“She’s required to show up for each set of games until she has completed the five required of her,” Senator Octavio says.“Beyond that, she’s free to be where she wishes in the city.”
Free to try to influence and manipulate people.Free to continue to undermine the Republic at a point where it's increasingly fragile.I sigh and cede the floor, because it's clear I'm not going to convince anyone here.Increasingly, the Senate feels like a place where I'm simply ignored.
Thankfully, there isn't much more business in the Senate today.A couple of small motions on rebuilding efforts in the slums.One on a potential trade agreement with a city state far across the ocean, brokered by Marcus.Routine business, and a reminder that not everything in Aetheria is about Selene, however much it might seem like it.
Eventually, I get to leave the chamber, heading through to one of the ante-chambers beyond.It’s a space set with food and drink, couches and spaces for people to talk.It’s designed so that the people from the viewing galleries can meet with the senators, making sure their voices are heard.In practice, that makes it a place of bribery, influence and corruption.
Naturally, Marcus is completely at home there, already standing at the heart of a small crowd of nobles and merchants.He smiles and clasps hands, exchanges compliments and makes promises.Almost as soon as he spots me, he comes over to me, taking me in his arms and kissing me briefly.There’s an electric charge to his touch, and I can never tell with him whether it’s down to the attraction between us or the lightning Marcus can summon with the magic that gives him control over the weather.
The kiss is at least partly for the benefit of everyone watching, of course.He wants them to see we're together, the golden couple of the city, holding together a coalition of different strands within the city thanks to our connection.And maybe it's to show people that I continue to have his support, even though we have different views on many things in the Senate.
“It wasn’t wise to speak up against Selene again,” he whispers to me.
“You think I should just ignore her?You hate her as much as I do,” I say.
"I think she's dangerous, but speaking out isn't changing anything," Marcus says."We must work in the ways we can, not spend political capital on things we can't do.We don't have the Senate yet."
Marcus is cautious in so many ways, understanding the politics of the city far better than me.It makes him frustrating, sometimes.
“It’s been six weeks, Marcus.Six weeks since the fight in Ironhold, and nothing’s changed.How much longer before we have the support we need?”
“It’s hard to say,” Marcus says.“I’m building all the support I can, both in the senate and… other places.”
Which is his way of saying he’s exploiting the corruption he’s embroiled in.He keeps telling me it’s just so he can lance the boil of that corruption, bringing it all down at once.But it’s obvious he enjoys the power and influence it gives him.
“And in the meantime, Selene’s building her own support,” I say.
Marcus nods.“That’s the struggle between us, for now.A race to see who can build power the quickest.People aren’t going to Ironhold to see her, but she’s holding her salons and gatherings throughout the city.”He hands me a piece of parchment.It’s a poster, proclaiming that Selene will be speaking today, in one of the public forums of the city.
I stare at it, barely able to believe the brazenness of it.Selene's making public appearances now, spreading her message so openly?I need to see this, and I need to try to find a way to limit the damage she does, even as I'm not sure I can do anything to truly stop her.
CHAPTER TWO
I swap my toga for a grey dress, edged with silvery embroidery.I strap a knife to my belt, because there are plenty of people out there who might try to hurt me, either at Selene's behest or for other reasons.I've acquired many enemies in my time in the Senate, both in my opposition to Selene and my stand against the corruption of the city, embodied in the gladiatorial games here.
I head out of the palace, through the gardens beyond.They’re spectacular, enhanced by magic, the way so many things in Aetheria are.The gardeners have talents that let them make the plants bigger and more beautiful than they have any right to be.They’re able to work them into arches and spirals, imposing order on them in a way that’s strangely reminiscent of the days of the empire.It was a place that wanted to control everything and was happy to use magic to do it.
There’s a menagerie within the grounds of the palace, as well.The former emperor collected magical creatures from around the empire, on the basis that all things of magic belonged to the city.There are peacocks whose tails shimmered with illusions, butterflies the size of my head, a leopard whose fur crackles with lightning in its cage.I can feel the primal emotions of the creatures, and it’s easy to reach out to look through the eyes of the birds above, using them to watch for enemies around me as I start to head through the city.
The birds show me the city laid out below like a map.Aetheria forms a great wheel of different districts within its walls, from the elegance of the noble district to the practical warehouses of the docks.Towers rise in a district given over to scholars and artists, while an entertainment district sprawls not far from the noble quarter, filled with gambling dens, drinking establishments and other, more illicit, places.The slums lie beyond the walls, sprawling and chaotic, as large again as the interior of the city.They’re slowly being rebuilt in the same white marble as the rest of Aetheria, but most of the buildings are still ramshackle things, thrown together without a clear plan.
Aetheria is a place of many spectacular buildings.Through the borrowed sight of the birds, I see grand temples and expensive villas, bathhouses and public buildings.None of them is on the scale of the colosseum located at the heart of the city, festooned with statues and with a broad promenade leading up to it.
That isn’t the space I’m heading to, though.Instead, I make my way to the fringes of the market district, where there’s an open forum space, surrounded by grand columns to delineate it, and with a fountain at its center that depicts a gladiator standing over a fallen foe.There are plinths set around it, and during the days of the empire, it was one of the few places where people could speak freely, without fear of being dragged from those plinths and thrown into a dungeon.Of course, there was nothing to stop the emperor from sending killers after those who spoke there later, when it wouldn’t attract attention, which meant that in practice, it was priests and philosophers loyal to the emperor who mostly spoke here.
After the founding of the Republic, things became a little freer, with these spaces open to anyone who wanted to speak.I have no doubt that’s why Selene has chosen this space.She stands on the plinth closest to the fountain, the purple aura of her magic flowing out from her, attracting attention and making her seem larger than she is.
She’s slender, with jet black hair and a frame that has become more toned thanks to her training to fight in the colosseum.Her eyes glow with violet power, and she’s wearing a dress that mingles purple with white and gold, the traditional color of the old empire mingling with those of the Republic.Her left shoulder is bare, to show the branded circle there, with two clear lines across it.Selene is claiming respect as a popular gladiator, as much as because she’s an archon, probably the most powerful magic user in a generation.
There are far more people than usual in the forum.Normally, it’s a place people pass through to meet with a few friends, or to listen to the more entertaining philosophers until they start to drown one another out.It attracts small groups of people, not large crowds.
Today, it’s packed, to a degree that has attracted the attention of the city guards.I briefly wonder if I can call to them and demand they break up this gathering, but I suspect that will only add to Selene’s popularity.Besides, she has influence over many guards in the city, so I don’t know for sure if they would even help if I asked it.
I linger on the fringes of the crowd, instead, watching Selene as she addresses the crowd.
“Citizens of Aetheria,” she says, and her voice carries effortlessly over them, aided by a hint of magic.Morethan a hint, because I can feel her psychomancy spreading out in a wave of influence, designed to change people’s minds and sway them to her cause.“Thank you for coming here today.I have much to say to you.”
I can see people leaning in eagerly, the forum silent in a way it never normally is.Usually, people would heckle the speakers or challenge them, leading to lively philosophical debates and, occasionally, brawls.
