She holds out her wrist, and the practitioner fastens it into place.I feel the magic pulsing through it, spreading out to contain Selene’s power.It won't cut her off from it completely, but it will reduce the amount she can use.
“I recall I put one of these on you, Lyra,” she says.She doesn't look at me directly.I don't think she's looked at me the entire time I've been here.“As I recall, it wasn't enough to ensure you were killed.It just started a chain of events that led to the death of an emperor.I wonder what effects this one will have.”
She smiles as she says it, still not looking at me directly.It's unnerving.Most people would be more afraid in her position, especially when their biggest weapon has just been taken away from them.She doesn't seem bothered in the slightest.
I step from the cell, and Selene calls after me.
“I'll see you tomorrow, Lyra Thornwind.”
Fear is like a knot in my stomach.I don't know what she's planning, but I know she's planningsomething.
I walk from her cell, back out into the open air.
“Do we know who she's fighting yet?”I ask one of the trainers.“Marcus said you were looking for volunteers.”
“And we've got one,” the trainer says.“I think he knows him, Senator.Sorrel?”
The name catches me by surprise.Of course, I know Sorrel.I spoke to him the last time I was here.I was partly responsible for him being dragged into a prison cell when he came to meet me before Domitian’s attempted coup.
“Why him?”I ask.“Why is he volunteering?”
“You'd have to ask him that yourself,” the trainer says.“All I know is he's the one who's going to be fighting her.”
The thought of Sorrel in danger in the Colosseum fills me with unexpected fear for him.I don't want to see him hurt, don't even want to see him win because I know I will think less of him if I see him slay Selene at the end of the bout, having already beaten her.Because that's what it will come to.If he avoids her magic long enough to disable her with the metal staff he favors as a weapon, I have no doubt that whoever is sitting in the emperor's former box will demand Selene’s death.
I can imagine the moment now, with him standing over her, staff held poised and ready.I imagine the order to finish her, and in my imagination it comes from Marcus.I imagine Sorrel swinging the staff down, with the kind of speed and power his telekinesis can give him, in a blow aimed right at Selene’s head.
I imagine all of it, right down to the bloody consequences of the impact and the sudden roar of the crowd at the death.Has Sorrel really agreed to do something like this?I know he's ambitious and wants the adoration of the crowd, but is this the way he wants to do it?
I don't know, and I intend to find out.I need to find him, wherever he is here in Ironhold.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I find Sorrel using my powers, borrowing the eyes and ears of creatures throughout the citadel until I find him.He's in one of the training rooms, working hard with his staff, wearing armor decorated with magical runes.
The training room is a familiar one, with chains and ropes strung across it like some giant spider's web.It's a place designed to force fighters to think about how they move, to work on their agility and how to use longer weapons in new and creative ways.It's a place I've trained in with Alaric back in the days when we were both forced to be here.I had assumed that such a room would have been dismantled in the time when the games were not running but clearly someone saw the value of it even in training the guards.Or maybe Domitian had everything perfectly preserved, hoping that the games would come back again.
I head through the fortress to go find Sorrel, and no one tries to stop me.It's one of the advantages of my position as a senator.I remember enough of the twists and turns of Ironhold that there's no chance of me getting lost.I know the way to the room, hurrying past servants and trainers as I go.
Sorrel is still working out when I arrive, swinging his staff in tight arcs, reversing its direction with almost impossible ease thanks to his magic.He runs among the chains, swinging from them, bouncing off them, leaping from spot to spot.It's a display of telekinetic mastery over himself and the things he's touching that's limited in its scope but still very powerful.
“Impressive,” I say, as he works.
Sorrel comes to a halt mid-swing, turns to me while balancing on a chain, and then flips to the ground, landing neatly on his feet in front of me.
“I'm just getting used to my new armor,” he says.“I want to be able to move smoothly in it for the fight.I assume you've heard that I'm the one fighting Selene?”
“I have,” I admit.“I wanted to know why you agreed to the bout.”
“Agreed to it?”Sorrel says.“I volunteered for it so fast no one else got a chance to argue against it.We both know that bitch Cesca would have stolen the glory of this moment if she could.”
The vehemence with which he says it catches me by surprise.In this case, though, I don't think he’s right.I shake my head.
“From what I've seen recently, she's good at picking her fights.Cesca was always timid in Ironhold.She knew she was weak, so she tried to seek protection from stronger people.She wouldn't take on a truly deadly opponent like Selene, and definitely not in a death match.”
Sorrel shrugs.“Maybe you're right, but it isn't as though she got a chance.I made sure I got there first.”
“Why?”I demand.“Why volunteer to take part in a death bout like this?”
