Meet me an hour after dark on the edges of the slums, near the Inn of Seven Eyes.T.
It seems Thalia has the means to get messages to me just as Alaric did.I only hope these aren't being intercepted the same way by one of the servants.
I'm curious about what has led her to send me a message.Does she have some new information?Is Alaric in some kind of danger?That thought sends a thrill of fear through me.
It's still early, so I wait in my rooms, killing time before the meeting.As I do so, though, a knock comes at the door.It’s Rowan.
“Can we talk?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
I show Rowan into my rooms.It's rare for him to come by like this, even though we both live within the palace.We see one another often enough in the corridors or the ante chambers, but he doesn't visit me.
“Is everything all right?”I ask.
“That's what I wanted to ask you,” Rowan says.“It's obvious Marcus is upset by the way things went in the chamber, and you know him better than anyone.”
There isn't the jealousy there that there might once have been.Rowan hasn't spent his time seeking my affections, the way he used to in Ironhold.When it came to Alaric, he was always suspicious, always trying to push ahead of him in my attentions.It isn't like that with Marcus.Rowan seems to have accepted that we're together, and even if he doesn't agree with Marcus's positions on the politics of the city, he seems happy for me.It probably helps that, if the rumors are to be believed, he spends his days fending off advances from noblewomen who want to connect themselves to the first senator of Aetheria.
“He's taking it hard,” I say.A part of me wishes that I'd gone to his villa with him, but he doesn't want me there right now.I try not to let that hurt me, but it does.I want to be able to be there for him.“He really wants to see her dead.”
“Whereas you don’t, even though you were far more involved in the rebellion than he was,” Rowan says.
I shake my head.“I don't like the idea of us just killing our enemies.”
“It might need to happen,” Rowan says.“It's one thing to give her the chance to defend herself but if she can't come up with some convincing answers, we might need to execute her for the safety of the city.You know how dangerous she could be if she chose.”
“I know,” I say.
“And it's no coincidence that she's shown up now,” Rowan says.“I wonder if she was expecting to walk into a city ruled by Domitian.”
I consider that.The two were communicating, so it's obvious Selene wouldn't have minded if Domitian succeeded, but I think it's more complicated than that.
“Do you think she would have wanted him as emperor?”I say.“My guess is that she was working with whoever she could find who would support her aims.She's pragmatic, and she thinks deeply.No doubt she was prepared for both the success and failure of Domitian’s coup.I doubt she cares much that he’s imprisoned.She’s certainly not going to make an effort to help him if he’s no use to her.”
Rowan looks thoughtful.“I guess, if Domitian succeeded, she could always have quietly killed him and taken his place.That, or controlled him from the shadows.”
“I don't think Domitian would have been that easy to control if he got real power,” I say.
“We still need to decide what to do with him as well," Rowan says with a grim expression.“I've tried to think of alternatives to execution, but unless we're going to hold him in a dungeon for the rest of his life, there aren't many good ones.In exile, he would simply raise an army, and something less than that doesn't feel like enough.”
“No one said it would be easy, being first senator of the city,” I point out.
“Well, you have just as many difficult decisions as a senator,” Rowan counters.“But I get the feeling this one might make the difference between a safe and prosperous city and one that faces a constant threat in the future.”
I know that whatever we decide, tomorrow isn’t going to be easy.For now, though, I'm all too aware that the hour is growing later.I need to go speak with Thalia, and I can't tell Rowan that's what I'm doing.As long as Alaric and his people work outside the laws of the city, Rowan can't know that I'm associating with them.
“I should go see Marcus,” I say, “to make sure that he's okay.”
Rowan nods.“And maybe get him to calm down in his demands for immediate death.”
If I were actually going to speak with Marcus, I might try that, but I'm not.Instead, I slip out of the palace into the growing darkness and head down through the city, out into the slums.Like much of the rest of Aetheria, they're not empty or silent at night.There aren't as many magical lights as within the walls, but there are still some, augmented by candles or oil lamps.People bustle in the streets, conducting secretive business.The whole place has a dangerous air to it.I keep a cloak wrapped tightly around myself so I won't be recognized, and look through the eyes of a night owl as I hurry through the slums, watching out for any signs that I'm being followed.
I make my way to the Inn of Seven Eyes, the way Thalia told me to.It doesn't have a sign but instead has eyes carved into the beams and door frame so that the whole building seems to stare at anyone passing by.Sounds of revelry come from within, music playing in a burst as one man comes stumbling out onto the streets and falls over, too drunk to stand.
Thisis the place Thalia wants to meet me.I guess it has the advantage that it's the kind of place where no one would expect to see me, and where most of the patrons will be too drunk to recognize even a champion of the arena.I sigh, then go inside.
I head to the bar and order a cup of cheap wine, then go to sit in a corner, watching the other people there.A serving woman comes to my table, leaning over it to be heard above the noise.
