Page 15 of Ironhold, Trial One

I shake my head. “Sorry.”

"You probably don't even know what this place is," he says. "This hall is dedicated to the heroes of the colosseum, to those who have achieved more than you ever will. That statue there is of my ancestor, Naxos, who slew five opponents at once to prove his claim to his family's inheritance.Thatone is of Anaxis, the founder of the colosseum. My family can trace its lineage all the way back to him."

I get the feeling that he thinks of this as his space, in which I do not belong. I’m happy to oblige.

“I didn’t know. I’ll go,” I say.

I go to step around him, but he moves back into my way.

“Not so fast,” he says, catching hold of my arm. “I didn’t say you could leave.”

His eyes are on me then, looking me over pointedly.

"You know, many of the recruits die in their first season at the colosseum," he says. "Plenty don't even make it through the training to get that far. They don't have the right blood, theright connections. I could help you here. If you were suitably… grateful."

He’s too close to me. Far too close. I push away from him, but he holds on.

“That collar says that you are a slave,” he says. “Whereas I am a high noble of Aetheria. You should think about what that means, and how bad I could make your life here if-”

“You’re notthathigh a noble, Vex,” a voice says. I recognize it instantly. It’s Alaric, the young man from the baths. He steps into the hall. He’s wearing training gear now, although he has a cloak in the colors of a noble house over one shoulder. “I trust you don’t object tomebeing in this room? At least as many of my ancestors are here as yours.”

The nobleman, Vex, turns towards him.

“What do you want, Alaric?”

“Right now, I’d like you to let Lyra go.”

To my surprise, he does so instantly.

“I didn’t know she was yours,” Vex says.

Alaric shrugs, holding out a hand to me. “Shall we?”

I take it, hurrying from the room with him.

“How did you get him to back down like that?” I ask.

“Oh, that’s just a question of whose family is more noble,” he says, as if it’s nothing. “Plus he knows I could beat him senseless if it came to a fight, of course.”

I look at him in surprise. “Is that all thatmattershere?”

He shrugs. "Pretty much. Martial virtue and magical prowess. The twin pillars of Aetheria. Demonstrate enough of both, and you show that you are worthy. Fail to, and… well, life gets hard."

“And you’re only here because you want to demonstrate those things?” I say.

He bows as if I’ve complimented him.

“Of course. Glory above all! That’s my family motto, incidentally. It made it quite hard for them to refuse when I decided to do this.”

He talks as if his strange world of nobles and glory and near certainty in his own brilliance is entirely obvious and normal.

Another question springs to my mind. “Wait, did you follow me up here? How did you find me?”

Alaric nods. “You had the look of someone who was going to get into trouble. I thought it might be interesting to follow.”

“But… why?” I say. I think about what Vex said, about not knowing I was Alaric’s. “Is this some stupid attempt to claim me as your own? Because that’s not going to happen!”

He smiles, clutching a hand to his heart. “Oh, you wound me, Lyra. Let’s just say that I didn’t want you to come to harm. As for anything else… we’ll see.”

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