“It’s a clear piece of magic intended to kill,” Marcus says, “and to kill slowly.What would we do if a gladiator used poison on their weapon in the games?”
“We would have seen them impaled on a spike,” a senator named Lucius says.He’s a dark haired man in his thirties, broad shouldered and with a few scars from too many fights.He used to be in the army of the emperor, so I find myself wondering how many disobedient gladiators he helped to impale during his time in the military.
“And that’s what should happen here,” Marcus insists.
There’s a boo from above, from the public viewing galleries.
Rowan looks up from his spot in the first senator’s seat.“Stop that,” he calls out to the gallery.
“Selene!Selene!”The chant takes off among the people there to watch the proceedings, spreading until almost half of the people up there seem to be chanting it in unison.
“Silence!”Rowan shouts, making the very stones of the palace shake with his control over stone and earth.The people up there fall silent.“These are serious proceedings of the senate.If you interrupt, I’ll have you removed!”
"Are you an emperor to try to silence the people?"someone calls out.It's an insult that I'm sure will sting Rowan, because an emperor is the last thing he wants to be.
“Guards!”Marcus calls out.“Clear these people out.”
He clearly doesn't have Rowan's compunctions about being seen to act heavy-handedly.The guards around the chambers quickly clear the public viewing galleries, but we’re still all too aware of the presence of the public outside; we know what they want.
“Executing Selene Ravenscroft now would be a very unpopular decision,” Rowan says.“It would lose the confidence of the people and make them think that we simply have our enemies murdered out of hand.”
“Do you think she'd hesitate to do it to us?”Marcus asks.
Rowan shakes his head.“That isn't the point, Marcus.The point is that we're trying to be different.”
“This is only one victory,” Olivia says.“Presumably, you have something harder in mind for her next bout?”
Unspoken in that is the assumption that Selene will be given harder and harder opponents in the hope that she dies at their hands.It's a worrying idea because it reminds me too much of what the emperor tried to do with me.I was protected by my position in the games from simply being slain, so he had to try to throw me into impossible situations.The result just pushed me closer and closer to the part I played in overthrowing him.
“Lyra, you must support me on this,” Marcus says.“You saw what she did, and you know better than anyone how dangerous she is.”
I look around at the other senators.“She did poison Sorrel magically, and she is a danger to the city.It's obvious she's trying to build support.”
Marcus looks pleased, at least until my next words.
“But that doesn't mean I want her killed.I'm not comfortable simply having anyone executed.We should remove her from the games and throw her back into exile.”
“Can none of you see what's going on here?”Marcus asks, his frustration palpable.I find myself wondering why he's so set on making sure Selene dies.Is it just because he thinks she's that much of a threat to the city, or is there more to it than that?Is this really because he believes Selene to be responsible for his family’s downfall?
“We can all see you're unhappy with the way this turned out,” Senator Yarrow says.“But I'm not sure the answer to that is to make things worse for ourselves by executing Selene now.Or exiling her.We risk being seen as sore losers.As for this nonsense of her magic being like poison on a blade, I see this more like a gladiator dying of their wounds following the conclusion of a contest.It's tragic, of course, but it happens.If you want to put this to a vote, I, for one, will be voting in favor of keeping Selene in the games and against executing her.”
Marcus looks around the room, obviously trying to gauge how much support he has for such a vote.I can see the moment when he realizes that he won't be able to get enough senators on his side to see Selene executed.He sighs, looking hurt.
“If you're all set on keeping her alive, I can't stop you,” he says.“But we'll all suffer the consequences for it.”
When the senate meeting starts to break up, we all head into the ante-chambers beyond the senate room.Marcus is there with some of the nobles, clearly trying to drum up more support.Rowan goes to him, then comes to me, leading the two of us back to his office.
“That didn't go well,” Rowan says, once we're all safely ensconced there.“Calling for Selene’s execution was a mistake, Marcus.”
“I'm just trying to protect the city,” Marcus says.“And I can understand that many of the senators don't want the humiliation of a public execution that goes back on the decision to put her into the games, but maybe something could still be done.”
“And what do you mean by that?”Rowan asks.
“Selene’s in Ironhold,” Marcus says.“I'm told it's a place where training accidents used to happen all the time.”
“Are you seriously suggesting assassinating Selene?”I ask, barely able to believe what I'm hearing.
“I'm talking about quietly removing an enemy of the city before she can become more of a problem,” Marcus says.“And yes, I know how bad it sounds.”
