“Just don’t expect me to skulk around, pretending to be on Selene’s side, like Marcus,” Alaric says.
“It’sbecauseof that we know the details of her plans,” Marcus points out.I get the feeling they’re building up to another argument.
“We do,” I say, “and now we need to work to stop those plans.Even if it means working openly against Selene.We gained a lot from you pretending to be on her side, Marcus, but now’s the time to start pulling away from her.Her proposal is in the senate, right?”
Marcus nods.“She wants whoever is victorious in the games to be proclaimed First Senator.”
And from there, it would only be a short hop to proclaim herself empress.
“Well, we need to do what we can to stop that proposal passing,” I say.If we can do that, then Selene’s plans to simply be given power at the end of the games will hit a roadblock.“Remind them of the power of the Republic.”
“That might be difficult, when she’s already undermined it so effectively,” Marcus says.“But I can try.”
“Alaric,” I say.“You need to get the people on our side.Selene is relying on being carried along by a wave of popular support.If we can take that from her, her power grab will seem like a hollow thing.”
“I have the resistance working on it,” Alaric assures me.
Selene has built an alliance between so many factions in Aetheria, from the gangs of the slums all the way to the army and the nobles.The more fragments of those alliances we can start to peel away from her, the more we can undermine her power.
“We need to do more than just rally the people,” Marcus says.“We need to get the gangs on our side, and the bodyguards of the nobles.”
“People who spend their time hurting the ordinary citizens,” Alaric says.“We need to plan a strike from the shadows as Selene approaches the games.”
“That will just see us branded as criminals and traitors,” Marcus says.“No senator will side with us if we do that.We’ll need them to rebuild when this is done.”
Alaric snorts.“Their vested interests are part of the reason the city has been so easy for Selene to take control of.We should tear apart the current system and rebuild it from the ground up.”
“It’s easy to talk about destroying a thing,” Marcus says.“Until you realize just how woven into the fabric of the city it is.Aetheria is a place of a thousand moving parts, and taking away even one could lead to its collapse.”
The two of them won’t get anywhere arguing about the politics of the city like this.I suspect that, even if we succeed in beating Selene, that will only trigger a larger conflict between Alaric and Marcus for control of the city.If that comes, I don’t know which side I’ll pick.
Do I have to pick a side?Are their visions for Aetheria the only possibilities?Continuing with all the corruption of the city or tearing down every system within it in the hope of building something better?What doIwant for the city?
It's a question I don't seem to have asked myself enough times in the past.I've been carried along by others' visions for Aetheria.Marcus's, Rowan's, Alaric's.Before them, there was Lady Elara of the beast whisperers and Vex, representing the nobles.I've been caught up in plots by Domitian and Selene, who both had their own views on how the city should run.Even when I was first brought to Aetheria as a slave gladiator, it was because of the way Emperor Tiberius IV believed the world should be.
What do I want?Peace?An end to the violence of the games?Prosperity for the ordinary people?Those seem like obvious things to desire, but I’m sure if I mentioned them to the others, they would talk about the complexities involved in getting to any of those things.
I still can’t help feeling that at some point soon, I’m going to be forced to choose between Alaric and Marcus.Each of them is keeping a careful distance, but each of them is obviously interested in me romantically.I can’t spend my life caught between the two of them.
For now, though, I can put that choice off a little longer.I still have to fight my way through the games, or none of this will matter.
“What do we know about my next opponent in the games?”I ask them.
“Karubas,” Marcus says.“He’s a warrior who mixes illusion magic with psychomancy.He shows you your greatest fears, and if you get caught up in them, then his illusions can hurt or kill as surely as if they were real.”
I met him at Ironhold before the games, along with the other gladiators.He was a creepy, intimidating presence.Clearly, he's been brought in because he'll be a formidable opponent.
Now, I just need to find a way to beat him.
CHAPTER NINE
Slavering wolves leap at me, snarling with the intensity of beasts determined to tear me limb from limb.Karabus stands opposite me, his hand outstretched in theatrical fashion, his bone white hair whipping in the breeze.Snakes rise up around me, and my powers are useless to try to control them.For once, I’m helpless to affect the creatures around me, completely vulnerable in the face of their assault.
Karabus smiles cruelly, his dark armor gleaming, his pale skin looking like something better suited to a corpse than a man.He’s enjoying my helplessness, enjoying knowing there’s nothing I can do about his powers.
So I do exactly that: nothing.
I stand and let the creatures come to me.I force myself not to react as the snakes strike, their fangs dripping venom and their eyes flashing red with menace.I remain still as the wolves leap at me, mouths open, ready to tear into my body, teeth somehow already wet with blood.
