“Maybe that has something to do with the conditions in the slums,” I suggest.“There are still plenty of gangs there, and people don’t get enough food.”
“I tried sending in more guards to help,” Rowan says.“But that just seemed to make things worse.The people don’t trust them.”
“Are you really so surprised?”I ask him.“The people have always seen the guards as being there to keep them down.The fact that they do so for the Republic rather than the empire doesn’t make a lot of difference.”
“That’s not how things are,” Rowan says.“We aren’t the empire.”
“But it’s how they see them,” I counter.
“Maybe you’re right,” Rowan replies.He waits for a couple of seconds.“I guess, if you’re not here to talk about Alaric, you’re here to add to my load as first senator?”
I shake my head."I'm sorry.But I've just come from a meeting of the committee on the Colosseum.You know they're getting laxer and laxer about the safety measures?And now they're talking about putting a proposal forward to allow criminals to be executed in the Colosseum."
Rowan sighs.“Maybe it will come to that.”
I look at him with shock.“You can’t mean that.”
“The Republic has enemies,” Rowan says.“Inside and out.With some of them, there aren’t good options when it comes to what to do with them.Should we let them go?Exile all of them?Imprison them?If so, for how long, and where?There are some foes it’s safer to kill.”
“And if you’re going to kill them anyway, why not do it for the entertainment of the crowd?”I say, guessing the argument Domitian and others close to him must have made.
“That’s an oversimplification,” Rowan says.“And the truth is itisn’tsimple.Nothing here is, Lyra.You want the games to be safer?I’m not sure I have the votes to do it.And honestly?The city needs the money from the games.We need all the things they do for Aetheria, and I can’t get into a political battle with Domitian and all the others right now.”
I realize I’m not going to get the help I want from Rowan.That he’s not going to go to Domitian and tell him to make the games safe exhibition matches once more.Possibly he can’t.After all, this is a republic, not an empire.Part of the point is that Rowan can’t just order what he wants to happen in the city.
“I understand,” I say, even though I don’t, not really.“Thank you.”
I turn and leave his office, heading back to my own rooms.I have a whole suite of them within the palace, marble-walled and filled with furniture richer than anything I've owned.It's a world away from the humble shack I grew up in, in the village of Seatide, or the sparse cell I had as a gladiator in Ironhold.
There, waiting for me on a small side table, is a pile of missives that are probably a mixture of letters from merchants and nobles, requests from ordinary people, and notes bout senate matters.Atop them is a sealed scrap of parchment, with my name on it.There’s no symbol on the seal, nothing to suggest who it’s from.I open it anyway.
Lyra,
Things are getting bad in the slums.The gangs have too much power.The guards are as likely to beat people as help them.The games aren’t the answer, just a way back to the old empire.You think you’ve contained the unrest, but there’s still plenty of violence.It’s just under the surface.
There’s a meeting in the slums.Come, see for yourself.
A.
It’s from Alaric.I’d know his writing anywhere.
I know he doesn’t see the city the same way I do.He doesn’t think I should have joined the senate, and thinks I betrayed the city by allowing the games to come back.But I also trust his judgement in other ways.If he thinks things are dangerous down in the slums, then I can’t just ignore that.
I need to go there to see what's going on for myself.I need to go to this meeting and find out what all this secrecy is about.
CHAPTER FOUR
I don’t wear my toga to go into the slums.I want to be incognito, not proclaim my position as a senator.I don’t even wear one of the fine dresses that Marcus and others have given me.Instead, I put on a simple tunic and sandals, along with a cloak to disguise my features.
I’m also going to go armed.After all, I’ve been attacked in the slums before, targeted by men hired by one of my enemies.I still don’t know who sent them, not for sure, although I suspect Domitian had something to do with it.I strap a short sword to my side, along with a dagger, ready to take on anyone who might attack me.
I head out of the palace, holding up a hand as a couple of guards start to move into step behind me.
“I want to go alone,” I say.By this point, they know better than to argue.I can protect myself, and I’ll be able to move more freely without them with me.I make my way through the grounds quickly, then start to walk through the city, heading for the gates that will let me through into the slums beyond.
The city is a bright, vibrant place filled with magic.It forms decorations outside noble houses, and those seem to have been renewed in the months since the games have resumed.It fills glowing globes at the street corners, ready to provide lights in the wealthier areas at night.It provides minor talents to everyone from courtesans to merchants, builders to bodyguards.
I head through the noble district, then an entertainment district that throngs with people in the wake of the games.There’s something about the resumption of the gladiatorial contests that has left the people of Aetheria in a joyous mood, seeking further distractions and ready to spend their money.
