Neither Alaric nor Marcus looks particularly enthused by that idea, but Marcus seems to realize it’s the only alternative to having an argument out in the open.
“She’s right, old man.Come back to my home.I insist.”
There’s still a chance Alaric might try to draw a blade and attack Marcus, but I don’t think he will, now.Instead, he nods, still looking angry as Marcus leads the way back to his villa on the edge of the merchant district.Marcus waves away the servants as they move to help us.
“This man has come to speak with me as his senator.Lyra can stay to take notes, but everyone else can leave.”
It means we get the central room of the villa to ourselves.Alaric paces in a way that doesn't fit with his current disguise, still looking furious as he does so.It seems to take him another few seconds before he decides it's safe to let his disguise fall, standing there before Marcus with his own face once again.I envy him the ease of his magic at the moment, when I don't have my own.
“Are you really going to tell me that you had nothing to do with the raids on my safehouses?”Alaric demands.
“This is the first I’ve heard of them,” Marcus says.He looks over at me, as if I’m the one he needs to convince, not Alaric.“Lyra, you’ve seen the reports I’ve been getting.Have any of them mentioned the locations of the resistance’s safehouses?”
“No,” I admit.“Alaric, is it possible they found out another way?”
“It’s always possible,” Alaric says.“But do you really think it’s a coincidence that it happened so soon after we started working with Marcus and his people?”
The timing is suspicious, although I doubt Marcus has simply been giving away Alaric’s safehouses.
Alaric sighs.“The resistance has been growing until the last couple of days.The more authoritarian measures Selene helps to push through the senate, the more people come to us for aid, or simply can’t bring themselves to stand by any longer.Now, though, we’ve lost key people.”
“Thalia?”I say.
“She’s still safe, although she’s hiding,” Alaric replies.I’m glad to hear that.I like Alaric’s lieutenant.I’d hate to think that anything had happened to her.
“What about Cesca?”I ask.
Alaric nods.“She’s one of the ones missing, as if the guards were determined to grab her.”
“Or maybe she decided to buy favor with Selene by giving you up,” Marcus suggests.
“It could be that,” I say.“Or it could be that there was some lingering suggestion in her thanks to Selene’s psychomancy.We have no way of knowing.But it’s possible they found out about your safe houses that way.Or maybe they just followed your messengers back.”
“My people are careful,” Alaric insists.“And it still doesn’t explain whynow.”
“Because the Grand Tournament is so close,” I guess.“Selene’s into her endgame now.She may have known the locations of some of your safehouses for months, but only decided to use the information now, to remove as many potential enemies as possible before she makes her final push to seize Aetheria.”
“If so, she’s timed it perfectly to damage the resistance as much as possible,” Alaric says.“We won’t be able to coordinate the same way, and we won’t have the numbers to shut down meetings or shout down the speakers she pays to spread her messages.”
Meaning Selene will be able to gain an advantage in convincing the people of the city.
“There’s something else, too,” Alaric says.“The resistance has contacts beyond the city, often old gladiators or people who used to be connected to the games.Several stronger gladiators have been arrested out in the provinces, accused of being traitors.They’re being brought back to Aetheria.”
It takes me a second to realize the full importance of that.
“It’s another way for Selene to get exactly the gladiators she wants for the games,” I say.
Alaric shoots me a questioning look.“What do you mean?”
“Selene has been carefully selecting the gladiators for the Grand Tournament,” I explain.“Picking ones who will put on a spectacular show without being a true challenge to her.”
“She’s prearranged some of the contests, too,” Marcus says.
“And she’s dragging in captive gladiators from beyond the city,” Alaric adds, understanding dawning on him.“She’s pushing for all the old elements of the games, even as she tries to set everything up so she can win.”
I nod.That's my fear here.It seems clear that Selene has arranged everything carefully for this moment and that she's planned every element.
"She's going to fight in the Grand Tournament and win it in the middle of the greatest show the city has ever seen," I say."She's going to get the crowd riled up against the Republic, even as she presents herself as an example of a different way of doing things.She's going to persuade people of her vision of a version of Aetheria ruled by those with the most magic, even as she shows herself to be the strongest magic user to be found in it.She'll crown herself empress right there in the colosseum."
