“I’m not saying no to us, Alaric.I want you.I think it’s always been you.Marcus is...well, he’s a lot of things.And maybe once I thought I could be happy with him, but he isn’tyou.”
Marcus is handsome and intelligent, kind and powerful, but with him, I've never been able to shake the feeling that his ambitions come first.I've never been certain whether he loves me or whether he just wants me and loves the idea of us as a couple that could rule the city together.He isn't as corrupt or venal as I once thought, but he's still far too ready to work in the shadowy parts of the city.He still accepts parts of it that I never will.
Even now, Marcus is off playing politics.For all the right reasons, admittedly, but he isn’t here when I need him.
And he isn't Alaric.Beautiful, sharp edged Alaric, who spent so long hiding behind a mask of arrogance, only to turn around and try to save the city.Who is somehow one of the people who cares about it most, willing to risk everything as the leader of the resistance.This is a man who must hide his face whenever he goes out in public, and yet somehow, I feel as though I always see the real him.
I kiss him again, just because I can, and he kisses me back, only pulling back from me when I wince.
“If it’s not that,” he says, “then-”
“I’m not abandoning Aetheria again,” I say.“And I don’t believe you really want to either.You’ve fought too long and too hard to give up on it now.”
“I’d walk away in a heartbeat if I thought it would keep you safe,” Alaric says.
“And I’d always feel guilty for letting you do it,” I reply.“Besides, I have a role to play here, too.”
“Fighting Selene Ravenscroft,” Alaric says.
I can hear the worry in his voice.He isn’t certain I can win.He’s worried that Selene’s skills will overcome anything I can throw at her.
But that’s the enemy I need to face.And when I do it, I want to know that Alaric is out there somewhere, fighting for Aetheria in his own way.
I lie there and rest, with Alaric lying beside me.We don’t need to do anything; it’s enough that he’s here, next to me.
But, even as we lie there, Thalia bursts in.
“You need to come quickly,” she says.“One of our people is reporting news from the senate.The situation there is worse than we thought.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“You should leave this to me,” Alaric insists, as we both make our way through the streets towards the senate.
Every step makes me wince with the effort, but I still shake my head.
"I need to see what's happening there," I say.There are only a couple more rounds left in the Grand Tournament, and it feels like everything is reaching boiling point in the city, too.
“I’m not sure what we can even do there,” Alaric says.
“And yet you’re still going,” I point out.
The truth is that we both need to know what’s happening.We need to see whether there’s still a chance that my efforts in the colosseum will be enough.
I watch the streets around us using the birds above as we hurry through the city.That’s probably just as well, because there are still armed groups of people out on the streets, chanting slogans and clashing when they meet one another.There are groups of guards, too, but they’re outnumbered and unable to stop any of the violence.
It feels as though the city is spinning out of control, with Selene’s supporters and those who oppose her ready to turn Aetheria into a battleground.If that happens, there’s no telling which side will win.Worse, we mightalllose, given the threats from Arboria to invade if there’s chaos.
Will our neighbors actually go through with their threats?My instinct is that they will.I can almost count Lady Cassandra as a friend, but I can't deny the hardness in her and the ways she believes strength matters above all else.She's told me enough about the way her kingdom works to know that, if Arboria's queen believes we cannot hold our lands, its armies will be quick to seize them.
Which makes it even more important that we stop what Selene’s planning before the situation can get worse.And part of that is knowing exactly what she’s attempting to do now.
Alaric and I make our way through the noble quarter, heading for the palace.There are guards on the gates now, barring entrance.Alaric quickly uses his illusions to shift his features to resemble Marcus, though, so that the guards take one look at us and open the gates again to let us through.
“Senator, I didn’t realize you were out in the city,” one says.
“He wanted me to be here,” I say, trying to provide an explanation the guard might believe why Marcus might have left the palace.It seems to be good enough for the guard, because he steps back to let us into the palace grounds.
They’re a beautiful space, maintained by a team of gardeners whose magic helps the plants to grow.There’s also a menagerie of creatures collected by the former emperor, from peacocks whose tails flash with illusions, to more dangerous animals kept in cages.
