“Before last night, my guess is you would have said he would never work with Selene at all,” Alaric says.He puts his hand on my shoulder.“I’m sorry, Lyra.I know it’s hard finding out he isn’t who you thought he was, but that doesn’t mean you should put yourself in danger.Or the rest of us.”
“You think I’d tell him anything about the resistance?”I say.It’s one thing to accuse Marcus of being a traitor to Aetheria; quite another to suggest I might be.
“I think, if you fall into Selene’s hands, you might not get a choice,” Alaric says.
“Then I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.”I stand.“I need to do this, Alaric.Can’t you see that?”
Alaric sighs.“This is a bad idea, Lyra.Even if you manage to see him without him attacking you, I suspect what you’re going to hear is only going to hurt you.”
I can hear the concern in his voice, the determination to protect me from harm, but not knowing the truth about last night would hurt just as much.
“I’ll be careful,” I tell him, then head upstairs to select a disguise.
How do I get close to a senator of Aetheria?For anyone else, the answer would be simple: just go to the public galleries of the senate and ask to speak with them in the ante-chamber after the senate session.As a wanted fugitive, I don’t have that option, so I need to think of something else.
I pick out the colorful robes of a priestess, using the cowl to hide my face.It’s a disguise that will give me the freedom to move where I want in the city, and might get me through some doors that would otherwise be closed to me.
It’s a disguise that might also allow me to speak with a senator in private.The trick is going to be locating Marcus and getting him alone.I’m determined to do it, though.
I head out into the city, keeping my head down and trying to fit in with the crowds.I pause here and there, as I’ve occasionally seen priests and priestesses do, presumably to commune with the magic flowing from the city’s stones.
I do it so I can start to locate Marcus.I reach out for the senses of the animals around the palace, knowing he’s most likely to be there, but I don’t spot him.I realize it’s early enough he might still be on his way to the senate, so I expand my search, and spot him below, moving through the streets in his white toga, the center of attention as he makes his way up towards the palace.
I hurry to intercept him, not caring that it must look odd that a priestess has started to run through the streets of the city.I take side streets, and then switch to the rooftops, hurrying through each district of the city in turn as I try to get ahead of Marcus.Now I’ve spotted him, I keep a bird circling above him, using it as a marker to let me get closer even as I watch his movements from above.
I pick out the perfect spot ahead, placing myself at the mouth of a small alleyway leading to a walled courtyard with a couple of statues of famous heroes of the arena.There are a couple of other passageways leading into it, which means there are at least that many easy escape routes.The presence of a lizard lounging atop the statue also gives me the chance to borrow its climbing skills if I need to get away over the rooftops.
Will I really need to?I can’t believe Marcus will try to attack me, even after what happened last night.I want to believe that even if Selene has somehow managed to control him with her psychomancy, he won’t simply blast me with his lightning as soon as he sees me.
I make sure he sees me, waiting until he comes close and then dropping my hood briefly as I meet his eyes.I slip back into the alley without waiting to see what Marcus will do, because I know he’ll take it for the invitation it is.Besides, I’m still watching through the birds above, ready for the possibility he might call the guards, or that someone else might have spotted me and be moving to intercept me as a dangerous fugitive.
I place myself by the statue, ready to duck behind it for cover if I need to, and I hate that I must take precautions like this with Marcus.I should simplyknowhe isn’t a threat to me, rather than having to make sure of it.
He comes, standing before me in the small courtyard.
“Lyra?”he says, and I can hear the surprise in his tone.“What are youdoinghere?”
“I needed to speak with you, after last night,” I say.I reach out for him with my powers, wanting to feel Marcus’ emotions as we speak.I send bursts of happiness and sadness through him, raising those instincts and then letting them fall.Appealing to those fundamental instincts has helped people overcome Selene’s mind control before.
“What are you doing?”Marcus demands, his voice suddenly wary.
“I need to know you aren’t being influenced by psychomancy,” I say, but I can’t feel any of Selene’s power at work in Marcus, and he isn’t showing any signs of mindlessly obeying commands.
“You think Selene’s controlling me?”Marcus says.
“Ihopedshe was,” I reply.“Because at least then I might have an explanation for why you were promising to smooth her path to power last night.”
“It was you on the roof,” Marcus says.“Of course it was, when the hounds didn’t do their job.”
“You would have preferred them to hunt down Alaric and his people?”I counter.“Are you really that much on her side, Marcus?”
“It isn’t that simple,” Marcus says.
“Then explain it to me,” I snap back, “because it looks pretty simple from here.You’re siding with Selene.You’re going to make it easier for her to take power.What am I missing, Marcus?”
Marcus sighs.“I’m pretending to side with her because I don’t think there’s another choice.”
“Pretending?The same way you claimed you were only in charge of the death bouts to root out their corruption?The same way you were only siding with Domitian to uncover what he was doing?”
