I frown at him.“I just saw a young woman’s life saved exactlybecauseof that magical healing being in place.”
“And I’m not saying we shouldn’t have any such healers,” Domitian says.“But I’m sure some of them could be redirected to Aetheria’s armies, or to the private households of the nobles.”
He looks around the table as if asking those there to imagine what their own households would be like with an additional healer or two.
“Therehavebeen complaints from some of my girls," Senator Yarrow says.She's a woman in her forties, heavily made up and wearing cheap jewelry.She runs many of the illicit businesses down in the slums.She's little more than a gang leader in some respects, but she has power in the city and enough people backing her to make it onto the senate."We could do with another couple of magical healers."
“The gladiators need them,” I snap.
"Maybe we should put this to a vote," Domitian says with the faint smile of a man who knows he's going to win.
Just as he wins so many of the other votes here in this room.It isn't that the committee for the Colosseum's safety is stuffed with his people, although I'm fairly sure that he distributes bribes and uses every form of corruption he can think of to get his way.
It’s more that most of the undecided senators have started to come to his side as they’ve seen the wealth the games have produced.Not just wealth; they’ve helped to keep the city peaceful, stopping the unrest that came from many of the people in the slums, giving them an outlet for their violent impulses.Aetheria seems to be thriving, and even senators who were against the games at the start have come around to them.
“Then there’s no point in discussing this further,” I say, standing.I look around the table, knowing that I don’t have the votes on my side to force through greater safety measures.“Just know that the next time someone is killed in the games, it will be on you.”
I turn to leave, but Domitian calls after me.
“Where are you going, Lyra?We still need to discuss the proposals to begin having the worst criminals executed in the arena again.”
He must know those words will get a reaction from me.He’s saying it deliberately, as a way of twisting the knife when he’s on top in the discussion.
“That’s a discussion for another day,” I say.“Or, better yet, for the whole senate.”
Maybe there, I can find the votes to block such a proposal.For today, the only thing I can do is to delay the proposal by refusing to have the discussion today.HowlongI can hold the proposal at bay, I don’t know.Not when the city still has its share of criminals, and the citizens are all too ready to demand the brutal justice they remember from the empire, if they think it will keep them safe.Slowly, people are forgetting that they could be on the receiving end of the emperor’s idea of justice with little or no cause.They’re starting to remember some imagined version of the empire where everything was peaceful and orderly, something that never truly existed.
I leave the side room, heading through the palace for Rowan's rooms there.The guards at the door step back to let me pass, and I walk into his office.He's sitting behind a desk there, piled high with papers, listening while servants read out missives and documents.
Rowan looks like he’s built from the stone his magic gives him control over, he’s so solidly muscled.His auburn hair falls almost to his broad shoulders, swept back from his face now, as if he doesn’t care about the thin scar running across his cheek.His deep green eyes skim over the parchments in front of him, as if trying to find something that will help the city.
“…architects down in the docks are saying it will need another hundred workers if the flood defenses are to be built properly,” one servant says.
Another cuts in.“The grain stores are running low.We’ll need to get another shipment in soon if we’re going to have enough reserves to last more than a few days.”
“There’s been another offer of marriage for your eldest sister,” a third adds, in a tone that says he knows it won’t get a favorable reaction.
Rowan looks weighed down by the weight of the requests and the endless array of things he needs to deal with.It's a reminder that, no matter how complicated my life has become in the last few months, his life is more complex still.
Rowan looks up at me as if I might be about to save him from it all, gesturing for the servants to go away.They do so without hesitation, obviously reacting to the authority of the first senator.Rowan sighs with relief as they go, leaving us alone.
“You timed that well.If I have to listen to another marriage proposal for my sisters, I won’t be responsible for what happens.”
I smile back at him.“I suspect being responsible for too many things might be the problem.”
Rowan sighs.“You may have a point.Have you heard anything from Alaric?”
I shake my head, caught by surprise.“Why?Has something happened?”
Rowan stands."I'm not sure, and not knowing worries me.I've just had messages from his mother asking people to try to find him.And there are whispers that he's involved in things he shouldn't be.In people who don't have the interests of the Republic at heart."
"He hasn't said anything to me," I say in an apologetic tone."I see less and less of him these days."
“But he’s still in the city?”Rowan asks.
I nod.“I think so.He’s not going to leave while the games are still running.”
Rowan sighs.“I worry that he’s stirring up trouble in the slums.”
