I rush into the prison tower, and my senator's toga means the guards within step aside for me as I make my way up through it, going higher and higher.I can hear people crying out to the guards or one another, crammed into cells set around the exterior of the tower.On one level, there are rooms that seem designed for the interrogation of prisoners, with chairs that have straps on the arms, designed to hold them in place while they're questioned and psychomancers work to get into their minds.The whole place smells of too many people crammed into too close a space.I can smell fear in the air and feel the despair running through it.It's another place within the Aetherian Republic that seems far too close to being something from the days of the empire.
I find Alaric in a cell at the very top of the tower.There are no guards around to unlock it, and I’m not sure that they would even if they were there.My status as a senator will only get me so far, especially with guards who’ve been paid by Domitian.
Alaric is lying on the floor, beaten so badly that it pains me just to look at him.He has bruises swelling on his face, and one eye is closed and blackened.There's blood in his hair, and he groans as he rises.
“Come to break me out?”he says, with a sardonic smile that seems all too aware of the impossibility of that.
"I would if I could," I say.I reach out for him, touching his injured face.He winces and pulls back."What were you thinking, Alaric?Inciting a riot?Calling for people to overthrow the Senate?"
“I thought that people needed to hear the truth, and they needed to be pushed to take action,” Alaric says.
“But with the chaos in the arena, they’ll accuse you of being a traitor to the Republic,” I say.
Alaric laughs.“Do you think they’ll needthatmuch of an excuse to execute me?”
“Don’t even joke about it,” I say, but the problem is he isn’t joking.Domitian wants Alaric dead.Marcus is talking about it like it’s a foregone conclusion.I doubt that Rowan will be able to intercede on Alaric’s behalf, not with the rest of the senate set on his death.“Why did you think this would work, Alaric?”
“Because there are some things the people of Aetheria won’t stand for,” Alaric says.“Collusion between senators and those who want to tear down the Republic and put another empire back in place.”
“Who?”I say.“Do you have names?”
“The key name here isn’t hard to guess,” Alaric says.“Domitian Blacksteel.He’s the one who’s in communication with people outside Aetheria, deliberately weakening it, ready to take over.”
“And who’s he talking to?”I say.
Alaric smiles tightly.“Selene Ravenscroft.”
That name chills my blood after everything I saw in the Arborian village.The pieces are starting to fit together.Selene has been making preparations somewhere in Arboria, she’s come to Aetheria, but the question was always what she intended.Now, it seems clearer, thanks to her connection to Domitian.
“She’s using him to weaken the city and the senate,” I say.“She’s trying to make it so that, when she comes back, she’ll be able to simply step into a place of power.I thought maybe she might come back with an army, but she doesn’t need to if Domitian has already bribed the guards.Selene can corrupt Aetheria so much that it welcomes her back with open arms.”
“Exactly,” Alaric says.“We only heard hints, but I’m sure there’s proof out there.”
He looks like he might be about to say more, but in that moment I hear booted feet on the stairs.
Marcus comes up to them, accompanied by a quartet of guards.
"Lyra, what are you doing here?"he asks me in a stern tone.I know I need to play the next few moments carefully because Marcus already knows how close my connection to Alaric is.It's only a small step from that to believing that I might have been complicit in his actions in the games.If he can persuade the Senate that I'm a traitor, he can sideline me, making it easier for Selene.
"I came to see Alaric to find out how he could be so foolish," I say."And I hoped that he might talk to me when he won't talk to anyone else."
“And did he tell you anything?”Marcus asks.
I shake my head, knowing that I can’t just give him the information Alaric told me.I can’t trust him enough for that.
“Then it’s best if you aren’t here,” Marcus says.“The senate already thinks you’re far too close to Alaric as it is.”
He sounds as thoughhethinks I'm too close, too.I feel as though I'm caught between the two of them, but I can't give any sign of what I feel right now.I can't say the pained goodbye that I want to with Alaric.I must pretend that I'm an unfeeling senator, devoted only to my duties as I leave, heading down the stairs of the prison tower and trying to think.Marcus is still up there, presumably preparing to question Alaric, too, even though we both know he won't say anything.
I have no doubt now that Domitian needs to be stopped.His working with Selene makes perfect sense, but it also makes him doubly dangerous.He won't hesitate to kill me if he thinks I'm getting close to the truth.That, or he'll find an excuse to imprison me.My status as a senator protects me up to a point, but if he simply makes me disappear, I'm not sure what anyone could do about it.
How do I stop him?I can't just kill him, wouldn't even if I thought I could get away with doing something like that to a fellow senator.I also can't speak out against him in the Senate, not when so many people there are turned against me.
My only hope is that Alaric is right, and there is proof that he's connected to Selene.If I can find any evidence of a connection between them, one message, one scrap of parchment, that will be enough to bring him down.
And I need to find it quickly before Domitian's schemes cost Alaric his life.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
