I head out into the evening air of the city, and I must admit, even now, that Aetheria is the most beautiful place I've ever seen.The city within the walls and, increasingly, the slums outside, are built from white marble.Statues of famous figures fill the streets.So does magic.Glowing orbs are starting to light up, providing illumination for the wealthier neighborhoods.The temple glows with a purple aura, as if reflecting the energies of the magical stones beneath the city.Noble houses decorated themselves with images of their sigils, or scenes from history.
I make my way through the noble quarter, and as I do, almost reflexively, I reach out with my magic for the minds of creatures all around me.As a beast whisperer, I have the talent to control them or borrow power from them, to communicate with them or simply to look through their eyes.I look down on myself through the eyes of a passing owl, searching the city below for signs of danger.It's necessary these days.Domitian might have failed in his plot to take the city, but I still have other enemies.
And there's a chance I might spot Alaric.I'm with Marcus, but even now, thoughts of Alaric make my heart ache.He leads those who seek to stand against the games and against the corruption within the city.Those the other senators call traitors and rebels.He and his followers helped to stop Domitian, but I haven't seen him since then, not even through the eyes of beasts.
I make my way to Marcus’ villa, on the boundary between the noble and merchant quarters.His servants let me in, showing me to an elegant couch in a room at the villa’s heart.They’re used to me being there by now, and serve me wine while I wait for Marcus to arrive.
He isn’t long, and somewhere along the line he’s had time to change into a dark tunic, a pendant around his neck in the shape of a ship.
"Did you make all the deals you wanted?"I ask as he comes to sit near me.
“Somehow, you always make that sound as though it’s a vast ocean of corruption,” Marcus replies, but he smiles as he does it.“I was listening to some merchants who were worried that the Republic isn’t opening up trade with Arboria quickly enough.”
Arboria is one of the kingdoms bordering the Republic.It sent emissaries to us before, but doesn’t seem to be opening up trade.I suspect it’s waiting to see if the Republic proves strong enough to be an ally, or is just something to be conquered.
“But we shouldn’t spend our evening talking over senate debates,” Marcus says.He puts an arm around me, and I feel his strength, the same comforting strength that I delight in waking up next to so often these days.It feels so natural to be with him, and if he lacks Alaric’s sense of dangerous excitement, I tell myself that’s a good thing.
“We should eat,” I say.
He kisses me, softly.“Afterwards.”
I melt into that kiss, and into the faint tingle of lightning across my skin.Marcus’s magic always seems like a part of him, so that the very sky above tends to reflect his mood.As the kiss deepens and he reaches for my dress, it’s easy to all but lose myself in the moment.
At least until a servant coughs pointedly, forcing us to pull back from one another quickly.
“What is it?”Marcus asks, with a note of exasperation, quickly held in check.He isn’t some noble, to berate his servants for every small failing.He treats them with more affection and consideration than most people of his wealth, perhaps because he’s seen harder times as well, when his family fell foul of the emperor.
“Forgive me,” the servant says.“But a messenger has come from Ironhold.”
I feel a growing sense of dread at the mention of the space that used to be used to train gladiators but is now used to train the city's soldiers as well.It isn't just because of the harsh training I endured there, but because I know what the message will be.
“A gladiator’s gone missing,” I guess.
The servant nods.“It appears so.They left without warning and didn’t come back.”
"Another?"Marcus says with a note of surprise.
“That’s three this month,” I point out.
Marcus nods, but tries to make it sound like it isn’t a problem.“They’re probably just slipping away because they don’t want to fight in the games.”
“Do you really believe that’s it?”I counter.
“Or they’ve taken jobs or lovers,” Marcus says.“They’re not slaves.They have the freedom to leave.”
But these have done so suddenly and without any sign of them again afterwards.It makes me certain that more is happening.I’m determined to find out what, and that means going to Ironhold.
CHAPTER TWO
I slip from Marcus’ bed early the next morning, leaving him sleeping as I dress and head from his villa.I could wake Marcus and insist that he comes with me to Ironhold, but I’m sure he has a busy day ahead trying to deal with the other business of the city.Besides, he doesn’t seem to see what’s happening as a problem.He might try to talk me out of going to Ironhold, and I don’t want that.
I head out through the city, moving quickly in the sunlight.I go through the merchant district and the entertainment district, trying to ignore the constant presence of the colosseum at the very heart of the city, the huge, circular structure dominating all around it.I make my way to one of the gates in the city walls and step through into the layers of the city that lie beyond.
Once, there were no slums around Aetheria, but as the city and the empire grew, whole districts sprang up for those who couldn’t afford a place within its walls.Despite the rebuilding efforts of Rowan and the senate, the resulting slums remain a place of ramshackle buildings, the stink of too many people pressed too close together, and the promise of violence.
I see gang members patrolling the streets out here in place of guards or maybe in collaboration with them.There are tenement buildings and spaces from which the strange scents of drugs drift out into the air.People watch me as I walk, because they know me by now.I could have wrapped a cloak around myself to travel incognito, but at least my status as a senator means no one bothers me.
Or maybe it’s the knowledge that I’m both a former gladiator and a beast whisperer.Even the bravest of the gangs don’t want to deal with a wave of animals rushing in to rip them limb from limb, or with the trained skills of a champion of the arena.
