“Lyra, no,” Marcus says.
“Why?”Alaric demands.
“Because Selene’s whole plan relies on her winning the tournament,” I say.“She wants to hold herself up as a shining example of magical might before she has the senate vote her into power.If I can beat her, I can stop her from doing that.”
“But you don’t have your powers,” Alaric points out.
“You were saying you could find someone to tamper with the dampener,” I reply.
“A little,” Alaric says.“You’d have a trickle of power, not your full strength.More than that and it would be obvious.”
I look from one of them to the other.“If I face her in the one place we both rose to fame, I can show the people that she isn’t someone special who deserves to rule over them all.”
“And don’t you think Selene would want to kill you there?”Marcus says.
“You’ve seen the determination with which Oliva’s been trying to keep me out,” I reply.I look from one of them to the other.“This won’t be decided just by politics, or by underground resistance.We won’t win this with the things we’ve been doing so far.This is our best chance.”
“A slender chance,” Marcus says.“One that risks your life.”
I nod.I know that.“It’s all we have.”
Marcus sighs, but then nods.“Very well.”
“If that’s really what you want,” Alaric says.“I know better than to try to change your mind.”
It is what I want, what Ineedto do.And surprisingly, I think Alaric and Marcus were right before: it’s what Selene wants too.Olivia wants to keep me out of the games, but I suspect Selene wants me there, because she’s convinced she’ll beat me.
But I’m not afraid of her.I’ll face her.I’ll fight her, with or without my full powers.Selene has arranged the Grand Tournament, and that is where this will end.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It’s one thing to say I’m going to enter the Grand Tournament, quite another to make it happen.
“I’ll reach out to my connections within the colosseum,” Marcus assures me, as he gets ready to leave for the senate.“I should still have enough influence to get them to add you to the list of fighters.”
He looks stately and controlled as he stands there in his toga, but I think I can detect a hint of nervousness in him.It mirrors my own.
“Are you sure you want me to stay behind while you go?”I ask him.“I don’t like the idea of you being alone out there if Olivia is sending assassins.”
“Planning to be my bodyguard?”Marcus says, with a faint smile.He shakes his head.“I’ll be fine.I can find new guards, and I suspect all the training I’ve been doing will help me to protect myself.Besides, Alaric says he’s going to have a couple of people watching me.”
That catches me by surprise.Alaric and the resistance have little love for Marcus, but now they’re sending people to protect him?
“Why would he do that?”I ask.
Marcus spreads his hands.“Perhaps he’s realized we’re on the same side, at least for now.Perhaps he realizes the best chance for his resistance to achieve their aims is if I haven’t been murdered.”He shrugs.“Or maybe they’ve decided it’s a good idea to watch and make sure I’m not working against them.”
I suspect it’s some combination of all those things.Alaric might not want Marcus dead right now, but he also won’t trust him completely.But I do feel a little better knowing Marcus is going to have some protection watching him.
“I could still come with you,” I say.
Marcus shakes his head.“You have training to do.If you’re going to do this, you need to be ready.Alaric is going to be here in a few minutes.”
It’s strange to see the two of them cooperating like this.I know it’s only because I’m at the heart of both of their efforts.I’m the one thing that can bring them together.I’m both happy I’m able to do it and worried about what might happen if I’m not here to stop them fighting against one another.If I fall in the Grand Tournament, will Marcus and the resistance go back to being at odds?Will all their efforts to stop Selene fall apart?
It's not an idle worry.I’ve fought in the colosseum plenty of times.I’ve come close to dying, and I’ve killed to survive.I know exactly how dangerous it can be, even for skilled fighters.There’s always an element of luck in any fight.I’ve seen fighters who should have been better than their opponents cut down by lucky blows, fighters who should have been killed find ways to survive despite the odds.No matter how much I train, there’s always a chance I could die.
It's a sobering thought, but not one that makes me pull back from the path I've chosen.I'm convinced that facing Selene in the colosseum is the way to stop her.She's carefully thought through all her plans beyond the arena, but within it, there is no other plan than to fight and hope she's stronger.She can't outmaneuver me politically there, can't use her followers to fight her battles for her.In the colosseum, it will just be Selene and me.
