“Let me just say that I think this is the only good option for the colosseum and the city,” Marcus says.“We were a city founded on magical might and martial prowess.We cannot simply turn away from that legacy and expect everything to function as it once did.Aetheria needs the games, the only question is what form they take.I ask the senate to vote in favor of my proposal for reformed games.”
Rowan stands then.“We’ve all heard what Senator Marcus has to say.We’ve heard his proposals.I think the time has come for us to vote on them.I will be voting against.The danger of the games is too great to ignore.”
“I vote for,” Domitian says.“Any form of the games is better than none.”
“I vote for,” Olivia says.“The city needs that spectacle within it.”
The senators start to cast their votes for and against the proposal.I can see at once that it will be a close vote.Many of the senators give their reasons as they vote, although some don’t.It seems to be a contest between the potential for the games to return to a past no one wants and the potential benefits a reformed version of them might bring to the city.In that, they mirror the conflict going on within me.
I don’t want to see a return to the games as they were, as it’s obvious Domitian and a couple of others would prefer them to be.I suspect there are those among the nobles, and among the people who worked around the fringes of the games, who want many of the old aspects of the empire to return.
But at the same time, I’ve seen the problems of the city, the violence that still haunts it and the poverty that lurks in its slums.Marcus seems determined that the games might bring prosperity and happiness back to Aetheria.
And crucially, his proposalsaren’tfor a return to the old ways.
“This has been a difficult decision for me,” I say.“I fought in the arena.I saw it at its worst.But I also understand the benefits it might bring.The question is whether I believe the violence of the games can be contained, whether they will stay within the limits Marcus has proposed.”I hesitate, even now.“I want to make it clear that I’ll be strict about any attempt to change the nature of the exhibition matches, or to return to the old ways… but I vote yes.”
A ripple of conversation goes around the crowd.It seems many people were waiting to see which way I would go with my vote.The other senators continue to vote, one by one, and now more of them are voting in favor of the proposals than before.Finally, the voting comes to a halt.
Rowan stands to deliver the judgment of the Senate.
“The games of Aetheria will reopen as a series of exhibition matches,” he says.“They will be subject to strict oversight, and no matches to the death will be permitted.”
He doesn’t sound happy about having to say it, but he has no choice other than to go along with the will of the senate.Rowan isn’t another emperor.
The senators start to leave the chamber.I go through to the receiving room beyond.I see Alaric there, staring at me.I expect him to come over, to accuse me of betraying him, to be angry I didn’t vote the way he wanted.
Instead, he turns and leaves without a word.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: LYRA
In the aftermath of the emergency discussion, I don’t know what to do.Should I go after Alaric?Should I seek him out in his family’s home?I don’t think so, at least, not right now.I’m too hurt by his jealousy, by his refusal to see that I might want to do anything for the benefit of the city.
He wasn’t there on the walls to see the riots, but then, Alaric hasn’t been there for me for a while now.I don’t want to go running after him now.
“Lyra, are you all right?”Marcus asks, and I realize that I’m just standing in the middle of the reception area, tears starting to fall from the corners of my eyes.People are watching me, but no one moves to talk to me or help me except him.Marcus is there beside me, and he reaches out for me, putting his arm around me.I can feel his strength, and there’s something comforting about it.
“Let’s get out of here,” he says.
“Don’t you need to spend your time preparing the games?”I say.
“That doesn’t matter right now,” Marcus replies.“Come on.”
He leads me from the reception room, walking with me through the palace.Slowly, I can feel my tears ebbing, and even my pain at what Alaric has done is tinged with a kind of feeling that at least the worst has happened, that we’re not in the same limbo we’ve been in for months.He’s walked away from me, and that feels like he’s stuck a knife through my heart, but I also feel… free.
I expect Marcus to take me back to my rooms, or perhaps to his home, out in the city, but we’re not going in the right direction for either.Instead, he’s taking me up through the palace, and I realize we’re heading for the roof.
“Why are we up here?”I ask, as we step out into the open air, at one of the highest points of the palace.
“It seems like a good place to get away from other people,” Marcus says.“If I take you to your rooms, you’ll only find yourself bombarded by messages from the other senators, trying to influence you one way or another as one of the architects of the coming games.I assume you don’t want to face that right now.”
“I don’t,” I admit.I hadn’t even considered what the rest of my day was likely to be like, now that I’ve agreed to help Marcus keep the games safe.The preparations for the exhibition bouts to follow are going to consume everything.
“I don’t think I can think about the games at the moment,” I say.
“That’s fine,” Marcus replies.“I didn’t bring you up here so we could discuss safety for the games, or how we’re going to put them on.Take your time, Lyra.I want to make sure you’re okay before we do anything else.”
I stand at the edge of the roof, trying to slow my breathing, looking out at the city as I do so.It spreads out below us like a map, with its grand buildings and temples, its markets and its bathhouses.And of course, the colosseum standing in the middle of it all, like the hub of a wheel.
