“He's working out her pattern,” Marcus says, clenching his fist. It sounds more like hope than reality, because Selene is busy picking off more of the mirror shards as they come for her.
She's so controlled and precise, not rushing into the attack, not throwing all the powers at her opponent at once. She circles Rael calmly and defensively, making him come to her. When the mirror shards get too close, she cuts them from the air with her blade, but mostly they don'tgetthat close to her, because she picks them off with beams of power the moment they fly away from the larger swarm.
Rael seems to sense that his strategy isn't working, and he tries to advance on Selene, but she gives ground, slashing at him with her blade to keep him at bay. Rael throws more mirror shards as she retreats, perhaps trying to catch Selene off guard, but she destroys them as well.
I can feel the tension in the arena. Clearly, the spectators realize that Selene is playing a dangerous game in which one slip might mean her death. If just one of those shards gets through it might open her throat and leave her bleeding on the sand.
But none of them do. Selene picks them off one by one and I can see her strategy now. Rael is dangerous when he's surrounded by a whole buzzing deadly swarm of mirror shards, but they're a finite resource, which serve as both his main weapon and his armor. Selene is being patient, picking away at those weapons with controlled darts of her magic.
Rael seems to sense what she's trying to do now, and switches tactics again, charging straight at Selene. She meetshim with a blast of power into the sand that sends it up into his face. Rael coughs, taking control of the sand and flinging it at Selene in a cloud of dust that she barely dodges aside from. Several shards of mirror, hidden by the sand, embed themselves in the wall of the colosseum.
Selene picks off another of his shards and another, so that there are barely half a dozen of them now, circling Rael, staying tight to him and serving as armor. He moves in with his daggers, using the mirror shards to block Selene’s magical attacks even as he tries to finish the fight up close.
Selene gives ground but then stumbles, her foot catching on one of the shards embedded in the ground. Rael rushes in, perhaps sensing his chance to finish the fight.
It's a trap.
As soon as Rael charges forward with his weapons raised, Selene recovers her balance, lunging for him with her body low, under the level of the daggers. She sweeps past Rael, her blade flicking out as she does so, in a move that's almost contemptuous in its speed and grace. Committed to his attack as he is, Rael has no time to defend as the curved sword slices across his throat. He looks shocked as his hands go to the wound, as though they might be able to hold the blood in. His mirror shards fall to the ground a moment before he does. He topples forward, hitting the sand with a thud that is audible around the arena in a brief moment of silence.
The crowd erupts, screaming their support for Selene. Marcus stands, looking furious, and stalks from the senate box.
Olivia moves forward to take his place, announcing the result he cannot bring himself to.
“People of Aetheria, your winner is Selene Ravenscroft!”
She stands there saluting them, and this time shedoessalute the senate box. I stare at the scene on the sands in horror. She'smanaged to kill her opponent, ended another life when with every other bout we've worked so hard to prevent such tragedies.
Selena holds her blade aloft, the blood red on the otherwise shining weapon. She's given the crowd what they want, given them the blood and death they seem to desire above everything else.
She’s their favorite, and there’s nothing we can do to stop her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“The votes are in and the senate is agreed,” Rowan says in a tone that makes it clear he doesn't agree with the decision at all. “Selene Ravenscroft is to be free to move through the city between her bouts in the arena.”
Several people in the public gallery of the senate cheer as Rowan announces that. He gives them a sharp look.
“This isn't the theater for you to cheer and boo. Be quiet or we'll have you removed.”
It's obvious he's taking his anger out on the watching crowd of citizens, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. It plays into Selene’s hands, making him less popular even as her own popularity soars.
The senators make their way from the chamber into the antechambers beyond. They’re a space for senators to meet with their constituents or concerned nobles, or in some cases with merchants who will discreetly offer them bribes later. The very access that's important to stop the city being ruled by a faceless oligarchy also contributes to the corruption of some of the senators.
Rowan is there, and he's fuming. I go to him and put a hand on his arm.
“We should have been able to stop this,” he says.
I shake my head. “You know the control she has right now.”
“I know, but it doesn’t change anything,” Rowan says. “Even if we could prove it now, I worry that the senate wouldn't accept it.”
I worry about that too. “We'll find a way to undo her control,” I promise him. “Once we do that, the senators will see the influence Selene exercised over them, and they won't forgive it. She's playing a dangerous game by doing this.”
“Because she's sure she'll win,” Rowan says. “Step by step she's increasing her freedom, moving closer to gaining power. I wondered before why she didn't just have the senate free her completely, but from what I hear she's so unbeatable in the colosseum that she doesn't need it yet.”
“She doesn't,” I agree. “And I guess doing it this way there can be no doubts that she's followed the customs of the city. No one can ever say that she's cheated her way out.”
“And in the meantime, she gets to keep manipulating the whole senate,” Rowan says.
