“Of course,” Olivia says. “They're doing the work now. I've paid for everything.”
The more mind magic I use the more convinced I become that I should have learned it years ago. My time in exile has been well spent at least. I was powerful before, but now I have all the skills I need to advance my position within this new, so-called Republic.
“You're very good to me,” I tell her. “Shall we go and see how their efforts are coming along?”
Olivia nods enthusiastically, sliding her arm through mine and falling into step with me as we head through the fortress. Guards step back from me as we pass, making no effort to impede me as I walk around the interior of Ironhold.
I head up into the spaces that used to be reserved for noble gladiators, those who committed themselves to fighting in the colosseum for honor and glory. My rooms are up here these days, the most comfortable ones the guards have been able to find. They've been very generous in that respect.
We go to a room furnished with elegantly carved furniture taken from around the rest of the fortress. A dress is laid out on the bed, in white, trimmed with gold. I can tell from Olivia's excitement that she's the one who got it for me.
“The colors of the Republic?” I say, raising one eyebrow.
She steps back from me, looking worried. “Did I do the wrong thing? I thought purple would be a bad idea.”
Purple is the old color of the emperors. Wearing it where anyone could see me would be as good as claiming that I wish to be empress. Whereas this feels like a more conciliatory statement that I want to work within the Republic. And I do, at least for now.
“It's perfect,” I assure her. I take a moment to change into the dress, and I can feel Olivia's eyes on me as I do so. Her desire for me, coupled with her need for wealth and power, makes her much easier to manipulate than some others.
We continue to go through the fortress, to the spot where her people have been working. They've taken a room and filled it with elegant couches and gilded tables. There are servants there, waiting with wine and food. Drapes have been hung to lend the place a more comfortable, convivial feel.
There are already plenty of people there on the couches. Some are nobles. Some are ordinary citizens, carefully selected for their wealth or their connections, the things they might be able to do within the city. A few are fighters, either in the colosseum or the underground fights that thrive because of the lack of law and order in the city. They mingle together, and I know Olivia has made every effort to make this comfortable for them all. She really does have a gift for throwing parties.
Some of them stand and applaud me as I enter, although most watch me as if wondering what I'll do next. This isn't a room full of those I've controlled. There are limits to what even I can do with psychomancy, and I haven't met most of those here face to face before.
Olivia has selected the spot where I'll sit carefully, a couch just like the others rather than a throne, but one placed at the head of the room, the others looking in towards me. I take a seat, leaving Olivia on another couch nearby. She looks pained, as if not being close to me is difficult for her now. I've tied her to me quite closely with my powers, after all.
“My friends,” I say. “It's good to see you all. It's wonderful that you were prepared to make the journey from Aetheria out to the fortress like this.”
“Well, perhaps next time you can come see us in our homes,” a nobleman named Draccus suggests.
“I would like nothing more,” I say, “but I felt it was important to try to make this place into something more than just a place to contain gladiators or a fortress. Ironhold should have another purpose, don't you think?”
I quickly elide over the part where Ironhold currentlyhasother purposes. It's the place where the city guards are trained, a place where gladiators still work to be ready for the games, a place where officials keep records for the city. So much is already being done with Ironhold, and yet the Republic chose to put me here while they have me fight for my life. As I knew they would. Tradition has its own power, and that's a power I can make use of just as much as magic.
“And what purpose is that?” Draccus asks.
“Why, it should become a place of meeting and discussion, of learning and beauty, as much as violence,” I say. I look around the room pointedly. “There are so many people here who know different and interesting things. Julia there is one of the foremost engineers in Aetheria. Tarkus is a mathematician of some renown. Have the two of you met? I'm sure you might be of use to one another. Perhaps Tarkus can help you with that aqueduct design you were working on, Julia?”
It's so easy to sit there and guide them to one another. An engineer to a mathematician, a philosopher to a group of nobles interested in such things, one merchant with a warehouse full of silks to another who owns one of the largest dressmaking houses in the city. As they go to one another I can see them starting to relax, whatever fears they had about me bringing them here starting to recede.
“Hestion, have you met Senator Olivia?” I ask, leading a handsome young gladiator to the couch where Olivia is waiting. I smile and pass his hand to hers. I have no doubt he'll be in her bed tonight, and that will help to keep her happy enough to continue spending her money in the ways I want.
It's strange, having so few things of my own at the moment. I'm used to having the full resources of the city backing me, to being able to command an army, and pay for whatever I need with the contents of the treasury. Tiberius was ultimately quite mad, but he seemed happy enough to let me do what I wanted as arch magistrate, at least up to a point.
Sadly, that wouldn't have lasted. He was always going to turn on me at some point, and his cruelty was creating too many problems in the empire. It was always vital that he should be removed. Doing it the way I did, stepping back to allow a revolution to happen, merely meant that the discontent beneath the surface could be brought out into the open. Had I tried to make myself empress in this place, I would have had to fight against too many elements within the city that Tiberius stirred up. I would have always been a usurper, ready to be overthrown in turn.
Whereas, if I judge things right here, Aetheria will welcome me as its savior.
“…I’m telling you, the democratic system of the Republic can be perfected.”
It seems I'm stepping into the middle of a philosophical discussion. But then, I invited so many philosophers for exactly that reason.
“And what about when the Republic needs to take action quickly?” I ask. “Can that perfect democracy ever respond?”
“Speed is difficult in such circumstances,” the philosopher says, “but that's why we have a First Senator.”
I smile. “Because ultimately, we all know there must be someone in charge. We can discuss things as much as we like but someone must make the decisions. Someone must be prepared to do what's necessary when circumstances demand it.”
