“Maybe I just recognize that power is necessary to change things,” Marcus counters.“You’re giving up so much, Lyra.As a senator, you have a voice, a say in what happens.You’re the reason there are so many safety measures in the games, and why this hasn’t happened sooner.”
"A voice that consistently gets drowned out," I say."Yes, I've been able to keep protections in the games for a while, but there were always too many others chipping away at them.Now, they've crumbled completely.The Senate is corrupt, Marcus."
“You sound like one of Alaric’s resistance,” Marcus says, in a hurt tone, as if I’m the one betraying him.“Isthis about Alaric?”
I shake my head."It isn't about Alaric.It isn't even about you, not really.It's about realizing that I can't do anything to help people from inside the Senate.I can't counter Selene like this."
“And you think you can do it from outside?”Marcus asks.He sounds as if he doesn’t understand how that could even be a possibility.“Just think of how much you’re giving away by quitting as a senator.You won’t have the resources of the city at your disposal.You won’t have any authority.You won’t even have your rooms here.”
“I’ll find somewhere,” I assure him.
“You could come stay at my villa,” Marcus says.“At least until you realize the folly of this move and we can get you back onto-”
“I’m not rejoining the senate, Marcus,” I say, interrupting him.I put a finger to his lips.“And I’m not coming to stay at your villa.I need space in which to think, space in which I can act freely.”
He pulls me into a kiss.It wasn’t enough to convince me last night and it isn’t enough to convince me now, but I must admit, it’s a good kiss.It ignites passion within me that feels as if it might overwhelm my thoughts and make me agree to go back to Marcus’ villa if only so I can spend the rest of the day in his bed.
But it doesn't make me forget any of the reasons why I quit the Senate, or what I'm planning to do now.I can see two futures stretching out ahead of me.In one of them, I stay with Marcus as his lover and then his wife.Probably I don't go back onto the Senate, but I find myself restricted by my connection to a man who wants to be the First Senator.
In the other, I do whatever I must to stop Selene’s plans.
I pull back from Marcus.“I need to go.”
"You won't be safe out there," Marcus says."Senators are protected.Harming one of us is an insult to the whole Senate.But if you're out there alone…"
“I can protect myself,” I assure him.
Alone at least I'm free from the political constraints imposed on me by my position.I'm free to act, not just to speak in the Senate and hope things change.I walk from the palace, out into its grounds.I’ll admit I will miss this place, the menagerie in particular, but I won’t stand by and do nothing.
Pulling up the hood of my cloak, I set out into the city.I stretch out my senses, looking through the eyes of the birds once more.I’m not surprised to find a couple of people following me at a discrete distance.I don’t know if they’re guards, spies or assassins.I have no wish to find out, so I quicken my pace and head for the market district.
The market of Aetheria is always bustling with people, its stalls forming a twisting maze of cloth awnings and trestle tables.It’s the perfect environment in which to lose my pursuers, especially when there are several other people wrapped in cloaks.I weave through the crowd, determined not to be seen.Through the eyes of the birds, I can see my pursuers retreating to the fringes of the stalls, hoping to spot me as I come out.Thankfully, because I can see where they are, I can also pick a place to leave the market that they aren’t watching.I slip away into the city, leaving them to continue to wait for me.
I hurry to the district given over to scholars and artists, a place of tall towers and squat workshops.Magic billows from the door of one of them as I walk past, forcing me to dodge to the other side of the street.Two mages come staggering out of a tower, both apparently drunk, and start engaging one another in a magical duel that lasts until one of them sends sparks flying into the thatch of a nearby cottage, and they must race to put out the resulting fire.
I press on through all of it, my eyes on my destination.The tower I seek is one of the resistance’s safe houses, posing as a colony of artists and scholars to explain the strange comings and goings at every hour of the day.
“Care to spend an hour being entertained, my lady?”a woman asks, and I would step on past the offer if she didn’t come right up to me, threading her arm through mine without asking.She’s dressed in gaudy and revealing clothes, long blonde hair falling almost to her waist.I go to shake her off, half-suspecting this is some attempt to pick my pocket, but then I recognize the shape of her face, the hint of hair that’s half black and half white beneath her wig.
“Thalia?”I say.
“A little louder.I’m sure there are people on the other side of the district who didn’t hear you,” Alaric’s lieutenant shoots back in a harsh whisper.“Come on, keep moving.No,nottowards the tower.We had to abandon it after the fight at Ironhold.Senator Marcus Larius knows where it is now, remember?”
That’s my fault.I brought him there to take part in the planning for the attack that was meant to disrupt Selene’s efforts.Doing so took one of the resistance’s safe-houses away from them, because Marcus is hardly their friend.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
Thalia shrugs."Don't be.The resistance continues to grow.We have former supporters of the Senate, some guards who are sick of enforcing stupid laws, people who fear the way Selene Ravenscroft is rising through Aetheria.We have other safehouses."
“If you’ve abandoned that one,” I say.“Why were you close enough to intercept me?”
Thalia smiles then.“Alaric knew you’d come to the tower sooner or later.So I watch it when I can.I assume you need to speak to him urgently about something?Maybe the grand tournament that’s being announced around the city?”
Of course, the resistance will have heard about it by now.Selene will have wasted no time announcing the success of her proposal.
"I tried to stop it," I say."I couldn't.That's why… that's why I've resigned from the Senate."
Thalia stops short, looking at me with shock.
