“I can do more out here,” I say.“We’re in a battle for control of Aetheria.I can’t just stand by while you take all the risks.”
“Only it’s not just Aetheria now,” Alaric says, sidestepping the argument.“We need to find a way to disrupt the support she’s gaining outside of the city.”
That will be easier said than done.What are we meant to do?Assassinate those in the provinces who are building support for Selene?I quickly decide not to express that sentiment to Alaric.There’s too much of a chance he might decide to go forward with the idea.
We hurry through the streets, heading for one of the tunnel entrances.Alaric lets his face shift back to his own as we head below ground, making our way through the twisting branches of the catacombs.We slip past the traps the resistance has set back into the spaces below the inn.
Thalia’s waiting for us.
“We need to send out messages to any supporters we have in the provinces,” Alaric says, almost as soon as he sees her.“Tell them they need to work to disrupt Selene’s activities beyond the city.They need to work to get her supporters dismissed from positions of authority, intercept any messages going to them, damage their business interests…”
“I’ll do all of that,” Thalia says, in the tones of someone used to having to hurry to keep up with Alaric’s ideas.“But right now, you two have a visitor.”
That one word catches me off guard.A visitor?Here?It makes no sense when this is meant to be a hidden place, known only to the members of the resistance.
“Who?”Alaric says.
“Go upstairs and find out,” Thalia replies.“I left him in the room at the end of the hall.”
She’s being mysterious about it.
“Who is it, Thalia?”I ask her.
She shakes her head with a small smile.“I’d rather imagine your surprise when you find out.Go on.Go up there.”
She seems determined not to tell us more, so I shoot Alaric a questioning look.
“We might as well head up there,” Alaric says.“Thalia can be quite stubborn when she wants to be.”
“Ican be stubborn?”Thalia says with a laugh, but she doesn’t tell us anymore.
I glance at Alaric again, he shrugs, and we head up through the inn.There are a few resistance fighters in the taproom, eating and drinking in between forays out into the city.Alaric and I head past them, going upstairs and making our way to the room at the far end of the hall.I open the door cautiously, and there's a figure sitting inside behind a low table, waiting patiently, square-featured and auburn-haired, wrapped in a cloak.I stare in shock.
It's Rowan.
“What are you doing here, First Senator?”Alaric asks, sounding almost as surprised as I feel.
“You’re the one who told me where to find this place, Alaric,” Rowan replies, and that’s almost as surprising as his presence.Alaric and Rowan might have fought beside one another, both in the colosseum and in the revolution that brought about the Republic, but they’ve never been close.And now they’re on opposite sides.Alaric works outside the laws of the Republic, while Rowan is almost the embodiment of them.
“Wait,” I say.“You two have been talking?”
Alaric ushers me inside, closing the door behind us.It’s clear he doesn’t want the other members of the resistance knowing Rowan’s here.
“We both want to keep Aetheria safe,” Rowan says, “even if we differ in how we go about it.”
“You can’t stop a would be tyrant by talking in the senate,” Alaric says, but with a smile, as if they’ve had this argument plenty of times before.
“And you can’t make a peaceful, prosperous city by burning down everything within it,” Rowan counters.He looks over at me.“It’s good to see you’re safe, Lyra.Although ‘safe’ might not be the right word when every guard in the city wants to arrest you.”
“Can’t you do something to stop that?”Alaric asks.
Rowan spreads his hands."What do you think I can do?Just order them all to ignore a decision of the Senate?I might be the First Senator, but there are limits to what I can do."
“Or what youwilldo,” Alaric replies.
Rowan shakes his head.“It’s not just that I won’t make myself into another emperor, Alaric, although that should mean enough to you.This isn’t a city that needs another tyrant.”
Alaric still seems determined to argue.“If it’s a choice between you and Selene, I’d rather have you, commoner.”
