“What's the plan here?”I ask Rowan.
“Just talk to people,” he says.“Get to know who they are.I'm sorry to drag you into the middle of all of this, but I need you to see for yourself just how difficult and complicated the politics can be here.The Senate is dragged in all kinds of different directions, and this place is the best way for you to understand what those directions are.Plus, I get the feeling everybody will want to be seen with the former champion of the arena.”
I nod, although I don’t feel comfortable about it.Rowan slips away from me.It feels as though he's abandoning me, especially when he quickly gets drawn into a discussion with a small group of senators.I can feel the eyes of the others on me, assessing me.
“They're all trying to work out if they should be the first to try to talk to you,” a voice says.I turn and see the man Rowan called Marcus approaching me.He smiles, dipping his head slightly.“It's an honor to meet you, Lyra Thornwind.I’m Marcus Larius, of the Larius merchant house.”
“And you're the first one brave enough to do it,” I reply.
“I don't think it takes much bravery to approach someone who is themselves so clearly worried about what's going on,” Marcus says.“I understand that Rowan needs you to get a feel for who’s who around here, but leaving you on your own feels a little like throwing you into the ocean to see if you can swim.”
“And you're here to help me keep my head above water?”I reply.
“Only if you want me to,” he says.“Tell me, do you know the different factions here, Lyra?”
I shake my head.“Back when I left, there were different groups.There were rebellious nobles, and beast whisperers, guards, and loyalists."
“Everything's changed since then,” Marcus says.“A year is a long time.The Senate gives people a voice, but to make that voice heard, each faction must work with others.There are groups devoted to the interests of the remaining nobles, certainly, and the soldiers and former soldiers.There are people representing the common folk, and half the time those are just the gang leaders who can marshal enough votes through bribery or intimidation.”
“You sound as though you don't like it,” I say.
Marcus stands there for a moment.“It’s… better than the alternatives.Better than the empire was.Better than chaos.We're all just trying to do the best we can for the people who put us here.”
“And who putyouhere?”I ask.
“The merchants,” Marcus says, “or a group among them at least.My family has several trading ships.”
“So tell me,” I say.“Why suggest exhibition matches in the arena?”
Marcus shrugs.“It seems like a good compromise.Rowan can clearly see the importance of the arena to Aetheria, as much as he rails against it.I can understand, given his experiences and yours, that you don't want people fighting to the death in it.But that doesn't mean there can't be fights.”
“Why do there have to be?”I counter.
Marcus cocks his head to one side.“Because as much as we might like to pretend otherwise, we can't erase human nature.We need to give the people outlets for violence and their other needs, or those things boil over.It’s one thing the empire understood.In our attempts to be more civilized, we’ve simply created problems for ourselves.”
“And the other senators agree?”I ask.
Marcus laughs.“The one thing they're good at is not agreeing.Tell me, can you see them all watching you, Lyra?”
I look around.People are talking to one another but I can indeed see eyes glancing my way.I nod.
“Most of them are probably wondering why you’re here.They’re all afraid Rowan has brought you to interfere with their politicking.They’re wondering if they can get you to be a part of their faction.Or they’ve assumed it's going to happen and they're just working out the best way to make sure of it.It’s difficult for someone like Domitian, because his instinct is to threaten, and he knows that won't work.Yarrow’s probably wondering what vices you have.Olivia might well try to seduce you at some point.Others will offer you position or power or money.”
“And what are you going to offer me, Marcus?”I ask him.
Marcus smiles.“I'm smart enough to know that making any offer towards you would be the quickest way to harden you against me.I'd rather just get to know you, Lyra.I suspect you're going to do whatever you think is the right thing.I look forward to trying to persuade you that it’s what I propose.”
He steps away from me, moving back to the others.I can’t help watching him go.I get the feeling I’ll be seeing a lot more of him in my time here.
CHAPTER SEVEN: LYRA
I don't sleep well that night, troubled by dreams of Alaric and of Rowan.The two seem to shift places in my thoughts, so I can't tell which of them I'm with from moment to moment, which I dream of holding me, which I remember fighting alongside.
My dreams flow back to the moment when the emperor was holding Alaric and me frozen in place, along with the many members of the rebellion fighting against his rule.I remember inhabiting the mind of a bird, sending it down like an arrow to strike him.I remember the feeling of the impact, the sudden breaking of his control.
Only, in my dreams, it doesn’t happen like that.In my dreams, the emperor freezes the bird as well, before moving to Alaric, and now Rowan is next to him, and he has a knife in his hand…
I wake, sweating, in a room that's far more luxurious than any I've had before, because I've been assigned one in the palace.It seems that any member of the Senate can claim rooms there to work from or live in, and Rowan has found a suite for me.
