“I think what irritates me most isn’t the betrayal,” Marcus says.“It’s the part where you’ve immediately gone to your usual haunt to spend whatever they bribed you with.It’s finding out the sheerstupidityof the men who were protecting my home.”
“It wasn’t like that,” the man doing the talking says.
“Then what was it like?”Marcus asks.
“Some noble comes up to us and says we can either fight all her men, or we can take the night off to go drinking with her money,” the second guard says.“What would you have done?”
Marcus nods thoughtfully.He puts a hand on the bodyguard’s shoulder, almost companionably.I wince as lightning suddenly shoots through him, sending him tumbling to the floor as the fiddle music stops.
“I would have picked the option that didn’t see my employer nearly assassinated,” Marcus snaps.There’s a hard look on his face now as he turns to the first bodyguard.“But since you’re a fan of that kind of choice, how about this?You’re dismissed from my service either way, but that can happen with another pouch of coins to join the first, or it can involve the city guards dragging you off to a dungeon for being part of a plot to kill a senator.”
The remaining bodyguard looks terrified.I try to give him a way out.
“Just tell us about the woman who paid you,” I say.
"It was some noblewoman.All golden-haired beauty and arrogance," the guard says."I think… I think she's a senator."
That description might fit several nobles in Aetheria, but only one who might have a reason to want to hurt Marcus.I look over at him and see realization dawning on his face, too.
“Olivia is behind this,” Marcus breathes.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“You’re really telling me Senator Olivia tried to have you both killed?”Alaric says, even as he swings a sword at my head.
I duck despite the distraction, coming up on the far side of him as I swing a wooden trident.It’s a more than adequate replacement for the staff I broke, letting me work on different tactics.I have a net, too, which I swing low at Alaric’s legs.He avoids both blows with a careless cartwheel.
Today, his disguise makes him look like some graceful acrobat.It's only a step away from his usual appearance and I wonder if he's picked this illusion because it's more suited to the real him.It's hard to tell.He seems to put on and throw off disguises almost casually these days.
“Marcus was the focus,” I insist, gesturing to Marcus with my trident before casting my net at Alaric in the hope he’s distracted.He isn’t.
“Nice try,” Alaric says.
Marcus looks exasperated at the side of our training area.“Can you two focus?”
We do, and the result is a cascading sequence of blows, a deadly ballet of violence that sees my trident touch Alaric’s throat even as one of his blades touches my flesh above my heart.In a real fight, we would both have been killed.It’s a thought that makes me shudder and take a step back, putting aside my weapons for now.
“What I don’t get is why Olivia wants Marcus dead,” Alaric says.“You’re still playing the part of one of Selene’s loyal followers, right, Marcus?”
Marcus nods.“And if Selene had suspicions about me, she’d deal with me another way.”
“What’s this about, then?”Alaric asks.“Because while Senator Olivia is a schemer and a blackmailer, killing people outright doesn’t seem like her style.”
That's something that's been bothering me, too.Olivia has never shied away from trying to exert influence through bribery or threats.Her parties exist so that she can try to get the right people on her side, as well as because she simply enjoys them.But I haven't heard of her using violence like this.
“She might do it if she wanted to make sure she’s the only one standing at Selene’s side when she takes power,” Marcus says.“She started out as Selene’s closest partner, but I’ve moved into a position of trust as well.”
That's one possibility, especially since Olivia seems increasingly obsessed with doing everything Selene wants.I'm still not sure if it's some lingering effect of Selene's psychomancy or if Olivia simply sees Selene as the only path to power, wealth, and pleasure now that the Republic seems to be in trouble.Either way, Olivia seems willing to do just about anything for Selene.
“So you’re saying Olivia’s doing this just to get you out of the way so she can be closer to the new empress when she rises?”Alaric says, with a note of distaste.“The only question then is why she hasn’t done this earlier?You’ve been close to Selene for a while.”
“Pretendingto be close," I correct him, because it's important Alaric maintains that distinction in his mind.He needs to remember Marcus isn't our enemy, and that we're all working together to save Aetheria.
Alaric shrugs.“Either way, why now?What’s changed?”
There’s an obvious answer to that, one Marcus gets to even before I do.
“Lyra is in my custody, now,” he says.He looks over at me.“Olivia tried to get you as her prisoner back in the senate.She invited you to her party in the hope that you’d step out of line.She’s made no secret of wanting you in her control.”
