Page 28 of Ironhold, Trial Four

The morning comes and with it a summons to speak with the emperor. I am so hurt that they must relent and give me a cart to ride on, rather than progressing down into Aetheria with shuffling steps. When I reach the palace, I barely have the strength to walk through the halls. The guardstake pity on me, holding me up as I walkto the receiving room on the edge of the garden.

There the emperor is waiting for me, along with Selene Ravenscroft. The moment I see she is there, I know that my life is about to end.

“Kneel,” the emperor commands.

I do it as much because I don't have the strength to do anything else as because I respect him now.

“Do you know what happened early this morning?” He demands. “Lady Emin, your new patron, was found dead. She had been eaten by mice.”

I am careful to keep any expression off my face. Especially the confusion I feel right now. Not at what has happened. I know what happened because I'm the one who sent the mice. I'm confused because by now, surely Selene Ravenscroft has told the emperor what she did for me? Surely they have already pieced together what happened?

“That’s…” I think back to the memories Lady Emin forced on me. I will never be able to think of my mother now without a small part in my mind insisting that she died, consumed by a wave of vermin. “…a terrible way to die.”

“Are you going to deny you had something to do with it?” the emperor demands. He makes an impatient gesture. “Oh, I know you don't have the power, not with that dampener in place. But you must have gotten someone to do it. Who?”

“I didn't get anyoneto do anything for me,” I say. “After she came to me, I didn't speak to anyone last night. I just lay there on the flooruntil the guardscollected me in the morning.”

“Selene,” the emperor snaps. “Check if she's telling the truth.”

The arch magistrate moves to me. She places her hands on my head. “Do not fight this. You remember how painful it was.”

I remember how painful a lot of things were. So I show her. I show her everything Lady Emin did last night. Every painful memory she constructed within me, every agony she inflicted. I show her the noble woman's parting words, a threat to my village and my family. I let her see all of it becauseshe already knows more than enough to condemn me. I need to understand why she hasn't.

Finally, the arch magistrate steps away from me. “She is telling the truth, Tiberius. She did not speak to anyone. She did not ask anyone to kill Lady Emin.”

“And her dampener?” the emperor demands.

“You can see it's still on her wrist,” Selene says. “It has not changed since the last time I touched it.”

She is playing a dangerous game, lying to the emperor without lying, holding back the truth for reasons of her own. I wish I understood what those reasons were, but for now I must just trust that she has them.

“This must be some other beast whisperer then,” the emperor says. “Someone heard that I was going to give Lyra to Lady Emin to make amends, and they chose to interfere.”

“That is one possibility,” Selene says. “My understanding is that Lady Emin had a number of enemies. Her daughter's powers were one of the main things keeping them at bay, and my understanding is that she consorted with dangerous people. Perhaps she upset one of them.”

“Perhaps,” the emperor says. He doesn't look satisfied. He looks across to me as if hemight order my execution even now. But he doesn’t. “Very well, you may go.”

I barely have the strength to stand, so Selene helps me to the door.

“You are playing a dangerous game,” she whispers to me.

I smile grimly. “I mostly feel as if I'm a pawn in someone else's game.”

The arch magistrate shakes her head. “If there's one thing you are not, it's just a pawn. Now go return to Ironhold. And do not take what I have done here for you for granted.”

“Why did you do it?” I ask.

She shakes her head as inscrutable as ever.

***

Rowan is waiting for me when I get back to Ironhold. I'm grateful for that. I'm grateful that he just holds me. His support is still like a rockI can cling to against a buffeting storm, even if he cannot be more than that to me now.

“What happened to you down there?” he asks.

I smile tightly. “The arch magistrate lied on my behalf.”

Rowan looks shocked. “I… don't understand.”

I'm not sure I do either. This whole situation feels like it's getting out of control. The emperorseemed to want me dead, then wanted me to serve him, and has now cast me aside. The spectral covenantseems to be plotting the downfall of the empireso that beast whisperers canlive out in the open. The arch magistratehas her own agenda. The city feels like a tinderbox waiting for a spark.

And here… so many people are dead, but the rest of us are expected to keep going, expected to keep training for the next set of games. Rowan is here, but Alaric is gone, imprisoned somewhere, awaiting whatever fate the emperor has in store for him. Many of our friends are dead, and a lot of enemies as well.

I have donesomething almost unspeakable in sending the mice after Lady Emin. I should feel as though I can't live with myself for that, but I mostly feel as though I have done what I needed to do to save my village.

But now what? I can guess what Rowan's answer would be if I asked him. He would say I need to get through my final season, get free of this place, then get as far away as possible.

I'm not sure I can. Certainly not with Alaric's life in danger. I am tangled up in Aetheria and its politics, in its corruption and its cruelty. And the more I see of those sides, the more I want to tear it all down.