“You said you had answers for me,” I say.“If that's not true, I'll go.”
“We both know that you'll stay.You're eager for any scrap of information you can get.You still want the details of my evil schemes.Isn't that what you think of what I'm doing?”
“What you’re planning, whatever it is, will probably get people killed.You poisoned Sorrel with your magic.You abducted and murdered beast whisperers in Arboria.Why should I think of you as anything other than evil?”
“Maybe I'm just someone who does whatever's necessary for the good of the city,” Selene says.“It's why I made sure you had your full powers, so that you would be able to overthrow Tiberius.All for the good of Aetheria.”
“So you're casting yourself as a good person now?”I ask.
Selene smiles faintly.“Am I good?Am I bad?I'm not sure such labels mean very much for the powerful.You should know that, given that you're meant to be a senator.The likes of us make decisions that affect the lives of others.I pick my decisions for the benefit of the city.”
“Or for your own benefit,” I suggest.“You've told me that you stepped back to let me kill the emperor because you saw that he was mad.But I think you did it because you saw a revolution coming, and you realized it was the best way to ensure you survived.”
She laughs then, with a delicate sound that’s at odds with the harshness of her cell.
“Is that all you think this is about for me?”Selene says.
“I don't know.Why don't you tell me?Before, you said ‘what grows beneath the city will consume it with or without me’.Are you ready to tell me what you mean?”
She shrugs.“You've seen what's growing beneath the city.Discontent, dissatisfaction, violence.Your precious Republic thinks that it has created the ideal conditions for people to live in, but it's being pulled in every direction by those who are unhappy with it.No one has the strength to take charge.”
“No one but you?”I guess.
Selene doesn't seem offended by the cynicism in my tone.“You've experimented with giving power to the people and it hasn't worked.You must have seen for yourself by now that the people want violence and entertainment.That they're corrupt if allowed to be.They need a ruler with the strength to point them in the right direction.The games are a part of that, but so is the magic of the city and the sense of purpose and identity the empire used to possess.”
“So you want to put yourself in Tiberius’ place after all?”I say.
Selene shrugs again.“Tiberius was a madman at the end, but just because he was a bad emperor, that doesn't mean emperors are a bad idea.I could offer the city a sense of order, and I would be much fairer than he ever was.There wouldn't be mindless cruelty, but nor would there be the weakness that your Republic has allowed to thrive.”
“And how exactly do you plan to make yourself empress?”I ask.
“You must understand some of it by now, Lyra,” Selene says.“You aren't stupid.I left the city to let the ill feeling settle down and to see what shape the new society in the city would take.I trained and grew more powerful, and if I managed to create a little disruption that will set the Arborians against Aetheria, so much the better.I find civilizations work better when they have an enemy.”
“But then you came back and were caught,” I point out.
“I surrendered to the guards,” Selene says, spreading her hands.“It's not quite the same thing.I knew what would happen.I knew I would be able to force you to let me fight in the games.You, of all people, must know how easy it is to gain popularity among the ordinary people that way.”
I do.Fighting and winning in the games made me a hero to the people of Aetheria.Selene has only fought one bout, but it's already enough to get people talking.And it's done more than that.
“So you get people on your side and you also force the senate to have matches where death is a possibility.”
“Exactly.And, of course, it's allowed me to talk to many important people in the receiving rooms.Do you think, even with you watching me, you were able to stop me from talking to all of them?”
Her smile suggests that she has made contact with exactly the people she wanted, and that she will have supporters in the city.
“So your plan is just to take the throne?”I say.
She's so calm, as if we're discussing the weather rather than treason against the Republic.
“There's no need to make it sound like something so horrific,” Selene says.“The people need to be led, and so I will lead.Aetheria is a place of magic, and I have more magic than anyone.Even you.”
“So you'll rise up and slaughter us all?”I say.
Selene shakes her head.“That's the thing, Lyra.It doesn't have to be like that.I know there are plenty of people around you who think in those terms, but why should gaining control of the city need this brutal battle?You and others could simply join me.There would still be a senate.It's simply that it would advise me as your empress rather than seeking to control everything like a bunch of squabbling children.There would be a place for you in my court if you wanted it.You're a champion of the arena, Lyra.I want such people in positions of influence.”
It's my turn to laugh.“I have no intention of ever serving you, Selene.And all of this plotting… it runs into one problem.Ultimately, you're still a prisoner.You still have a dampener on your wrist.You’re still someone who has to fight for her survival in the Colosseum.I'm pretty sure that the senators are planning to make sure you don't survive the next bouts.”
“I’m sure too,” Selene says.She approaches the door to her cell, just inches away from me through the bars.“But I think you're the one who's miscalculated things here.You are, after all, missing one crucial piece of information.”
