I don't say anything.I can't prove it, and she must know it.
"Of course, you have no proof," Selene says."But we do.Senator Marcus Larius, would you stand?"
Marcus looks reluctant, but he does it.
“Earlier, we went to the chambers that previously belonged to Lyra Thornwind when she was a senator, didn’t we?”Selene says.
Marcus nods.“We did.”
“And what did we find there?”Selene asks.
Marcus hesitates.
“What did we find, Senator?”Selene repeats.
Marcus sighs.“There was a hidden compartment.In it, there were copies of correspondence.”
“What kind of correspondence?”Selene demands.
“Detailing bribes to guards and communications with the resistance,” Marcus says.“There were orders to release particular prisoners with Lyra’s official seal attached.”
“None of this so called evidence is real,” I say.I can’t believe Marcus thinks it might be.I’ve spent so long railing against him being involved in the city’s corruption.Does he really think I might engage in it myself?
Selene takes out a sheaf of papers, holding it up and then passing it to the first of the senators so they can glance at it and pass it on.
“There are details here of affairs with key figures in the city to get them to do what she wants, the details presumably kept for blackmail,” Selene says.“There are notes of bribes.There’s correspondence with some of Senator Domitian’s old associates, seeking assurances that they’ll side with the resistance if Lyra and Alaric get him out of prison.”
I almost laugh at the preposterousness of the allegations, but I can hear the murmuring in the public gallery and see the grim faces of so many of the senators.They'll believe what they want to believe.Almost since I arrived in the city as a gladiator, rumors started to circulate about me, spread by one of my patrons to disguise our meetings as merely part of a love affair.Those rumors make it easier for people to believe the most scurrilous allegations about me now.
It’s not just about me, of course.It’s about all the ways Selene can draw others into my supposed crimes, tarring the resistance with the same brush but also letting her tarnish the reputations of anyone she chooses to connect with me.Rumor is as much a weapon for her as any blade she uses in the colosseum.
“It’s only right that Lyra has a chance to speak in her defense,” Rowan says, standing.
“Of course, First Senator,” Selene says, with a faint smile.Maybe she’s happy because if Rowan tries to defend me too hard, he’ll only be stained by what looks like my guilt.Or maybe she just wants to make this look like a fair trial, even when we both know it’s anything but that.
“Speak, Lyra,” Rowan says.“Explain what happened.Let the people hear you.”
The people, not the Senate.Does Rowan think it's already impossible to save me here?Surely there must be some way, if only I can persuade enough of the senators.But if not them, at least I can persuade the people.Maybe I can turn the ordinary folk of Aetheria against Selene, even as she plots against me.
"I've been set up in this," I say."I've never seen the papers that supposedly bear my seal, and why would I leave such things behind for people to find if they were real?I went to the prison because I didn't feel I could go to the Senate with proof.Selene Ravenscroft controls too much of it."
“Must I stand here and listen to this slander?”Selene demands, but I keep going, looking up at the people in the viewing gallery.
"Selene Ravenscroft is trying to steal this city from under you," I say."She's fabricating excuses to gain more and more power.She's creating opportunities to hit back at supposed unrest, justifying the oppression to come.When I left the Senate, I started to stand with the resistance against her.That's why she arranged this trap, to make me look like a traitor, when in fact, I'm fighting for all of you.I'm the one who fought against Domitian.Does anyone here truly believe that I'd try to free him?"
Selene stands there, letting my words fade."So, you admit that you're a member of the resistance?"She looks around at the Senate."Lyra Thornwind has been a wanted fugitive ever since she set animals on the guards.This is a woman who sent razorwings against the arena crowd, who seriously injured several guards in her attempts to free Domitian.She is a traitor to this city, and I call upon you to punish her as such, senators."
Silence falls as Selene concludes her arguments.Rowan nods.
“We will deliberate.Clear the public gallery, and take Lyra to a room where she can wait.A room, not a cell.”
The guards close in on me, leading me away.I know that in the minutes to come, my fate will be decided.Have I done enough to save myself?Can anything stop Selene's control over the Senate?I don't know, and not knowing sends terror running through my body.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
The guards put me in Rowan’s office, shutting the doors behind me and standing there outside, clearly deciding there’s no way I can escape.
The trouble is, they’re right.Rowan might have had me put in a room like this because he thinks I can slip out of a window and make a run for it, but the dampener around my wrist and the fetters I wear make climbing essentially impossible.I can’t fight my way out, and even trying to would be as good as an admission of guilt.
