I do it, sitting within a comfortable space, filled with cushions.Marcus moves to join me and, at a signal from him, the bearers lift the palanquin and start to march us down through the city.
He doesn’t speak at first, just stares at me, looking me over.I’m all too aware of how close we are in the confined space of the palanquin.Marcus have been far closer before, have shared a bed many times.We were engaged to be married, were so much to one another.
Now, as he reached out a hand towards me, I tense.Does Marcus simply think he can take what he wants from me now I’m his?His hand brushes one of the marks the beatings from the guards have left on me and I flinch at that sudden burst of pain.Marcus pulls back quickly.
“I’m sorry,” he says, in a soft voice.“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I don’t know what to say to him, don’t know where to stand, when the last time I saw him before today, he was one of those condemning me to imprisonment.
“You must be pleased,” I say.“What with Selene arranging for me to be given to you as a gift.”
Marcus’ eyes are clouded and he glances around at the cloth and wood walls of the palanquin.“I don’t want to discuss Selene here.I want to talk about you, Lyra.”
“What do you want to know?”I ask, looking him in the eye.“Do you want me to tell you what it was like suffering in the prison?About all the ways the guards hurt me?And you voted for my guilt.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Marcus says.“But I need to know you aren’t going to do anything stupid now.Your new position is all Rowan and I could do to get you out of there.If you make a mistake now, it will be worse for you.”
“And you?”I guess.Marcus has taken responsibility for me, after all.I pointedly don’t look at him.I don’t like being this much in Marcus’ power.
I look out from the palanquin at the city, instead.Aetheria is still a place of magical beauty and wonder, of noble houses decorated with illusions and streets where even the smallest tasks are aided by minor magical talents.But there’s a sense of tension in the air.I spot a patch of graffiti that saysSelene Ravenscroft is a traitor,while elsewhere, I spot a young man running from the guards while people get in their way, obviously eager to see him escape.
I expect us to be heading to the spot where Marcus’ villa is located on the edge between the noble and merchant districts.Instead, we’re heading for the heart of the city, to where the colosseum stands, festooned in flags and with horns blaring to announce a day of games.
“Why are we heading to the colosseum?”I ask.
“Because there are games due to take place, and I must be seen at them,” Marcus replies, but I can sense that there’s more to this.
“What’s going on, Marcus?”I ask.
Marcus doesn’t answer directly.“When we get there, remember the part you’re to play now.Don’t speak unless told to.Be deferential.You’re here as my prisoner.”
“And if I don’t do that?”I ask.
Marcus hesitates.He touches my arm lightly, sparks of lightning dancing between us, called by his magic.It’s the lightest of tingling touches, the kind of thing I used to find playful, but there’s a threat within it.
“I would have to be seen to punish you,” Marcus says.“This whole arrangement is founded on the idea that I can control you, Lyra.So please, don’t make me.”
There’s a pleading note in his voice, but I still resent the idea that he gets to control me at all.A part of me wants to fight back, to leap from the palanquin…
But what then?Without my powers, Marcus could stop me with a single jolt of lightning.Even if he didn’t, I would be hunted through the city, probably executed on sight.It isn’t something I can risk.
So I sit in silence as the palanquin takes us to the entrance to the arena.Marcus helps me down from it, and I can feel the eyes of the gathering crowds upon us.I wonder what we look like, the senator in his toga accompanied by an unwashed prisoner in rags.It occurs to me that he could have taken me to a bathhouse or to his villa, could have left me out of this moment.It’s obvious that I’m here because I’mmeantto be seen like this.
We make our way up to the private box reserved for senators and their guests, which looks out over the colosseum.I can see now the ways in which the seating has been expanded to let in even more people, the building work largely completed in the time I was imprisoned.The colosseum isn’t full today, but there are still plenty of people here.I’m more concerned with the person sitting in the senate box on one of the couches there.
Selene Ravenscroft is waiting for us.
I open my mouth to demand to know what she’s doing here, but Marcus speaks before I can say anything, his familiar politician’s smile in place.
“Ah, Selene, I trust I haven’t kept you waiting long?”
Selene smiles.“No doubt you had to catch up with Lyra.I trust she’s everything you remember?”
“A little more battered and bruised,” Marcus says.
“Well, hopefully that has made her more pliable.I take it you like my arranging for the senators to let her go into your custody?”
“You’re most kind,” Marcus says.
