Page 32 of Ironhold, Trial One

He staggers off, and the noblewoman holds out her hand to me. “Shall we? I have a private chamber just over there.”

I hesitate. “I… I’m not…”

“Oh, don't worry. Your virtue is perfectly safe with me. Noteverythinghere is about sex. Some of it is about power, instead, or money, or magic.”

She says that as if it's meant to be funny.

“And which of those things is it that interests you about me?” I ask.

She smiles. “Hmm. Definitely worth talking to. Come with me, my dear. Unless you'd rather stay at the gathering and get drunk with Lord Marus?”

That's the last thing I want. I follow her, out of the main chamber and into a side room, decorated with silken hangings and statues of rearing beasts. She sits on a white marble couch, gesturing for me to sit beside her. I hesitate again, but do so.

“So, you are Lyra,” she says. “I am Lady Elara Moonshadow. What do you think of the games so far?”

I think back to the roar of the crowd, to the adulation, but also to the moments when I thought I was going to die, and to the sight of gladiators dead on the slabs.

“It’s… I hate it,” I say.

“Really?” Lady Elara says, raising an eyebrow. “It is rare for someone to be so honest. It is also rarely safe for someone in your position to be quitethathonest. The next time someone asks you, talk about the glory of it, or about the crowd. People expect their gladiators to be grateful for the attention. They don't want to have to think about the ways in which those gladiators were forced into this.”

I'm not sure I understand what's going on, why she's doing this.

“Why do you want to speak to me?” I ask.

She smiles again. “Still worried you've been brought here for some sort of seduction? I can assure you I have no interest in you that way, Lyra. Although I understand why you might think it.”

“This whole gathering seems to be about nothing else,” I say.

“Oh, it's about much more,” Elara replies. “Can I offer you wine?”

Without waiting for a reply, she takes out two goblets, filling them herself from a jug of wine. There are no servants here. It must be the only spot in the colosseum where a noble is not attended by servants. I take the goblet she offers me, sipping it carefully.

“When taking wine from someone, be careful to watch them drink first,” she says. “It cuts down the possibility of poison.”

That's almost enough to make me spit the wine back out.

“What is all this?” I insist again. “Bringing me here, talking about poison? Even betting on me. What are you trying to achieve?”

“I'll explain this all in due course,” Elara says. She gestures to the chamber beyond our small side room. “But let's just say I would like you to be able to play the game here.”

“Game? What game?”

“All of this is a game,” Elara replies. “That gathering out there is a game of power. You think that nobles just want to bed young, strong gladiators. And… I'll admit there’s some of that, but more of this is about power. If they are seen with successful gladiators, it makes them seem stronger. They share in your victory. They bask in your reflected glory. And… they get to form connections with those who seem like they will be powerful or useful, once they complete their time in the colosseum.”

“Is that what you're doing now?” I ask. “Because I'm not powerful.”

“Of course you are,” Elara replies. “What you did back there proves it. It is one thing to talk to a beast. It is quite another to control it that completely.”

I somehow feel a little more comfortable knowing what it is that this woman wants from me.

“So you've decided I'm worth building connections with, even though I'm just a captive gladiator?” I say.

“Perhaps.”

Another question leaps onto my lips. “Why did you bet on me? Even before the Ironhide was announced, I'd guess almost nobody was doing that.”

“A few. The romantics. The ones who like to take a chance on newcomers. Maybe a few commoners who decided they liked your name or how you look. But you're right. None of the serious players put money on you.”

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