“I was hoping to speak with Lyra,” Selene says.She looks me up and down.“I see you’ve been training.I hope your hard work has been paying off.”
She doesn’t seem surprised.She certainly doesn’t seem unhappy about it.
“Lyra has been working to regain her skills as a fighter,” Marcus says.
“And you’ve encouraged that,” Selene replies.“To the point of trying to enter her in the Grand Tournament.”
“I made much of my reputation as an organizer of the games,” Marcus points out.“Doesn’t it make sense, if I have a gladiator under my control, that I should put her into the greatest tournament held in Aetheria?”
Selene’s smile gives nothing away.
“I was hoping I could speak to Lyra, Marcus,” she says.
“Of course,” Marcus replies, gesturing to me.
“Alone.”
Marcus hesitates, and I can guess at his concerns.If I’m alone with Selene, there’s always a chance she might try to kill me while my dampener limits my ability to fight back.I don’t have any real weapons, and I can’t just summon creatures to my side.
“Don’t worry, Marcus,” Selene says.“I won’t hurt your lover.You have my word.”
Marcus looks at me, then nods, his politician’s smile sliding smoothly back into place.“Of course.I’ll be in the next room once you’re finished.”
He steps away, leaving me alone in the room with Selene.She waits for me to go, then steps forward, power glowing in her hands.Should I cry out for Marcus’ help?For him to come back with lightning already flashing towards her?
Selene lets the power fade away.“I wonder how he’d react if I broke my word?It’s obvious he still loves you.I wonder what you had to do for him to persuade him to try to put you into the Grand Tournament.”
“It wasn’t easy to get him to do it,” I admit.Marcus wanted me to be safe, after all.“Why have you come here, Selene?”
“I wanted to reassure you that I wasn’t the one who sent the assassins,” Selene says.
“That was Olivia,” I say.I want Selene to understand that I know that much.“She was trying to keep me out of the tournament.”
Selene nods.“Well done.I wasn’t sure if you’d work out that part.She won’t do it again.I’ve made it clear to Olivia that I won’t tolerate one of the people around me trying to kill another.”
“Shouldn’t you be telling Marcus that, not me?”I say.
“Oh, I’ll make it all clear to him soon enough,” Selene says.“But I wanted to have this conversation with you, Lyra.I don’t want you thinking I was trying to keep you out of the Grand Tournament.”
“You want me there?”I say.
Selene nods.“Olivia wanted to keep you away to make sure I would have an easy victory.She’s already arranged bribes and threats to give me an easy path through the tournament.But we both know it can’t betooeasy.”
“The crowd would see the difference,” I say.“For all your power, you still need the people on your side if you’re going to claim power.”
Selene shrugs.“Icouldtake it without their support, but a ruler can’t rule Aetheria for long without a power base.I have magic and I have political friends, but Tiberius showed how easily that can go wrong.”
The emperor fell when the city finally rose up against him.All his power and guards couldn’t stop it.
“And so, you want to face me in the tournament,” I say.
Selene nods.“I’m persuading people that those with the most magical power should rule.If I defeat the legendary beast whisperer, the former champion of the colosseum, I’ll show them that there is no one to match me magically.”
Thus legitimizing her claim to power.She’ll create the kind of moment where she can shift the whole of Aetheria.
“I could kill you,” I say.
Selene nods.“There’s always that risk.But what is life without risk?I came here to tell you that I’m not afraid of facing you, Lyra.I’ll see to it that you’re a part of the Grand Tournament.”
