling out for the guards and trying to betray me?
But I sense there’s an opportunity for the resistance here, because Cesca has clearly been involved with Selene’s efforts.
The former arch-magistrate used psychomancy against her when they fought in one of the earlier sets of games, controlling Cesca so she hesitated, throwing the fight.
And Cesca’s always been one to seek to get close to those more powerful than she is.
But now, it feels as though there may be a way to get her to break away from Selene, for her own safety.
That may bring information to the resistance, but that isn’t the only reason I wait here. Cesca and I might have spent our share of time as enemies in the arena, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch her die out there on the sands.
So I wait in careful silence while the healers work on Cesca.
She comes out with her flesh pristine and pale once again, but I can see the haunted look in her eyes, the memory of pain from the storm leopard’s claws.
I start to follow her through the preparation areas of the colosseum, looking for a quiet spot, without any guards.
Cesca turns sharply. “Who’s there? I know someone’s following me. Come to finish the job the storm leopard couldn’t do?”
I step out, tension building inside me. This is the moment where Cesca might call for the guards. If she does, I’ll have to fight my way out of the colosseum, hoping Alaric and the rest of the resistance will be able to find me a route to safety.
Cesca's eyes widen as she sees me, and for a moment, I think she might call out for help. I don’t dare close the distance and clamp a hand over her mouth, because that close she’ll be able to use her lightning to stun me. If she does that, she can drag me to the guards before I can recover.
“Lyra?” she says instead, with a frown. “What are you… wait, was it you who made the leopard pause?”
I nod. “I didn’t want you to die. I would have pulled it away from you, given another second.”
“You’re saying I didn’t need to kill it?” Cesca says. “I didn’t know what was happening. Is that what this is? You’re down here to upbraid me for killing the leopard?”
I shake my head. I can hear the fear in her voice, feel it running through her. I frighten Cesca. But I can also feel there’s more to this.
“You don’t need to be afraid of me,” I say.
“It’s not you I’m afraid of,” Cesca says with a snort, but I can feel that’s at least partly bravado. Still, there’s something else that makes threads of fear flow through her.
“What, then?” I ask.
“You know I could just call for the guards, right?” Cesca says.
I cock my head to one side. “Then why don’t you?”
“Maybe I’m just grateful for you saving my life,” Cesca replies.
I smile tightly. “Gratitude was never your strong suit. What’s going on here, Cesca?”
She hesitates, and for a moment, I think she might call the guards. Then she sighs.
“I’m sick of this. Sick of being caught up in other people’s manipulations, again and again. First, it was Ravenna, then Vex, now…”
“Now Selene?” I guess.
Cesca nods, but doesn’t say her name, as if too afraid to do even that.
“I did what she wanted in our bout,” Cesca says.
“Because of her psychomancy,” I point out.
Cesca blinks. She clearly has no memory of her mind being controlled. “I guess… that would explain a lot. Selene… she got everything she wanted from me, I did everything she wanted. I thought it would keep me safe.”
“You think she’s behind the storm leopard?” I ask. Does Selene have enough control to manipulate the course of the games? I laugh bitterly. Of course she does.
Cesca nods. “The first time I dared to say no to her, she did this. She said it was fine for me to back out, but I’m suddenly thrown in against a beast I can’t defeat? She was trying to kill me without it being obvious.”
One part of Cesca’s words catch my interest. “Back out of what?”
Cesca hesitates. “It would be dangerous to tell you.”
I gesture to the colosseum. “It looks as though it’s dangerous for you anyway, Cesca. I don’t even know why you came to fight in the colosseum today. You must have guessed Selene would make it dangerous for you.”
“You think I have a choice?” Cesca shoots back, and her voice rises enough that I’m worried about someone hearing us and coming to see what’s happening.
"You aren't a slave gladiator anymore, Cesca," I say. "You could walk away at any point. Honestly, I thought you might when you lost your last bout to those twins."
That was a simple exhibition match, but it ended with Cesca tangled up in her opponents’ weapons, rendered helpless. If it had been to the death, she would have died right there in the colosseum.
“You say that as if I have anything to walk away to,” Cesca says. “We get paid for being in the arena, but not enough that I can simply retire. I have to offer myself to patrons, hoping their gifts are enough to keep me living comfortably.”
“And now Selene’s trying to kill you,” I say. “I’m surprised she didn’t just have you poisoned.”
“If I die in the colosseum, no one complains,” Cesca points out. “People probably even cheer.”
“Which is why you need to leave now,” I tell her.
Cesca looks at me sharply. “And go where? If I leave the colosseum, Selene will try to kill me more directly, just so I don’t tell anyone what I know.”
“What do you know?” I ask.
"I was caught up in one of her schemes. She was putting together a group to undertake a mission for her. She wanted me for my fighting skills and because I might be able to stun people quickly."
“What kind of mission?” I ask. If Selene is planning something so dangerous that she’s prepared to kill anyone who doesn’t want to be part of it, I need to know what’s going on.
Cesca hesitates. “This is the only card I have left. Once I play it, I have nothing to bargain with.”
“If you tell me what’s happening, I’ll make sure the resistance gets you to safety. You could join us. Or not. It will be your choice. We’ll keep you safe, either way. Don’t you want to be on the right side for once, Cesca?”
“I find the right side is usually the winning side,” Cesca replies.
I look her in the eye. “And when have you seen me and Alaric lose?”
Her expression is briefly filled with surprise as she realizes I’m serious. “You have a point. Every time, you seem to find a way. All right, I’ll tell you, but I want your word you’ll keep me safe.”
“You have it,” I tell her. I would have done what I could to protect her anyway, but I can’t tell her that, not if I want the information she has. Whatever Selene is planning, the resistance needs to be in the right place to stop her.
“She had us training in the catacombs,” Cesca says, “working as a team. She was talking about getting someone out of prison. I thought she just meant the prison tower, so I wasn’t that bothered, but then… she started talking about another prison.”
The emperor’s old hiding place for his enemies, the same one Rowan told me about.
“Who did she want you to rescue?” I ask, but even as I ask the question, a feeling of dread starts to build in me, because I feel certain I already know the answer.
“That’s the reason I pulled out,” Cesca says. “When I heard who it was. When I realized what it would mean for the city.”
“Who, Cesca?” I demand.
Cesca shudders. “She wanted us to rescue Domitian.”