For the briefest of moments, I dare to hope that I'm somewhere safe.That Alaric found a way to defeat the guards single-handedly, or maybe he had a contingent of resistance fighters waiting to back us up.
Then I see the chains around my wrists, connected to a bracket on the wall, and my dreams of having escaped die in me.I know where I am, in the same cell where I expected to find Domitian, surrounded by sigils designed to produce a dampening field like a heavy cloth thrown over my powers.They’re still there within me, but it’s as if I can’t bring any magic to the surface.
I certainly can't feel as much of the world as usual, and I realize just how much I've been taking my magic for granted in the time since I've returned to Aetheria.I'm used to catching additional glimpses of the world through the eyes of small creatures, to watching myself from above using the birds, or seeing my enemies using rats.In the last few weeks, I've grown used to feeling the emotions of those around me, too.I've been able to feel when they're about to attack in a confrontation and whether they're telling me the truth face-to-face.
At least, I thought I could.Now, after Cesca’s information has led me here, I don’t knowwhatto think.I feel blind and helpless.My body aches from the beating I’ve received, and while I still have the skills of a trained gladiator, I don’t have any magic to aid me.It reminds me far too much of my first days in the colosseum, taken there as a prisoner, thinking I would have only the weakest magic with which to fight against fully trained foes.I assumed then that I was going to die painfully on the sands.Now, I could die in a hundred different ways in this place, most of them horrifying.
The guards have stripped my armor and weapons from them, leaving me with only the rough spun tunic I was wearing underneath.I have nothing with me I could use to try to escape, nothing that might give me a way out of the trap I walked into all too willingly.
I crouch in the half light of the cell, and I can’t stop myself from crying at my helplessness, at the pain, at how weak I am now.My only hope is that Alaric got out safely.He’ll come back for me, or go to Rowan.He’ll find a way to break me free from this place.
But in the meantime, I’m stuck here, and I’ve seen the kind of prison this is, seen the violence and the torment that lurks here, hidden from the city’s sight.I’ve felt the cruelty of the guards, the eagerness to cause pain within so many of them.What will they do to me, given the chance?I’m not a senator anymore, protected because of my rank.I don’t have powers with which to protect myself.No one even knows I’m here.
There’s only the half light of the cell, the fear, and the beating of my own heart.
I have no idea how long I wait in the cell.I don’t cry out for help, don’t demand the guards take me to see Rowan.I have no doubt they’ll only take the opportunity to hurt me worse.I suspect I was protected by how quickly I fell unconscious, making sure the most sadistic of the guards couldn’t take the time to hurt me more.If they know I’m awake, it will be worse.
It’s all too easy to think of the ways it could go.I saw the torture chamber with its carefully laid out tools, its whips and blades, hot irons and racks.Maybe if they take me there, I’ll have a chance to bring my powers to bear, but do I really want to bet on that?
I've known agony before.After I killed Ravenna, a noble gladiator who could control minds, her mother paid to be my patron, just so she could have the time to torment me in every way she could think of.The experience left me almost broken, physically and mentally, but at least with her, I had the satisfaction of sending rats to make sure she could never do it again.Here, I won't be able to do anything.
The terror is building in me slowly, and I’m sure that’s deliberate.It’s a part of what this place is to leave prisoners in fear, not knowing what will happen to them next.
Even as I sit there worrying, the door to my cell opens and Selene Ravenscroft walks in.She’s wearing an elegant purple dress, looking more and more like an empress with every passing day.
I lunge at her, hoping I can get to her and end this.I don’t care about myself now.I only care about saving the city from her.Here, in the cell, I don’t have my powers, but she won’t have hers either.My head is still fuzzy from the beating I’ve received, but I’m determined to dosomethingto stop her.
I can’t reach her, though, quickly reaching the limits of my chains.Selene smiles, looking at me with calm condescension.
"Like all your kind, you're essentially just an animal when pushed too hard," Selene says.I snarl at her instinctively, but I can't get to her, and I wouldn't have any power to hurt her even if I could.
“You did this,” I say.
“Did what?”Selene asks.“I simply heard that an illustrious former senator betrayed Aetheria by trying to free the usurper, Domitian.I wanted to see for myself.”
“You arranged this,” I insist.
Selene smiles, looking around carefully as if to make sure no one’s watching.Once she’s sure there are no guards nearby, she nods.
“Of course.Tell me, which of the people I persuaded to take part in this little venture came to you?”
I understand then.“You put the team to free Domitian together precisely because they would come running to the resistance.”
“Maybe not all of them,” Selene says.“But with the right motivation?Enough of them.Put them in a position where they need to walk away, then try to kill them, and suddenly they need somewhere to run.All ready to tell you the truth about what they saw in a way no psychomancer could unpick.”
I’m forced to admit the cunning of that, the ease with which Selene manipulated the whole resistance.
“People are so predictable,” Selene says.“You’repredictable, Lyra.You heard about a plot coming from me, and youcouldhave ignored it.But no, you had to come running.And now you’re here.”
“I’ll tell someone what you did,” I say.“Once I explain what you’ve done-”
“What do you think will happen then?”Selene asks.“You’ve lost whatever political power you had.You gave it away to follow your principles.No one will side with you.No one willbelieveyou.Once, I gave you a choice.I told you that you could join me.”
“Are you planning to give me the same choice again?”I say.
Selene shakes her head.“No.I understand you now, Lyra.I know that even if you sided with me, ultimately, we’d have to fight.You’re too strong to leave out there in the city, and you hate what I’m doing too much to ever stand idly by.So no, you won’t be joining me.Instead, I’m going to destroy you.”
“You’re going to have someone cut my throat while I can’t fight back?”I ask.
