I head up there as quickly as I can, my feet resounding against the stone of the stairs.There are a couple of guards outside the door, but they don't move to stop me.I hesitate outside the room, though, because I don't know how Selene will react to my presence.It may be that she's just waiting for me to arrive before she attacks.
I shift my attention forward instead, finding the mind of a gull wheeling around the tower and bringing it to the window of the room.It means I can observe what's going on inside without having to set foot within.
I can see Selene there, sitting calmly on a chair even though she's shackled and behind a set of bars.Her seemingly eternal youth and almost unblinking violet eyes are disconcerting to see again after she's been gone for so long.
Rowan and Marcus are both there in front of her, questioning her, trying to work out what they should do next with her.
“What are you doing back here, Selene?”Rowan asks.
She smiles.“There was a time when you wouldn't have been able to address me by my first name, Rowan.You've risen in the world since then.”
It's a not very subtle reminder that Rowan was once a slave gladiator, while she was one of the most important people in the city.
“It's First Senator Rowan now,” Marcus snaps, with surprising force given that he and Rowan are often at odds in the senate.
“And Marcus Larius,” Selene says, again, perfectly calmly.“You're a senator as well, of course.I'm so sorry about what happened to your family.”
Marcus snarls and takes a step forward, his anger obvious.But then, he has every right to be angry.He comes from a merchant family that initially prospered under the empire.At least until they got on Emperor Tiberius’s bad side.Marcus's father was killed, while his mother fell under the influence of a servant with mind magic who slowly persuaded her to sign away most of the family’s holdings.The servant drove her mad and was responsible for her death.Marcus might have grown up surrounded by wealth, but he has as much reason to hate the empire as any of us.
“You don't get to talk about my family,” Marcus says.
“If that is more comfortable for you,” Selene replies.“Although I hope you understand I played no part in it.It was just one of the things that convinced me that Tiberius had spilled over the line between power and madness.”
“And where areyouwhen it comes to that line?”Rowan asks her.
Should I go in?What questions would I add to this?Would she answer any of them?
“The difficulty, of course, is that none of us knows for sure,” Selene says.She's as poised as if she were simply having a philosophical discussion in some salon in the city, not answering questions in a cell.“Although my intentions are peaceful here.I think that should be obvious from the way I gave myself up to your guards.I've seen the new symbols of the Republic on their uniforms.Just a burst of magic?Even I know Aetheria can't exist without the sword at its heart as well.”
Selene is an archon, a magic user with considerable power over multiple disciplines.She's as committed to magic as anyone in Aetheria.But it seems she wants martial power as well.
“What are you doing here?”Rowan demands.“Why did you come back?You were exiled.”
"I chose to leave for the good of the city.Now I've returned for the same reasons."
“And what do you mean by that?”Marcus demands.“The only reason you chose to leave was to save yourself.And you were declared an exile.It was decided that if you returned, you would be executed.”
“Is that what you plan to do with me?”Selene asks.“With no trial?No chance to plead my case?Have you changed so many of the laws of the city?”
Rowan and Marcus are on tricky ground now, because the truth is that many of the laws are the same.The Republic chose to adopt the laws of the empire and then adjust them as it went, rather than risk having chaos if they simply tore down all of the rules that went before.
“The senate made the decision,” Marcus says.“Your fate has already been decreed.”
“And I say the laws of the city allow me to speak,” Selene says, with a faint smile that doesn't betray any fear.Is she really so confident that they won't just have her beheaded or impaled?“As I say, I came here to try to help the city.The very least you can do is hear me out in front of the senate.As the former arch magistrate, I believe I’m owed at least that much.Don't you agree?”
She looks straight at the gull through whose eyes I'm looking as she says it, clearly knowing I'm watching.
Rowan takes a step back.“We’ll consider it,” he says.“In the meantime, you'll remain here.You're too dangerous to just allow to walk free.”
“Of course,” Selene says as if this is something that they're deciding between the two of them, something she has a say in.
Rowan and Marcus head for the door and I pull my attention back into myself as they open it, Selene’s eyes are locked on to me through the bars of her cell.She smiles faintly, as if thinking about something only she will understand.
“I want an emergency session of the senate,” Rowan says.“We need to decide what to do with her.”
“What we need,” Marcus says, “is to execute her.”
“Either way, it's a matter for the senate,” Rowan replies.“Which means we need to get back there.With news this big, something tells me the others will already be arriving.”
