“Why announce his victory like that?”I demand, rounding on him.
“Because it's the best way to keep the crowd from turning violent,” Marcus says.“You might think that Kai’s death was wrong, but how many other deaths would you have on your conscience if we didn't proclaim Glacius victorious?”
He has a point.I could hear the crowd.They clearly loved the violence of the last match far more than any of those that went before.The death roused them, stirring up their anger and their passions.If I had struck down Glacius, or even just declared his victory invalid because he killed his opponent, I might have started a riot that would have claimed far more lives.
I still hate it.
“He was meant to be safe,” I say.“Kai wasn't meant to die, Marcus.”
Tears are falling from my eyes, grief and sorrow mingling in me for a young man I barely knew.I met Kai once, but his death touches me as if he were a close friend.Back in Ironhold, we gladiators grew inured to death, knowing that it could come for those close to us at any time.The shock of Kai’s death, the fact that I was meant to be the one protecting him from such a fate, only makes the impact of his passing worse for me.
Marcus puts his arms around me.“There was nothing you could have done.You took so many steps to keep everyone safe here.You even came back last night.Because of you, almost all of the gladiators here have been safe.”
“Almost isn't good enough,” I reply.
Marcus keeps his arm around me as he leads me through to the receiving rooms.There are plenty of nobles and senators there.They burst into a round of applause as we enter the room.
“An excellent set of games,” Domitian says.“Very successful.We're still tallying the final counts, but we suspect it's brought in a fortune with the city's coffers.”
I want to snarl at him, want to tell him that he's making money on the life of a young man, and this isn't the moment for counting his profits.
But Marcus speaks before I can.
“That's one piece of good news, at least.And I think we can say that the games have been a success in general, notwithstanding the tragic accident in the last fight.”
An accident?There was nothing accidental about what Glacius and Kai were trying to do to one another.
“Perhaps because of it,” Domitian says.“Did you hear the way the crowd responded to the death?They can tell the difference between a fake contest and a real one.”
“Are you really thinking like that?”I demand, looking around the room at the satisfied faces of so many of the senators.They're pleased with the way the games have turned out.
“It proved to be a most satisfying experience for many of the nobles,” Olivia says.
“And it gave the people an outlet for their more violent impulses,” Octavio adds.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves,” I snap at them, and Marcus puts his arm around me once more, ushering me from the room.
“You're just trying to make sure I don't cause a scene now,” I say.
“You're upset,” he replies.“I understand that, but you're also a senator of the city, and you can't afford to burn too many bridges.If you pick fights with everyone in there, Lyra, there won't be anyone left to work with, politically.”
“Is politics the only thing you can think of right now?”I demand.“You should be thinking of the young gladiator who died.”
“I will honor his loss,” Marcus says.He steps back from me.“But that doesn't change the fact that on a practical level, the games were largely a success.”
“A young man died!”Why doesn't he seem to think that part is important?
“And that is a tragedy,” Marcus says.“His death hurts me, and it damages these first games in the reformed era.But he brought it on himself, Lyra.Hechoseto make it into a lethal bout, when it was never meant to be, and both of us worked hard to ensure that it wouldn't be.”
“We should stop the games,” I say.“The experiment hasn't worked.”
Marcus shakes his head.“You know as well as I do that it has worked in every way except this one.Yes, we need to work on the safety of the bouts.We need to find ways to stop the fighters from circumventing the protections we put in place, but everything else about this has worked.The city is safer and wealthier because of today.The Republic of Aetheria it is more stable with the games than without them.”
Of course he's going to be proud of what he's done here.I just can't feel the same pride.Not when I know that a young man's body is currently being taken to a slab in the healers’ rooms.Not when I heard the crowd rejoicing in his death.
I've brought death back to Aetheria’s colosseum, and I'm ashamed.
Worse, I don’t think I can undo the things I’ve done.The other senators clearly love the games now.They’ve seen the benefits they bring.I suspect the new games of Aetheria are here to stay.
