Page 16

I have no bouts in the arena the next day, which is a first for me. I have fought on every day of each set of games I have been a part of before this. This time, though, it seems that I am being saved for something special at the end. That is not a comforting thought, even if it means I will not have to risk my life today.

I cannot simply stay in Ironhold, either. It seems that I am required to go down into the city with the others, to be seen and to spend time among the nobles. It is a unique kind of ordeal, having to go there simply to be stared at by them. I'm still required to wear my arena armor, the patches of scale leaving plenty of flesh uncovered for them to see. I wait in the receiving rooms, standing there as if I am another of the servants who stand around the walls of the room waiting for commands.

I go to one of them, a young woman with golden hair and wide blue eyes. She is wearing a white dress that clings to her tightly, held in place by a golden belt. Like me, she has an iron collar around her neck, although unlike me, she does not have the brand of the colosseum on her left shoulder. Because she does not fight as a gladiator she can never get marks for seasons successfully completed. She will never be free, never even have a chance at it.

“What's your name?”

I ask her.

She looks surprised that I'm asking. “Salene, my lady.”

“I'm no one’s lady,”

I say. “I'm just Lyra. Salene. What is it like being a servant here?”

She looks around, looking worried as if afraid that this is a test of some kind, designed to examine her loyalty.

“I do all that is commanded of me,”

she says. “I bring food and drink to the nobles. I… serve them in other ways if they require it.”

“Does it make any difference to you who the emperor is?”

I ask her.

Now she looks truly frightened. “I serve Aetheria loyally. I would never say anything against the emperor.”

“That's not what I'm asking,”

I say. “I want to know…”

What do I want to know? Who she would want as the emperor? Which way I should place my allegiance in the building tensions? It is unfair even to ask the questions, because if anyone overhears us, she will be punished for it.

“She won't say what you want to hear,”

Vex says. He steps into the receiving room. “Or rather, she will say any platitude you wish to hear, but she won't tell you the truth. I imagine she's too scared for that. Come away from her. I have someone rather better for you to talk to.”

I feel tension running through me at his presence. In some ways it's good that he was the one to walk in and overhear us. At least Vex is as caught up in the possibility of rebellion as I am. If it had been anyone else, I might find myself being dragged before the emperor.

“Come with me,”

Vex says, gesturing for me to follow him as he leads the way from the receiving rooms. I follow in his footsteps, but I'm still suspicious of his intentions.

“Where are you taking me?”

I ask him.

Vex shrugs, smiling back over his shoulder at me. “You know, strictly speaking, a slave gladiator shouldn't be asking so many questions of her patron.”

“Well strictly speaking, you shouldn't be doing any of the things you're currently doing should you?”

I point out. He can hardly talk about what's correct and within the rules when he's plotting rebellion.

“True enough. Let's say that I have arranged something to show my good faith. I know what matters to you, Lyra, and I want to show you that I can give you it.”

He leads the way through the colosseum, heading up to the spaces that contain the noble boxes. I hope he isn't just planning to make me watch the fights with him. If there is one good thing about this day, it is that it will contain no violence for me.

Yet, as he opens the door to the box, I realize that he has indeed arranged the one thing I want. Alaric is waiting in that box, along with a couple of guards, but they leave as soon as Vex goes to them and puts coins into their hands.

“Remember who you're with when the time comes,”

he murmurs to them. It's obvious that he has bought the loyalty of some of the guards, at least. The guards go to stand outside.

“They will keep watch on this box from outside,”

Vex says. “And I will be waiting to speak with you, Lyra. For now, the two of you probably have a lot to say… and do.”

He leaves and it is an agony waiting for him to leave so that I can throw myself forward to take Alaric in my arms and kiss him. He kisses me back with enthusiasm, and if we weren't in a space where there was a chance of being overlooked from outside, I suspect it would go a lot further. As it is, we both curl into one couch there in the box together, close in a way we have not been able to be since Alaric was taken.

“Since when is Vex enough of a friend to you to arrange something like this?”

Alaric asks me.

“He's my new patron,” I say.

Alaric looks troubled by that. He knows how much Vex has hated me in the past, as much as anyone.

“He’s doing it to show me that he can,”

I say. “To show me that he can help me save you, I think.”

Alaric looks troubled by my words. “If he's telling you that, don't believe him. It's one thing to bribe a couple of guards to give us some time alone together. Another to do more than that. They still serve the emperor.”

“I'm… not so sure,” I say.

Alaric frowns. “What do you mean, Lyra?”

I don't want to tell him too much right now. The emperor has him, which means he could force Alaric’s mind to be read at any point by a suitably powerful psychomancer. It is better if he doesn't know all the details of what is happening.

