I feel something snag my leg, and I'm lifted into the air.I've stepped into a snare, and it has trapped me, leaving me dangling as someone approaches.I recognize Selene instantly.She smiles my way.
“All your speed, all the things you can steal from animals, don't matter to me.However fast you run, you're always running into my trap, Lyra.”
She lifts her hand wreathed in magic, and as the blast of destructive power flies towards me, I brace for the impact.
I wake up in a cold sweat.It's still night.I hadn't realized how much the presence of Selene Ravenscroft rattled me, but it clearly has.I don't want to go back to sleep, so I get up and go over to the window of my rooms, staring out across the city to the prison tower at the edge of the walls.
Selene is in there somewhere.Tomorrow, she’ll come before the senate.What will happen then?Will her life be forfeit, or will something else, something more dangerous, start to take shape?
Are we all just running headlong into her schemes?
CHAPTER NINE
I prepare carefully the next morning before heading down to the senate chamber.I try to look as poised as possible, knowing that plenty of eyes will be upon me.I wait for the servants in the palace to bind up my hair in its usual elaborate set of braids.
When did I start to care about my appearance like this?Back in the arena, I just wore what they gave me, but maybe that's part of why I care now because the organizers of the games always wanted to show off as much flesh as possible, to present the gladiators fighting there as little more than pieces of meat.I want to show how far I've come from those days and that they no longer hold any power over me.
It isn't true, though.Every reaction I have to the games is shaped by my time in them.Even the worry that I have about today is based on the way Selene used to hold power over so many of us in the colosseum.As a member of the senate, I'm trying her today, but some small part of me still reacts as if she is standing in judgment over me.
There's a knock at my door.Marcus is standing there in his toga.
“Are you ready?”he asks me.
“How can anybody be ready for something like this?”I counter.“Ready to decide if someone lives or dies?”
Marcus spreads his hands.“It's part of the responsibility of being on the senate,” he says.“We need to make the difficult decisions to do the things that will keep Aetheria safe.”
“It sounds as though you're trying to persuade me which way to vote,” I say.
Marcus puts his arms around me.“I know you better than that.You’ll make your own mind up, Lyra.And I know that you'll always do what you believe is best for Aetheria.I just worry that, in this case, you might not be ruthless enough.”
I look at him carefully.“Remember that I've killed people in the Colosseum and in the fight against the emperor.I had to slay my own patron, but I still did it.”
Lady Elara gave me no choice about it.She was going to unleash a wave of beasts to tear through the city, killing indiscriminately.She wouldn't listen to reason, so I had to do what was needed to save the people of the city.
“You're saying you do what's necessary,” Marcus says.“I'm just trying to show you that in this case, killing Selene may be the only option.”
I'm still not convinced about that, though.I don't want to be responsible for a death if I can avoid it.But I must admit I'm not sure what else we can do.
Marcus and I head to the senate chamber.I expect it to be full, and in one sense it is.A crowd stares down at us from the viewing galleries, obviously eager to see what will happen to the former arch magistrate.
But the benches of the senate are not so populated.Half of the senators seem to be missing, which seems strange given that we're going to be discussing something of such importance.I could understand it if this were a minor matter of what to build where in the city for its reconstruction; senators miss those discussions all the time.But not this.Not the fate of one of the most powerful individuals in the old empire, a woman who has been condemned to death in her absence, and exiled permanently.I can't see Olivia or Yarrow, and their absences are telling, because I couldn't imagine them missing something this important without a reason.
I can start to guess that reason, thanks to the nervous glances the senators give one another as they wait, the sense of fear that pervades the chamber, and the way most of them are keeping servants or guards close.
They're afraid.These figures who are so involved in the governance of Aetheria are afraid of what might happen to them if they stand against Selene Ravenscroft.No doubt she has a reason to hate many of them already for their roles in the overthrow of the empire.Many of the rest won't want to risk her anger by speaking against her here.It's as if they all assume that she will find a way to escape and gain power within the city, taking revenge for both the overthrow of the emperor and the attempt to execute her.
For me, the fear only shows that we need to decide this today.It shows how dangerous Selene is.We can't allow her a path to come back to power, especially not when it seems she's been murdering beast whisperers.Am I coming around to Marcus’ view that she should be killed?I don't know if I'm prepared to say that yet, but we can't do nothing.
I sit and wait, holding my hands together so they won’t move nervously.I can feel the tension rising in the room and see the senators shifting uncomfortably in their seats.There is silence even in the gallery above as Rowan takes his seat and looks around with disappointment, as if realizing how many people are staying away.
I start at every sound.I can't help but feel that Selene is planning something; it's just a question of what.Will she try to fight her way out of custody using her considerable magic?Will she seek to overthrow the senate here?
There's a chance that everything she's done so far has been to get us all in one room with her, trusting that she can defeat us all using her magic and thus regain the city from the Republic.I hope she would fail in any such attempt.Several of the senators have considerable magical powers of their own, and while individually, there might not be a match for the former arch magistrate, together, we should be able to take her down.
So why do I still feel so nervous?
I lean forward in my seat as I see guards bringing Selene into the senate chamber.She's wearing shackles, but despite those, she still seems almost preternaturally calm, as if nothing about the proceedings touches her.The guards look faintly afraid of her, perhaps knowing that if she chose to escape, they would be the first victims of her magic.She walks tall and proud into the middle of the chamber, looking around at the viewing galleries before her gaze settles on Rowan.
