CHAPTER NINE
Slavering wolves leap at me, snarling with the intensity of beasts determined to tear me limb from limb.
Karabus stands opposite me, his hand outstretched in theatrical fashion, his bone white hair whipping in the breeze.
Snakes rise up around me, and my powers are useless to try to control them.
For once, I’m helpless to affect the creatures around me, completely vulnerable in the face of their assault.
Karabus smiles cruelly, his dark armor gleaming, his pale skin looking like something better suited to a corpse than a man. He’s enjoying my helplessness, enjoying knowing there’s nothing I can do about his powers.
So I do exactly that: nothing.
I stand and let the creatures come to me. I force myself not to react as the snakes strike, their fangs dripping venom and their eyes flashing red with menace. I remain still as the wolves leap at me, mouths open, ready to tear into my body, teeth somehow already wet with blood.
They pass through me harmlessly, and Alaric lets the illusions drop, letting go of his disguise as Karabus too, to leave his real self-standing in the gardens of Marcus' villa.
“It’s no fun if you don’t react,” Alaric says. “And it’s not good training. You only have another day before your next fight.”
“Not reacting is the point,” I remind him. “Karabus’ illusions hurt people who believe in them, so I have to practice ignoring them.”
“Assuming they work like that,” Alaric says. “And in any case, it’s an insult to my considerable skills with illusions that you don’t find me terrifying.”
“I think some of it is because I know it’s you,” I say. “I know you’d never hurt me.”
“You don’t know that,” Alaric says. He moves closer to me, in what I guess is meant to be an attempt at intimidation, spoiled only because he gets closer and closer, until he finally laughs. “All right, maybe you do know that. I would never hurt you, Lyra.”
He reaches out to touch my face lightly.
It’s a gentle touch, but it sparks far more of a response in me than his illusions could.
Not fear, though. Definitely not fear. In that moment, I’m all too aware of just how close Alaric is.
Just how long we’ve had to spend apart since I’ve been living in Marcus’ house, with Alaric only able to visit in brief spells to help train me for the games.
That one touch reminds me of all the nights we’ve spent together, just how close we’ve been to one another in the past. I’ve been carefully holding back from both Alaric and Marcus while I’ve been in Marcus’ home, but this one touch is almost enough to make that caution fall apart.
Our lips brush. It's barely even a kiss, but it's so full of the emotions we've been holding back that it feels like far more.
A part of me wants to abandon our training right now, take Alaric back to my room in the villa, and throw him down on the bed.
Another part knows that would be a terrible idea, when the situation is already tense between Alaric and Marcus.
I force myself to take a step back, and I’m just in time. Marcus comes out of the house, heading over to the training area with its striking posts and heavy rocks for lifting.
"How are the preparations going for Lyra's bout?" Marcus asks Alaric. Somehow, I feel as though he must sense everything that just happened, must be able to pick up on the desire between me and Alaric as if it's some perfume hanging in the air.
“They’re fine,” Alaric says, after a moment of hesitation. “Although she isn’t taking my illusion magic seriously enough.”
“Who could?” Marcus says, in a slightly dismissive tone, before turning to me. “I need you to come with me today. We need to try to influence some of the factions in the city, and it will be more impressive if you’re with me.”
I wince at the thought of having to go stand in back rooms while Marcus plays politics, but I know he has a point. We need to combat Selene’s influence wherever we can, especially now that I’m encouraging Marcus to oppose her more openly.
“All right,” I say with a nod. “Let me go and change.”
I’m in my gladiatorial armor as I train, and my skin gleams with sweat in the sun.
Marcus shakes his head. "It's probably better to go like that. The people I'm meeting with want to see Lyra Thornwind, the gladiator. Just throw a cloak over your armor until we're there."
He sounds determined, as if he’s worked out all the details of what we’re going to do already. I nod again, going along with it.
I think I catch a flicker of disappointment crossing Alaric’s face, but he quickly hides it.
“I’ll see you both later. There’s still work to do to prepare for Karubus.”
Marcus nods tightly, then holds out his hand to me. I put aside my weapons and take his hand, going with him through his villa, pausing only long enough to wash the sweat from my body with water from an ewer before throwing a cloak around my shoulders.
A palanquin is waiting for us outside, which is a surprise, because Marcus has wanted us to be seen by the people as much as possible. We sit inside, and the bearers lift us, taking us smoothly through the city while we sit just inches away from one another.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“The entertainment district,” Marcus replies. “To one of the places where my people used to hold fights.”
“You’re taking me to a spot where you used to run illegal death matches?” I reply, unable to keep the sharpness out of my voice.
“I’m taking you to a place where we can meet with a wide range of my associates without it seeming suspicious,” Marcus replies.
He has a point, even if I don’t like it. We need to meet with people discretely as much as possible, trying to influence them without Selene knowing exactly who’s on our side. Marcus already has plenty of establishments where people are used to coming and going in secret.
The bearers set our palanquin down, and we step into one that's opulently furnished, with gilded couches and expensive silken drapes.
There are servants wearing garments that are almost sheer, wearing gilded masks and carrying platters of fine foods or amphorae of wine.
The air is thick with the sweet scents of incense and perhaps other, more illicit, substances, while there are table set for gambling around the room, and other doors leading off that suggest more private rooms for entertaining or simple conversation.
Marcus pulls the cloak from my shoulders, and I can feel most of the eyes in the room on me.
People stare at me as if they can't quite believe I'm here.
It's a feeling I share. A part of me wants to head straight for the door, but I know it's vital to be seen by and to talk to as many people as possible if we're going to build support.
Marcus takes me to one of the private rooms. There are men and women waiting there, wearing flashes of color at their wrists or necks that denote their affiliation to one of the city’s gangs.