“Let's just say the things aren't very stable right now,”

I say. “That isn't the part that matters. What matters is whether you're safe.”

“As safe as I can be,”

Alaric says. “They haven't told me much, just that there has been a stay of execution for now. Although the fact I'm here rather than in a prison cell is… confusing. Are you telling me that Vex did this somehow?"

“The emperor did that,”

I say. “I had to beg him, and… he agreed that as long as I keep fighting in the arena, you will be safe.”

“No!”

Alaric says, sharp and sudden, standing as he does so. He looks shocked by my words, by what I have chosen to do. “Lyra, you can’t.”

“I have,”

I say. “If I don't, then they will kill you.”

“Then let them kill me!”

Alaric says, storming now around the box as if he might find a way out.

“I can't do that,” I say.

“And do you think I can stand here and watch you fight again and again until you die?”

Alaric asks. “No. This is a stupid thing to do, Lyra.”

I'm taken aback by the force in his voice. I had thought he would be pleased to know that he would get to keep living. My arrangement with the emperor is far from perfect, but at least it means that Alaric will not be executed.

“This is just temporary,” I say.

“Until when?”

Alaric replies. “Until you can find a way to break me out of here? Trust me, I've looked. There isn't one. And even if there were, then what?”

“We would run away somewhere,” I say.

“And spend the rest of our lives on the run?”

Alaric says. He comes over to me and takes me by the arms, looking me deep in the eyes. “Even if we weren't caught, it would mean giving up everything. I went into the games for honor and glory, for status. Out in the world, we would be nothing.”

“Would that be so bad?” I ask.

He laughs then, with more bitterness in that laugh than I had imagined he could hold.

“If you think I can live without being the center of attention, you don't know me, Lyra Thornwind.”

“Don't do that,”

I say. It hurts too much to see him acting like this.

“Don't do what?”

Alaric counters, even though he must know.

“Don't put your usual mask up here,”

I say. “Don't pretend you don't feel anything, or hide everything behind humor.”

“It's better if I do,”

Alaric says. “There are some things you won't want to hear.”

“There's nothing you can say that will drive me away,” I say.

He looks at me. I can see the tension in his face, as if he's debating what to do next within.

“How about if I tell you that I wish I hadn't interfered with Callus?” he says.

The shock of that takes the breath from me. Alaric saved my life with Callus. If he hadn’t, I would be dead now.

“You don't mean that,” I say.

“Why not?”

Alaric says. “You're planning to throw your life away fighting again and again until the emperor gets bored with you. At least if Callus had killed you, I wouldn't be stuck here facing execution the moment you fail.”

He puts more venom behind the words than I could imagine being within him. He throws them at me like a weapon.

“At least this way we can still-”

“No!”

Alaric snaps. “Do you think I want to be stuck here waiting for you to come to me for brief romantic moments, like some courtesan waiting at the whim of a noble? Do you think that's what the rest of my life is worth? I will not see you again, Lyra. I won't allow another moment like this.”

“Alaric-”

“If you have any sense, you will do the one thing you can: you will forget me. You will go out there, win the games, and you will allow me to be executed. Then you will finish your seasons on the sand and you will get out of the colosseum. If you don't do that, Lyra, don't expect there to be anything between us. I’m certainly not running away to some vile little fishing village with you. Now get out of here. Get out!”

He's being loud enough that I know other guards will come soon. It means I must leave even though my heart feels as though it's about to break. How can Alaric treat me like this? How can he push me away so completely? I had hoped for some grand reunion between us, but this is the opposite of everything I wanted.

I flee the box, but Vex is waiting for me. I move to push past him, but he stops me. I almost lash out on instinct with my powers, starting to reach for the mind of the shadow cat to summon it to me and rip him apart.

“I'm guessing the reunion didn't go as well as I hoped?” he says.

“Be very careful what you say next, Vex,”

I say, and there is enough of a promise of violence in my tone that he steps back.

“You have seen him, but you have also seen the impossibility of this situation,”

Vex says. “You can’t fight forever. You don’t want it. He doesn’t want it. I can give you more. If you help me and my side prevails, then I will pardon Alaric and set him free. You will both be free and together. I can give you that. The emperor will not.”

Those words cut through my heartbreak and anger. They're enough to make me listen, at least briefly.

“And what do you want?” I ask.

“Let's start with one simple piece of information. Currently the budding rebellion is too fractured, split between too many sides. I know that there are others who also plan to seize power, and they could be dangerous. I believe that you know the location of the spectral covenant. Their activities get in the way of ours. So, if you decide you want to go with my side, that is the piece of information you need to give me to prove that you are loyal to it.”

“You're asking me to betray them?”

I say. I shake my head instantly.

“That is what I want, Lyra. If you want to save Alaric, that is the price.”