“Itworkedwith him,” Marcus points out.“Why wouldn’t I do it again?”
I hesitate.“You want me to believe this is all some ruse?”
“It’s the truth,” Marcus says.“By joining Selene’s supporters, I can influence them and turn them away from the most violent outcomes.I can try to stop them hurting people, even as I learn more details of Selene’s plans.Maybe there will be something in there to stop her.And if not…”
“If not, you still get a place of honor by her side?”I guess.
“The senate is almost completely hers now,” Marcus shoots back.“She has control of plenty of guards, some of the gangs, merchants… everywhere I look, she has levers of power to match and exceed my own.I could try to oppose her at every turn, but I’d fail, and probably be killed in the protest.I could throw myself into pointless efforts to frustrate her like Alaric and his resistance, but they aren’t really achieving anything.At best, they’re slowing her down, not stopping her.”
“So you’re going along with the inevitable and hoping to profit from it?”I say.
Marcus winces.“I’mhopingto find a way to change things and stop her.”
I pay attention to the currents of his emotions, trying to determine if Marcus is lying or not.I already know I can’t tell just by watching his expressions.He’s fooled me too many times for that.
“Lyra,” he says, reaching out for me, but I pull back.I can’t even trust he won’t shock me with his lightning, leaving me helpless as his prisoner.“I’m on your side.”
I shake my head.“I wish I could believe that.”
Beyond the alley, I see a couple of guards moving into it.Are they just trying to check whether the senator is all right, or has someone told them I’m in here?Has Marcus?
I can’t even be certain he hasn’t betrayed me now, so how can I trust anything else he says?The truth of that hurts even more than seeing him at the villa last night.It makes tears blur my eyes, turning my last view of him into something ill defined, composed as much of memory as reality.
“Goodbye, Marcus,” I say.“I hope you’re telling the truth.”
But I have no way of knowing for sure, and no time to work it out.I turn and run, heading through one of the side passages, then out into the street.I pull my hood up again, making my way to the temple district, where there are plenty of other priestesses around.I lose myself in the mass of them, crying silent tears even as I make sure I’m not being followed.
I was hoping to learn the truth from Marcus.Instead, Alaric was right, and he’s only hurt me.I can’t be sure Marcus is our ally, and that means I must treat him as a potential enemy until proven otherwise.
Just the thought of that hurts worse than I could imagine, even as I’m determined to defeat his schemes, alongside Selene’s.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I should head straight back to the safehouse, but I don’t.I can’t bring myself to stand there as Alaric tells me how foolish I was to go to Marcus, hoping he would give me a satisfactory answer.I don’t want to see the look of triumph on his face as he realizes Marcus is no longer a rival for my affections.
Because he isn’t, he can’t be.Not after this.Not after he’s betrayed me so many times.Marcus wants to be with me, and I still feel a wave of attraction when I think of him, but I’ll never know if anything is real with him.He might want to be with me because he loves me, or it might just be because I’m a source of political advancement to him.
Marcus' choice of sides seems to shift in the breeze.He's stood with the Republic, but he worked with Domitian, and now he's siding with Selene.He helped me to control the supposedly safer, renewed games, even while he was running death matches beneath the city's streets.Marcus has said again and again that he only delves into the corruption of the city so he can uncover it later, but past a certain point, I must believe he's only doing it so he can have power.
Thatseems to be at Marcus' heart, that need for power and control, the endless desire for advancement and self-promotion.He sits at the head of a faction in the Senate, using it to advance himself steadily towards the role of First Senator.He trades favors with the most dangerous people of the city so they'll do what he wants.He announced me as his fiancé as a way of promoting the two of us in the eyes of the public, setting up a couple the people would rally behind.
Even Marcus' support for the games has more to do with politics than an inherent love for the violence.He sees that, by giving the people what they want, he increases his popularity.He creates a venue for his shady deals in the receiving rooms of the colosseum.He demonstrates his power as he organizes the games, and in doing so, people come to believe in his power even more.I have no doubt he's working to make the grand tournament into something perfect, even as I walk around the city with tears staining my cheeks beneath the hood of my robes.
When it comes down to it, Marcus Larius’ greatest loyalty is always going to be to himself.
“Is everything well, sister?”a priest asks me, perhaps sensing how ill at ease I am.
I nod, keeping my face covered, quickly turning to hurry away from him.I head through the city’s streets, and it feels to me as if everything around me is filled with anger and grief.My eyes pick out the people who have their own sorrows, crying here and there for reasons I can’t delve into.I hear arguments and confrontations.Ifeelone such building in a back street and go to investigate it, seeing half a dozen thugs wearing flashes of Selene’s purple and gold surrounding a young woman.
“Your father didn’t pay his protection money, so now we’re going to figure out another way for you to pay us,” one says.
Another curls his lip.“And when we’re done, there are people who’ll buy a pretty thing like you.”
Normally, I would give them a warning, but with so many opponents, surprise is the best advantage I have.In any case, I don’twantto waste time on words.I hurt too much for that.I want to scream my pain and anger to the world, so I do, and turn that scream into a battle cry as I rush the men, reaching out for whatever power I can grasp as I go.I take some speed from an alley cat, and my fingers twist into claws as I go, but I mix it with the ferocity of a couple of street dogs, the grace of the birds above…
I slam into the first man to turn towards me, raking my clawed hand across his chest.He falls back, looking at me in terror.Another of them thrusts a dagger my way, and I weave aside from it, slashing his arm, then kicking the back of his knee to send him to the ground.I hear myself growling like an animal as I slash and move, dodging attacks and attacking with a level of ferocity that quickly sends another of the gang members stumbling from me.
Two of them close in on me at once, moving in from either side.I let them get close, wait for them to attack, and then leap straight up, over their blows, letting them stumble into one another.I land on them, knocking them to the ground and tearing at them so they scramble to try to get away from me.
