“This again?”Marcus says.
I decide that this is the moment to reveal some of what I know.“Before I left, I went to a gambling establishment for the rich.A place where there were fights with live blades, and someone almost died.”
“And?”Marcus demands.I can hear the anger in his voice now.I’ve insulted him with my accusations, but if those accusations are justified, what else can I do?
“And your friend Lucius was there at the heart of it,” I say.“This was right after you talked with him.He was talking to another noble, talking about the inevitability of deathmatches returning.”
“You think I’m telling Lucius what to do?”Marcus asks.
“I don’t know what to think,” I say.“I think that you’ve put a lot of effort into bringing back the games.You haven’t been as tough on the safety measures as I am.Your friends are talking about deathmatches.”
“I work with the people I must,” Marcus says.“And I’ve done my best to help and protect you.You’ve spent so much time with me, Lyra.Don’t you know who I am by now?”
The problem is that I’m not sure.It makes me hesitate, and Marcus picks up on that hesitation.He sighs.
“You need to pay more attention to the political reality, Lyra.I do think the games are important, yes.They generate wealth for the city.They placate the worst elements of the masses, the ones who need an outlet for violence that doesn’t involve killing one another in gang wars.And yes, it does the same with some of the nobles.It also gives them a place to talk and make deals, to arrange the life of the city.All of that is necessary, and trying to ignore that, to just get rid of the games… it’s foolish, Lyra.”
“There’s nothing foolish about wanting to protect Aetheria from corruption,” I say.I stand, too, heading for the door.
“Lyra, wait, stay,” Marcus says.“We can work this out.”
But I’m not sure we can.I feel so much for Marcus, so many complicated things, that it would be easy to turn around and let myself be persuaded by him.To at least fall into his arms and forget the argument for a night.
But this isn't just an argument.It's a fundamental difference of opinion about the way the city should be run and the direction in which it's heading.I can't stay here when I don't know if Marcus is planning to change the city back into the kind of place it was under the empire if he's complicit in increasing the violence of the games.
I head for the door, knowing that whatever I had with Marcus, however much it hurts to leave, I need to go.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Days pass without Marcus and I speaking.We see one another in the Senate, but we don't sit together.It's as if, now we aren't together, he wants to distance himself from me as much as possible.
I'm sure that's deliberate.Marcus has spent a lot of political capital trying to protect me, but by creating more distance, he frees himself to speak to others.In the ante-chambers beyond the Senate, I see him whispering with Domitian one moment, Rowan the next.
Now that I’m not caught up in Marcus’ orbit, I can see him from outside, watching the ways in which he plays the system.He acts as a kind of broker, going between different factions, balancing and manipulating in a way that makes him powerful in turn.By becoming the center of the wheel, the fulcrum over which a lever is applied, he gives himself power he wouldn’t otherwise have.
Meanwhile, almost no one is talking to me, at least not about anything of importance.In meetings to do with the games, no one says anything of note.The committee is a place of small announcements about logistical issues now: whether there’s enough food for all the spectators, how long it will take to set up an opening ceremony for the next games.
“We mustn’t forget that the Anniversary Games are coming up,” Domitian says.“We need them to be spectacular.”
“The games haven’t been running again for a year yet,” I point out.It’s too early for an anniversary games.
“The anniversary of the founding of our Republic,” Domitian retorts.“Perhaps if you hadn’t fled as soon as the emperor fell, you would remember that.”
He's somehow found a way to insult me, even when it comes to something like this.I grit my teeth as we start to work through the details for the games, knowing that I can't speak out against them when they're in celebration of something so important.If I try to stop these anniversary games, or even to rein them in, then I'll be seen as acting against the Republic.I won't find support, and it will probably only isolate me more.
I can feel the pressure of not being connected to Marcus anymore.I used to at least have the backing of some within his faction, given because Marcus pushed them to support me.Now, it feels as though I’m alone.It means the meeting feels as though it takes forever.
When the meeting is done, I return to my rooms, dealing with a stack of missives and requests, changing out of the formal toga of a senator and wondering what I’m doing.I feel as though I’m not achieving anything now, as if I don’t have any control over events in the city, despite being nominally one of the most important people within it.
There’s another note waiting for me, this one from Alaric.
Come to the Colosseum.Come see what we have planned.
A.
What does he mean?What is he planning, and why is it at the Colosseum?I don't know, and not knowing terrifies me.Is Alaric about to do something extreme?Idoknow I can’t just ignore a message like this.
I hurry from the palace, heading down into the city.I briefly wonder if I should alert the guards to what Alaric’s doing, but two things stop me.The first is that I don’t know exactly what he’s planning to do.The second is that I don’twantthe guards to capture Alaric.We’ve chosen very different ways to try to help Aetheria, but at least I’m certain Alaricistrying to help.I’m not going to set guards on him who might well be in Domitian’s pocket, and who have already shown themselves willing to lash out at Alaric’s supporters.
