Healers are running into the pit now, carrying the male gladiator from it on a stretcher.The crowd boos, obviously wanting to see him finished.
“The crowd isn’t happy about the lack of death,” Lord Arin observes.
Lucius shrugs."For now, it's a necessity.With these fights, we can argue they're no worse than the arena.And if there's the occasional accidental death, who can blame us when such a thing has already happened in the Colosseum?Besides, Harral earned his mercy.Would you like Merka to attend you, Lord Arin?"
The noble hesitates, then nods with a broad smile.“Patronage should have its benefits, after all.”
The whole situation makes me feel sick, even as I simultaneously feel relief that no one has been killed.I slip away from the nobles in the space between fights, heading back out and going to retrieve my clothes before I leave through another window.This place is… wrong.Worse than that, it shows that the nobles really are trying to bring back everything that we fought so hard to take from Aetheria.
And one of Marcus’ allies is right at the heart of those efforts.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"You seem troubled," Marcus says as we stand at the door to my rooms, getting ready to head to another session of the Senate.He touches my face lightly."Whatever it is, maybe I can help with it."
“Just a little tired,” I say.“I didn’t get much sleep.”
“And I didn’t even stay over in your rooms,” Marcus replies with a smile.He raises an eyebrow.“Should I be worried that your heart has been captured by another?I heard a rumor that you visited Ironhold.Does that mean you were there picking out the latest gladiators?Have you decided to embrace the old model of noble patronage?”
He’s joking, but the very idea of it makes a knot of anger settle in my stomach.The system of patronage was just one thing I hated about the old games.
“You know I would never do that, right?”I say.“I experienced everything that was worst about the system of patronage.”
Marcus nods."Of course, I understand that.Although I also believe that it was your patron, Lady Elara, who taught you much of what it meant to be a beast whisperer?Without that, you might never have survived the Colosseum."
“I was lucky.A lot of people weren’t.And patrons wanting to push them into their beds didn’t help.”
Marcus pauses, leaning against the wall.“You know that’s not all the system of patronage was, don’t you, Lyra?Originally, it was designed so that gladiators without power and noble connections could be raised up within Aetherian society.It was a way to bring them into Aetheria and make it more powerful.”
“But it became something else,” I insist.“Something I will never be a part of.”
“I understand,” Marcus says, although I wonder if he truly does.“If not that, though, what were you doing at Ironhold?”
I wonder how much I should say.Should I tell him about what I saw last night?Should I confront him about the involvement of his friend Lucius?Does Marcus know about what was going on at the Gilded Swan, and if so, what does that mean for the two of us?
I know I can't confront him like that, though.Not right now.As long as no one else knows what I know, I can keep gathering evidence and keep looking for a way to stop Domitian's efforts.The moment what I'm doing is out in the open, I will face much more concerted opposition.
Which means I must hold the information back from Marcus, even if it means lying.
“I was inspecting the safety measures for the games,” I say.“I heard that some of the fighters were training up there now, and I wanted to see for myself, to make sure that they weren’t circumventing everything we worked to put in place.”
“And were they?”Marcus asks.
I shake my head.
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” he says, putting his hand on my shoulder.“Now, come on.We can’t be late for the session.”
We hurry through the palace, heading for the Senate chamber.Once, it would have felt so easy to just be beside him like this.Marcus and I have grown close in the last six months, to the point where I was starting to imagine that there might be so much more for us, a life, a family.But I’m uneasy now.I’m worried by what’s happening in Aetheria and by the possibility that he might have some part in it.
We reach the senate chamber, and even as we do so, I know something is wrong.Lady Cassandra and the Arborian delegation are there, along with a couple of people dressed in poor clothes who look as though they could have come from a village just like mine.
"What's this?"Marcus asks as we hurry to take our seats.
“Our visitors have come to us with more news,” Rowan says.His brow furrows.“Bad news.”
“What news?”Marcus asks.
Lady Cassandra answers.“We received word from a village on your border with Arboria.Fromyourside of the border.”She looks at each of the senators individually.“Lands you claim are yours to protect.”
