I can imagine Marcus making all kinds of proposals to her, given that the two of them were alone.I know the flicker of jealousy that runs through me is irrational, but what am I supposed to think?I've come a long way to reunite with Lyra, only to find this handsome politician in her rooms, having dinner with her.
“What proposals?”I ask, carefully keeping my tone neutral.The trouble is by this point Lyra knows when I'm doing that.
So, it seems, does Marcus.
“Nothing untoward was happening,” he says, with a glance towards Lyra, suggesting it's not through lack of effort on his part.“We were merely discussing the best way to reopen the Colosseum and its games."
Those words hit me harder than the sight of the two of them together.I'd almost come here expecting that someone would be trying to romance Lyra, although, frankly, I'd expected it to be Rowan.But this…
“You want to restart the games?”I say, unable to keep the horror out of my voice.“Lyra, please tell me you aren't actually discussing this with him?You know better than anyone what the games were like.”
“Ah,” Marcus says.“You’re thinking of theoldgames.Of course you are, but they don't have to be like that.My proposal is to find a way of putting on safe exhibition matches, spectacles for the people without the brutality of the old days.”
He makes it sound as though it wasn't just a year ago.
“There is no safe version of the games,” I snap back.“The blood and the danger are the very things people liked about them.They twisted the city.They're an abomination, and to even think about bringing them back is…”
“Yes?”Marcus says, raising an eyebrow.I get the feeling he's taunting me but Lyra doesn't seem to see it.She moves between us.
“Please, I don’t want to fight about this,” she says.“Alaric, I'm glad you came here but you must see it was completely unexpected.And as for the games… I’ve seen what the city is like, and Marcus is trying to craft sensible proposals.”
“The only sensible proposal when it comes to the games is tearing down the colosseum and making sure they can never run again,” I say.
“A rather extreme position,” Marcus replies.He turns to Lyra.“I can see I'm making things more difficult here, Lyra.Perhaps we can discuss things further another time.I'm sure you and Alaric here have a lot to catch up on.”
He turns and leaves, but it doesn’t feel like an end.Instead, it feels as though some conflict is just beginning between the two of us.How far will our different positions on the games push us?Will it drive a wedge between the two of us?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: LYRA
I wake beside Alaric, his arm around me, but the moment feels anything but comfortable.We slept beside one another last night, but that’s all we did.We didn’t even talk really about him showing up so suddenly, or about Marcus being there in my rooms.Alaric seems to have gone straight to the arrogance and sullenness that he uses when he’s not listening to me.
I rise and dress in a simple tunic and sandals, going from the room without waking Alaric and heading to one of the courtyards of the palace.There, I start to work out, practicing punches and kicks, the movements drilled into me for so long in Ironhold.
I think about the fight I had against the men sent to attack me, about the way violence seemed to come back naturally to me.I’m not sure if I like that, but I can’t deny the smoothness with which I move around the courtyard, training in the morning sun.
I think about Kai, too, the young man I met at the pit fight.About his desire to fight in the colosseum, even having seen everything it was.He seems determined that he’ll find a way to fight, regardless of what we do to try to stop him.I wonder if, by standing in the way, I’m not just forcing him to fight in worse places.
And I think about Alaric, who first refused to come to Aetheria with me because he didn’t want to get drawn into the politics of this situation, then showed up at exactly the worst time.What’s going on between us?Why can’t things ever just be easy?
I know in some senses, they could be.I could go back to my room, pretend that everything is normal, throw myself at him.We could lose ourselves in one another for a while and forget about all the arguments that have gradually driven a wedge between us.In Aetheria, that might even last.I’m almost tempted to do it, when I see guards running across the courtyard, heading for the gates to the palace.
“What’s going on?”I demand, stopping one of them.
“There are riots down in the slums,” he replies.“Every guard we can spare is being called in to contain them.”
“I want to help,” I say.
He shakes his head.“You should stay here, Senator.It won’t be safe.”
“I was a champion of the colosseum,” I point out.“And I want to help.At the very least, I want to see what’s going on.”
It seems clear he doesn’t want me there, but he also can’t stop me.The guard rushes towards the gates with the others, and I follow in his wake, heading down into the city.More guards are stationed on Aetheria’s walls, with the gates to the slums beyond carefully closed, the way they might be against an invading force.Only thisisn’tan invading force, it’s the poorest people of the city.
I go up to the walls and see them moving in groups through the streets of the slums beyond.Some are breaking into houses and looting, while others have formed a great mass beyond the gates, chanting and shouting.I can see weapons in many of their hands, and the colors of the gangs there among them.
“Give us the games!”they cry out.“Give us the games!”
“I lost my job as a beast trainer when the games finished!”a man calls out.
