I head upwards.Domitian is somewhere behind me.The steps are terrifying, because there’s nothing to stop me from falling to my death if I slip, and the chains around my ankles make for a shuffling gait that makes it all too likely.
If Selene wants me dead, this would be a simple way to do it.Maybe the whole point is that Domitian and I are going to conveniently “slip” near the top, pushed by the guards and left to die.It’s a thought that raises a thread of fear within me, making me look down into the darkened depths below, but I quickly push that thought down.
I don’t think Selene is going to kill me like that.The truth is, if she wanted me dead without a trace, she could have had the guards do it when I first came to the prison.She clearly has more than enough influence with them.And it doesn’t fit with what Domitian told me about her: that need for spectacle, to beseento win.
If Selene wants me dead, she’ll do it publicly.
That’s not a comforting thought, though, when Domitian and I might be being led to our executions even now.
I blink in the light as we come up into the palace.After the half-light of the dungeons, real daylight is enough to make my eyes water.Servants stare at me as the guards lead me through the palace, looking at me as if I’m some wild beast who might be a threat to them if I get loose.Guards watch from the sides, clearly assuming I’m going to try to fight my way free at some point.
The opulence of the palace is in stark contrast to the harshness of the dungeon.The emperor made his palace into a place filled with frescos and mosaics, gilded statues and marble columns.The Republic kept most of those things, preserving this place as the home of the senate and giving those senators who wish them rooms within.
The guards take us to an ante-chamber, outside the senate chambers making us wait.My heart is beating faster as I stand within, because if I’m being brought before the senate, that could mean anything from my release to my execution.Has Rowan found a way to free the senate from Selene’s influence?Or will I find her sitting within, waiting to pass judgement on me.
“What’s going on?”I ask one of the guards.“Why are we here?”
He hits me almost casually, but still hard enough that my head rings with the blow.
“Be silent.Unless you’d rather be back in a punishment room in the prison?”
I fall silent, knowing I’m not going to get any information that way.I can only stand and wait.
“You first,” one of the guards says to Domitian, shoving him towards the doors to the senate chamber.
Domitian briefly turns towards me.“It has been an honor to be your cellmate, Lyra Thornwind.”
The guard shoves him again and Domitian disappears from sight through the doors to the senate.Those doors close behind him, granting me only the briefest glimpse of the senate chamber beyond, with its stone benches on which toga wearing senators sit and its public galleries above, where the citizens of Aetheria can look down on those who rule them.
I can’t hear what’s going on in there and it worries me that we’re being dealt with separately.What does that mean?Is it possible Selene is arranging for Domitian to go free while I suffer?No, I don’t believe that, not after the things Domitian said about her.She isn’t someone prepared to share power.
It seems like forever before the doors open again and I’m pushed forward by one of the guards.
“Your turn, traitor.”
I stumble forward into the senate chamber, and above me, the crowd of ordinary people boos me like I’m some hated fighter walking into the colosseum for a fight.I suspect that this moment might be every bit as deadly as one of my bouts in the arena.
I look around at the senators.Rowan is there, his auburn hair hanging down to cover the scar on his face given to him by his former mistress, in the days when he was still a slave and not the First Senator of Aetheria.He sits on a stone chair, his muscles chiseled, his features square jawed and strong.
My eyes automatically seek out Marcus next.He’s seated on one of the stone benches around the senate chamber, among a group of senators who side with him in most things.His expression is unreadable as his blue eyes find me, although I think I catch the briefest of winces as he sees the injuries I’ve suffered at the hands of the guards.
There are other senators there I know, too.Olivia, blonde haired, noble and beautiful, dripping with jewelry and usually concerned only with the next hedonistic party she’s going to throw for her fellow nobles.Octavio, the oldest of the senators, who’s a stickler for the laws.Yarrow, a dark haired woman in her forties, who runs several of the gangs that haunt the city’s slums beyond the main walls.
And Selene is there, sitting above in the public gallery, wearing the same rich dress of white, gold and purple.She somehow makes it look as if she’s an empress looking down on those who serve her, rather than just one more member of the watching crowd.She smiles cruelly as she catches my eye.
A second later, the guard beside me pushes me down to my knees.
“Kneel before your betters, traitor.”
No one reprimands him for doing it, even Rowan, who I count as one of my friends.I can only kneel and wait to find out what’s going on here, and why Domitian isn’t still in the chamber.Rowan stands.
“There have been calls from some in this chamber to revisit the fates of some of the city’s prisoners,” Rowan says, in a grave voice.He looks around at the other senators, his eyes settling on Olivia.Often, she’s Selene’s mouthpiece in the chamber.Partly, that’s because of the influence of Selene’s psychomancy, but also, it’s because the senator knows how to make sure she’s on the winning side.
“I merely pointed out that now we execute criminals in the colosseum,” Olivia says.“And that the First Senator didn’t wait for the will of the senate before he imprisoned the traitor, Lyra Thornwind.”
“And I’ve told you, Lyra willnotbe executed,” Rowan says, with a determination that carries around the chamber.
I glance up, and I see Selene’s smile widen slightly.As she threatened in the prison, she’s forcing Rowan to use up his political capital, pushing him into a position where he must go beyond the First Senator’s powers to protect me.
