CHAPTER SIX
I'm washing the dye from my hair with an ewer of water when I hear the shouting in the streets, far below the level of the palace.It's a sign of how much violence the city has been through that my first reaction is to tense with fear, assuming that someone else is attempting rebellion or at least fomenting riots in the streets.
It takes me a few more seconds to realize the sounds are more like those of one of the parades before the games, people calling out in joy and adulation mixed in with some booing and insults.It's a strange mix when there aren't meant to be any games going on today.I don't think anyone would dare to put them on in the colosseum without at least consulting me, now.Something else must be happening.
It's enough to drag me from thoughts of how I'm going to find out more about the death matches in the city and the strange symbol the employees of the gambling den were wearing.Quickly drying my hair and tying it up, I head for the door to my room.
Even as I open it, a messenger is standing there, looking flustered.
“Senator Marcus says to come to the prison tower quickly,” the messenger says.“He says… he says that Selene Ravenscroft has returned.”
Those words fill me with dread.The former arch-magistrate fled the city after the fall of the emperor.She stood back to allow Tiberius to die and then disappeared, quite literally, using her magic to escape.I now know she fled to Arboria, and there it seems she started to abduct and kill beast whisperers, like me.She was in contact with Domitian prior to his uprising, and there were signs that she had come back into the Aetherian Republic.
But for her to be here in the city is a very different thing.She doesn't act without reason, and that means that whatever plans she has put in place must be coming to fruition.Given that she's one of the most dangerous magic users Aetheria has ever seen, her arrival might presage a fresh moment of violence for the Republic.
I hope that Domitian is still contained as I hurry from the palace, heading through the streets, and now it seems that there are more people outside than usual, milling around in the open air, trying to catch the news of what's going on.The rumors sing through streets, carried from person to person.
“Selene Ravenscroft is back!”
“She's come to restore the empire.”
“She's come to join the Republic and become a senator.”
“She's come to fight Lyra Thornwind.”
There's no way of knowing if any of those rumors are true, other than to get to the prison tower.I push through the crowds, and when that still isn't fast enough, I reach out with my powers to borrow agility from a lizard clinging to a wall.I climb up that wall and rush across the rooftops for the space of several streets, avoiding the worst of the crowds below.
As I get closer to the prison tower, though, I need to return to ground level, and the crowds aren't any better.If anything, they're twice as thick here, people pressed in tightly as they seek answers about what's going on.There are guards around the prison tower, spears leveled as if expecting that the crowd will try to break Selene out.
I push through the crowd, slowly making my way to the front.People start to recognize me and they step back but they also shout questions my way.
“Has the arch magistrate returned to run the games again?”
“Is she here to help the Republic or to destroy it?”
I don't have any answers for them.The truth is, Selene shouldn't be here in the city.After she fled, she was formally exiled.Just returning to Aetheria is technically enough to warrant a death sentence for her.
I reach the front of the crowd, and one of the guards blocks my way before he realizes who I am and puts up his spear.
“None of you should be threatening people right now,” I say.“These people aren't here to riot or to attack the prison tower.They just want to know what's going on.”
The guards look nervous, but that's preciselywhythey should try to de-escalate the situation.The last thing the city needs is one of them lashing out and hurting an innocent person.Thankfully, they do what I say and stop threatening the group of citizens gathered around the tower.
“Is Senator Marcus inside?”I ask.
One of the guards nods.“And the first senator as well.”
Of course, Rowan will be here.He’ll want to see what kind of threat Selene poses to the city.
“Let me in,” I say.“I want to talk to them, and I want to hear what she has to say.”
They open the doors to the prison tower, letting me inside.The last time I was here, it was to break Alaric and his followers out of their cells so they could help fight against Domitian’s uprising.He's still here somewhere because the senate hasn't been able to agree over whether to execute him or what fate to impose on him if not that.
But he isn't the reason I'm here, standing at the base of the vast circular tower which is ringed by cells and has stairs leading both up to higher rooms and down to the darkest dungeons beneath.
“Where’s Selene?”I ask one of the guards on the inside.
He points upwards.“In the topmost cells.”