Senator Yarrow is there, a woman in her forties with dark hair and deep brown eyes who isn’t wearing her senatorial toga, but instead, a dark dress with the colors of at least a half dozen different gangs sewn into the hem. She looks me up and down.
“You brought her with you, Marcus?” Yarrow says.
Marcus nods. “I wanted to remind you that we do have a chance against Selene?”
“We?” Yarrow says, raising an eyebrow.
“Unless you want her to pick you off one by one,” I put in. Some of the gang members give me unfriendly looks.
“The last I heard, Selene had given Lyra here to you, Marcus,” Yarrow says. “Does she speak for you, now?”
She’s obviously trying to bait me, but I don’t react with anger.
“Lyra is here as my partner in everything we’re trying to do,” Marcus says. “And Selene cannot make a slave out of her, no matter how much she might wish to.”
“The question is whether you want it for all of your people,” I point out.
I look around at the gang leaders. “Yesterday, in the arena, she had gang members torn apart by shadow cats. She tolerates you for as long as you support her cause, but once she seizes power, do you think she’ll let you keep going with your affairs in the slums? ”
I can feel the disquiet in the gang members.
“Maybe there’s profit to be made if Selene returns things to the way they were before,” Yarrow says.
“But will you be the one making it?” Marcus counters. “She’s tried to push you out of plenty of the gangs so far. Do you really think she won’t remove you so she can gain control of the rest?”
Yarrow hesitates, but then nods. “You have a point, but what are we about to do about it? She has all the power in the city.”
“Not all of it,” Marcus insists. “I have plenty of friends and allies. You have your people. She’s succeeding because she’s persuading people there’s no other way.”
“She’s still the most powerful magic user in Aetheria,” Yarrow points out. “With her at the head of her followers, it will be hard to stand against her.”
“And that is why I brought Lyra with me,” Marcus says. “To remind you that Selene isn’t the only one with power.”
“It isn’t just me,” I say. “Aetheria is filled with magic and those who can use it as a weapon. We can stand against her.”
“But you’ll be the one doing it in the colosseum,” Yarrow muses. She looks thoughtful. “Yes, you can have our support. But it’s contingent on you beating Selene. Until then, the gangs will stay neutral.”
Meaning that they won’t lift a finger to actually fight if it comes to that. Their help is only going to come once we no longer need it. Yarrow is making sure that, if I lose, she can go back to being Selene’s ally, picking the winning side.
“Of course,” Marcus says, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, please enjoy everything my establishment has to offer.”
Marcus leads me from the room while I struggle to contain my frustration.
“They aren’t going to help,” I say.
“Not until they see you succeeding,” Marcus agrees. “You’re the symbol around which everyone else will rally, Lyra. They’ll flock to you the way they never would to me.”
“That’s a lot of pressure,” I say.
“More than an Archon wanting to kill you in the colosseum?”
Perhaps not more than that, but at least I can control some of what happens in a fight against Selene.
Marcus isn’t leading me back to the palanquin. Instead, he takes me to a side room.
“Another set of people to talk to?” I guess.
Marcus shakes his head, though. “Just wait.”
The room is a fine one, with an elegantly carved table at its heart and a couple of gilded couches nearby. The walls are painted with scenes of satyrs and nymphs feasting and dancing. The table is set with food and wine, clearly waiting for us.
“I thought you’d appreciate a chance to relax,” Marcus says, guiding me to one of the couches. I recline on it and take a grape from one of the platters on the table.
“So you arranged all this?”
“So much of the rest of the time, I have to pretend that you’re nothing but my prisoner,” Marcus says. “That, or we’re working hard, with Alaric around. I thought here, I might be able to show you how much I care about you.”
Marcus sits, not on the other couch, but next to me, close enough that I can feel his arm against mine.
It’s a strangely romantic gesture for a place that doesn’t feel that way at all. It’s a reminder that Marcus is capable of being sweet and gentle, generous and kind, as well as being a skilled politician.
We start to eat and drink, the wine hitting my system swiftly. Marcus’ presence beside me is comforting, but I can feel his eyes on me too. I know how much more he wants from me. He wants our relationship to go back to everything it was before.
It isn’t a surprise when he kisses me, and I can’t stop myself from melting into that kiss for a moment before I pull back.
“Don’t you want this?” he asks.
I hesitate, and he clearly catches that hesitation.
“I know, I know. Not now. Not until the fight against Selene is over. The city is the priority. But after that? You can’t deny that there are still plenty of feelings between us, Lyra.”
“There are,” I admit. It would be a lie to say anything else.
“And you know we would work so well together,” Marcus says. “One day soon, the city will emerge from this nightmare, and we’ll be able to rebuild. We could do that, together. We could be married at long last, and the two of us could be happy together, as the leading figures of the senate.”
I can almost see the dream he’s offering me, the two of us standing in the senate box together while some safer, less violent version of the games continues beneath us.
Marcus will continue to play politics and deal with the worst factions of the city, while I provide a shining figure for the ordinary people.
He and Alaric are both trying to hold back while we fight this last battle for the city, but neither one can keep from pushing me just a little.
“We would,” I say. “But I’m still not making any decisions until all of this is done.”
“I understand,” Marcus says. He takes my hand. “I just want you to know that I love you, and I always have, no matter what it’s sometimes seemed like. Now, we should be getting back. You have a big fight in the morning.”
I do, one that I need to win if I’m going to keep progressing towards Selene, and if I’m going to survive at all.
Because that’s the harsh reality of this: it might not matter who I want to be with if I’m killed in the next few days.
I need to survive and succeed now, not just for the city, but because it’s the only way I’m going to get to be with the man I care about most. Whichever of them it is.