“But you still haven’t learned that the empire is over,” I shoot back.
“Is it?” Selene counters, with another smile. “Oh, the version Tiberius believed in is gone, but can you say that your Republic has truly done anything to help the people?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Are you trying to convince me that you’re some kind of better option?”
“Do you think I wouldn’t be?” Selene says. “I want to create a city, an empire, where there is order and peace.”
“Created by pushing down all those who resist,” I snap.
Selene pauses. “Why would you want to resist, Lyra? This wouldn’t be the old empire, based on blood and death. It would be something new. Did you know that I wasn’t born into a wealthy family?”
That catches me by surprise, and I shake my head.
“I grew up poor,” Selene says. “If I had been born beyond the city, no doubt, I would have ended up as you did, forced into the colosseum after being taken as a slave by soldiers. As it was, a magus spotted my talents and took me on as an apprentice. I still had to fight to rise through the city, and I made it all the way to the right hand of the emperor.”
“Are you trying to make me feel sorry for you?” I ask.
Selene shakes her head. “I’m telling you that I don’t think the same way the emperor did. I don’t care about nobility, or family or wealth. Those aren’t the things that made Aetheria powerful. This is a city where magic counts for more than anything, or it should. Magical talent, not birth, should determine people’s place in our society.”
“Why are you telling me that?” I say. “I could go to the senate.”
“Which would do nothing,” Selene reminds me. “And I’m telling you because I don’t think we need to be enemies, Lyra. You’re fighting against me because you think I represent an old way of doing things, because you think I’ll hurt or kill those you care about. Neither of those things needs to be true.”
I shake my head. “It’s how many people you’ll hurtthroughoutthe city.”
“It won’t be so many,” Selene says. She sighs. “You know, I see a lot of similarities between us. We both came from nothing. We’ve both built our success on magical power. We both care about Aetheria a great deal. Which is why I’d like you to work with me.”
“Your attempt to influence me failed,” I say.
“Which is a part of why I know you’re strong enough to work alongside me. I could show you so much more about magic, Lyra. I could help you to become stronger, and to help the city more. Can you imagine what it would be like? You’re worried about the damage I might do? Well, you can help to stop that damage. You can help persuade people.”
“Standing beside you the way I do with Marcus?”
“Well, I won’t be asking you to marry me,” Selene says, with a faint laugh. “That’s a clever political move, but Marcus is all about politics. He sees Aetheria being run by wealth and political influence. As I said, that isn’t what Aetheria is about. It’s about magic.”
She heads for the door, pausing on the threshold.
“I’m holding another gathering at Ironhold in three days. Take that time to think about it. See what I intend and give me an answer then. We can bring a peaceful end to this, and bring Aetheria back to its true power.”
The offer shocks me, as does the assumption that I will think seriously about it, and maybe accept. After all I’ve seen of Selene, does she really think I’ll side with her? Is she even sincere?
I have no doubt that she is. If I take Selene’s offer, she’ll still to its terms. I will have a place within her coming empire. So will the people I care about. It’s a huge offer, and one I can’t dismiss out of hand, no matter how much that’s my first instinct. I have three days to muse on it, three days in which to decide what to do.
Or three days to find a way to stop her.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
“She wants you to dowhat?” Alaric says, as we train with Elanar in another abandoned space within the city. This one is a walled garden, cut off from the outside world by the buildings around it, accessible only over the rooftops.
Alaric swings a blade as he says it, forcing me to dodge.
“She wants me to join her and learn from her,” I reply, throwing back a barrage of strikes with my staff, spinning and leaping, trying to keep Alaric on the back foot.
“While she becomes empress?” Alaric guesses. He swings his blade low, forcing me to leap over it.
I nod. “Although she tried to persuade me that it would be a very different place to the old empire. That magical strength and not birth would be the only thing determining status within Aetheria.”
Alaric looks thoughtful. “Which would make you one of the most important people in Aetheria, if not the most important. Are you tempted?”
