Selene shakes her head.“I said ‘destroy’ not ‘kill’.I don’t need to end your life, Lyra.Instead, I’m going to take everything from you.You’re going to go on trial as a traitor.You’re going to be convicted, in front of the watching public.News will spread around the city.You’ll be reviled.People will call for your death from every side.The same histories that hail you as a hero will be changed to show all the ways you betrayed the Republic.People will spit when they hear your name.And after long enough here… well, I’m not sure there will be very much of you left, Lyra.”
Selene doesn’t wait for me to answer, but instead turns on her heel and stalks from the cell.She slams the door shut behind her, leaving me alone with the knowledge of everything that’s still to come for me.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
I’m not sure how long it is before the guards drag me from my cell in chains, yanking on those chains so that I stumble every few steps.Days, possibly.Long enough that the bruises of my first beating are starting to fade.I get the feeling that they don’t want me to seem like a victim in this, but as the villainous figure who tried to break Domitian out of prison.
They fix a dampener around my wrist for the journey, clearly determined that I won’t be able to summon creatures to my aid or send messages to others with them.I have chains around my wrists, fetters around my ankles, so that I must shuffle rather than stride.Guards move to either side of me, watching for any sign I’m about to escape, while more ahead and behind make sure there will be no interference from others.It’s almost a level of paranoia about security when I don’t even have my magic to use against the guards, but in that sense, it’s a testament to the level of preparation involved in Selene’s planning.
“Where are you taking me?”I ask one of the guards.
He hits me in the stomach, making me double over.“No one told you to speak.You’ll have enough time to talk at your trial.”
My trial?Is that where they're taking me?Has Selene arranged for a full trial before the Senate?As the guards drag me through the tunnels, I dare to feel a hint of hope.I have no chance while I'm being kept in the dark.In a trial, despite everything Selene has said, I can put the truth before the people.I can appeal to Rowan for clemency.I can hope Marcus will lead his group in voting for my freedom.
In a trial, there’s a chance I can turn the tables on Selene in a way she doesn’t expect.
I follow the guards through the tunnels quickly now, heading for a spot where a heavily guarded gate leads to stairs ascending in a seemingly endless spiral.They’re high enough that, should the guards decide to push me and claim I tripped, I might easily fall to my death from them.
I emerge into the palace, the guards staying close to me now, as if expecting me to run the moment I’m in familiar territory.I can see servants I vaguely recognize, but now they look at me as though I’m something fearsome and dangerous, rather than a respected senator.
It isn't just the servants.There are ordinary people in the corridors of the palace, nobles, merchants, and senators.They stare at me as if expecting me to lash out at them.Even the senators I know look at me like I'm a stranger.There are guards, too, carefully holding people back, making sure no one gets too close.Maybe it's to make sure no one can help me escape, but itfeelsmore like they’re keeping me away from people for their protection, making it seem as if I’m some feral beast whisperer who can’t be trusted around people.It plays up to the old prejudices that held sway under the empire, where my kind were the one type of magic users not tolerated within Aetheria.
The guards are taking me along a very familiar route now, bringing me to the senate chamber, where the senators are starting to file in.The public viewing galleries are packed, but there are plenty of guards too.At first, I suspect it might be to reinforce the idea that I’m a threat, but I realize it’s probably also partly to make sure the resistance can’t break me out of the palace during my trial.
There are so many familiar faces in the Senate chamber.Senator Olivia lounges like a cat with a few of the other noble senators, looking so perfect and pristine, while I'm a ragged mess.Octavio sits sternly, clearly waiting for justice to be done.Yarrow looks at me with satisfaction, clearly waiting for her chance to deal with a foe.
Marcus sits with his supporters, and I hope to see sympathy from him, but he mostly looks worried.He looks away from me, as if he can’t bear to look my way too long.Rowan does look my way, but he looks just as worried as Marcus does, as if something is coming he can’t do anything about.
Selene is there too.That catches me by surprise, because she still isn't a senator, but I guess she's leveraged her position as an advisor to the Senate to be here today.She won't want to miss her moment of triumph against me.
The guards lead me to the middle of the senate floor and leave me there, stepping back and moving to guard the doors.
Selene speaks."Members of the Senate, Lyra Thornwind stands before you, accused of treason against the Republic of Aetheria.As per yesterday's vote of the Senate, and in accordance with my former role as arch-magistrate, I will be presenting the case against her."
Selene has positioned herself at the heart of this trial.Is it just so she can enjoy my suffering as I’m accused?Or is it so the crowd watching from the gallery can see her doing it, starting to associate Selene once again with being a source of law and order, rather than just a popular gladiator?
“What case?”I demand.“This is a fabrication.”
“You’ll have your chance to speak,” Selene says.“But if you disrupt these proceedings too much, you’ll be taken from here to await the outcome in your cell.”
She’s enjoying having this power over me, I’m certain of it, but if I’m to defend myself, I need to stay in the room.I’m quiet as Selene continues to speak.
“Two nights ago, Lyra Thornwind was captured as she broke into the prison in which she is now being held, a prison in which the former senator, Domitian, is being held.The guards were alerted to the threat, and so moved Domitian, but Lyra and the treacherous resistance leader Alaric Blackthorn fought their way all the way to his cell, injuring several guards and killing creatures set to defend the prison.Do you deny any of that, Lyra?”
She puts the question to me carefully, so that there’s no part of it I can truthfully deny.
"I did all those things," I say."Alaric and I believed that Domitian was about to be snatched from the prison, and we wanted to stop it."
“A convenient story,” Selene says.“But one that doesn’t make sense.Don’t you claim to be friends with our First Senator?Weren’t you engaged to marry Senator Marcus Larius?”
“I was,” I say.I can feel this going wrong, as if the ground is shifting under my feet.
“So you could have approached them with this news,” Selene says.“You could have alerted the guards.”
“You know as well as I do the guards have been suborned,” I snap.
Selene looks at me for several seconds.“Do you have any evidence of that?”
