She frowns. “But why not? She’s explained that things will be so much more pleasurable for all of us with her there, rather than fighting.”
There it is again, that note of repetition. It’s something I’ve seen before, in Cesca, back when a psychomancer named Ravenna was controlling her mind. Horror fills me at that thought. Is it possible… is it possible Selene is somehow doing the same? I know she’s an Archon, but does she really have the power to control minds now? Has she somehow learned it during her banishment?
If so, it makes her more of a threat than ever. It means she’ll be able to attack the Republic in ways we never anticipated. The rest of the Senate needs to know about this.
CHAPTER FOUR
I hurry to the palace, not stopping until I reach Rowan’s office. He takes one look at my expression and frowns.
“What is it, Lyra? Did something go wrong in the games?”
Rowan makes a point of not attending the games, despite being the First Senator. In one sense, it’s a principled stand against the violence of a place where he was forced to fight and kill for so long.
Unfortunately, it also leaves a space into which others can step, showing themselves as leaders in the city in Rowan’s absence. I know it’s what Marcus is doing. I suspect it’s a large part of Selene’s plan too.
“Did Selene survive?” Rowan asks, sounding momentarily hopeful, as if everything that’s wrong with the city will be made right just with her death.
“She survived,” I say. “She won another bout. Against Cesca this time.”
“And Cesca?” Rowan says, with a sudden hint of concern. Althoughonlya hint. He knows her the same way I do, as a fellow gladiator during our time in Ironhold, one who’s subsequently been determined to grab every scrap of fame and attention she can.
“She’s fine. There weren’t any lingering effects this time. In fact, I get the feeling she threw the fight. Or at least didn’t fight as well as she could at the end.”
Rowan’s eyes widen. “That’s a serious accusation. Why would she do something like that?”
I think of all the reasons Cesca gave me, but also the hesitation in her voice and the strange way she reacted.
“I think Selene was controlling her mind. I think she’s been using psychomancy.”
“Is that even one of her disciplines?” Rowan asks.
I shrug. “She’s an archon. She has the power to learn almost anything. And I get the feeling she’s learnedplentyof new things during her time in exile. It may even have been the reason she left the empire.”
“Or she just didn’t want to be killed in that first wave of rebellion,” Rowan points out. “You really think she’s manipulating Cesca?”
“Not just her. I talked to Senator Octavio and Senator Olivia. Both started to talk about how good it would be to have Selene on the senate, and how a place should be found for her, even though both have been opposed to anything that helps her before. They repeated themselves, and hesitated, like someone was telling them what to say.”
Rowan looked even more worried. “You’re saying you think Selene is somehow controlling all three of them?”
“And probably more,” I say.
“Do you have evidence of that?” Rowan asks. “A gladiator in Ironhold using magic on a senator would be enough to see her executed.”
Selene has hidden behind the old laws of the city, carried over from the days of the empire. But those laws can cut both ways. As Rowan says, it used to be the case that unauthorized use of magic, especially any harming an important citizen, would see gladiators slain out of hand.
I shake my head, though. “I have no way to prove it. Before, when Ravenna was using her psychomancy the same way, it was only Selene who could detect it.”
Which should have been a clue that the arch magistrate also had some skills with psychomancy.
It’s an insidious discipline of magic. I’ve felt its effects, found myself forced to behave in ways I never intended, even though my powers as a beast whisperer give me some small protectionagainst such skills. I’ve seen people utterly demoralized by it, left begging for death in the arena without a blow being exchanged. I’ve felt it bolster the powers of others and tear them down. But I know of no way to prove Selene’s using it now.
“Are yousureshe’s using it now?” Rowan asks. “It could just be perfectly ordinary corruption and manipulation.”
“Those things are perfectly ordinary?” I ask.
Rowan sighs. “You know as well as I do that they are, in Aetheria. Half the senators take bribes, sorry, ‘accept gifts from grateful patrons and constituents’. Half the others look for leverage to manipulate one another into voting the way they want.”
I wince at his description of the way politics in the Republic work, mostly because it’s such anaccuratedescription. I try to stay away from those sides of the senate, but there are plenty who don’t, and who positively revel in them. Marcus is a master of getting people to see things his way in the senate, and I’m sure his large network of contacts and favors has a lot to do with it.
