Page 44 of Ironhold, Trial Two

That’s something I had no way of knowing, but it’s easy to imagine. I can picture her now, sitting there watching the frost drake fly over the Colosseum, assuming that it would attack the crowds. If I had let it done so, I have no doubt that she would have targeted me with the full weight of her magic. I have seen what that magic can do, and I doubt that I would be able to survive.

“I have been talking to her and Lord Darius,” Lady Elara says. “They are debating your future. For now, the dampener seems to be enough, but I have no doubt that there will be pressures on them.”

“From the emperor,” I guess.

Lady Elara hesitates, and then nods. “He is taking more and more of an interest in you, Lyra. He is starting to assume that you are the one his prophecy has warned him about. But Tiberius also seems fascinated with you. I’m not sure that’s any safer. The full interest of an emperor is a dangerous thing.”

“Because I’ve shown too much power?” I say.

Lady Elara nods again. “I felt it when your cuff came off. Your power had been building behind it, and the wave of it that flowed out… I have never felt anything like it from a beast whisperer. I think I was right before, you could possess Archon level power.”

“What does that mean for me?” I ask.

“It means that there are no limits on what you might be able to achieve,” Lady Elara says. "That is what the emperor fears, but it is also a point of hope for all of us."

Chapter Twenty Seven

When I head back down into the depths of the Colosseum, the others keep their distance from me. It’s as if they are afraid, after everything they’ve seen me do. Those of the newer gladiators who have survived keep away from me. I see Vex, but he hurriedly goes the other way.

Even Rowan keeps his distance. I half expect him to come to me, to tell me that everything will be all right. Ihopethat is what he will do, but now he looks at me as if he can’t quite understand what I am. He knows that I have control over beasts, but now… now he has seen what I am capable of if I lash out.

I head to the beast pens. Stefano is there, applying his healing talents to the shadow cat. He tuts as he sees me, then heals my wounds too. I don’t feel as though I deserve it. Naia will not heal from what has been done to her, so why should I? But I let him do it. I need to heal, need to recover, because I know there will be more fights to come soon enough.

That is the reality of the Colosseum too: it is never done. Even when,if,I survive my five seasons and earn my freedom, there will still be others pulled into it. More young women and men will be dragged from their homes, trained, and then thrown against one another. I think of the new gladiators. I don’t even know half of them, because I hadn’t wanted to get attached to them when they might die. I don’t know if that was a good decision or not. Undoubtedly, some of them will have been killed on the sands. Did not knowing them save me some pain, or did it rob me of the chance to know them and hold their memories in my mind?

If I had the chance to go back and never know Naia, would I take it? No. Absolutely not. The time I have known her has been precious. I would not trade it away for anything.

I wander aimlessly through the under sections of the Colosseum. The sounds of the arena are still ongoing. My fight was not the final one of the day, not the high point, the finale. There is no way the emperor would countenance having me as the main event, and in any case, I have only one fight today, when there are others who have more. Alaric is one, because I see him head back out into the arena.

I do not watch, but I can still hear the sounds of the battle, and I’m a little surprised to find my heart beating faster in my chest at the thought of what might be happening to him. I wait, knowing that he has as many skills as any other gladiator at Ironhold, but that doesn’t make me feel any better about it all.

Even as I wait, I see Ravenna coming over to me. It’s surprising to see her down here at this stage. She is usually up above, mingling with the nobles, exerting her influence to improve her own position and the control she can exert within Aetheria. I imagine her there, whispering in the ears of young nobles, suggesting things they might do outside the games that will benefit her interests. Maybe she even includes a flicker of mental control with it, because I know she does not shy away from using her powers on others.

Those thoughts make me think of Naia, of the way her face went blank just before she tore the cuff from my wrist. Of the things she said, which made no senseat the time, but which are now starting to come into focus. I realized that they were one half of a conversation, things that someone whispered into her ears.

“I'm glad to see that you came through your fight unscathed,” Ravenna says. “It is terrible what Vex did to Naia.”

She looks genuinely hurt by it, but I get the feeling now that she could look any way she wanted. This is someone for whom manipulation comes as naturally as breathing.

“Do you care what happened to her?” I ask.

“Of course I care,” Ravenna says. “I liked her. She was… sweet.”

From her mouth, that sounds almost like an insult. Sweetness is not a quality Ravenna cares about.

“But what happened to her shows how we should all stick together,” Ravenna says. “It demonstrates how quickly things can go wrong. It shows the importance of having allies you can trust, rather than trying to rely on the likes of Vex.”

“And you're the ally I should trust?” I say.

Ravenna smiles, and I must admit she has a beautiful smile. It's easy to relax around her. Easy to trust her, easy to… I pause and realize that I can feel something pushing at the edges of my mind.

“Is that what you did to Naia?” I ask. “A little influence here, a little there? Just pushing at her mind? I know you're trying to get into mine.”

“I just want us to be friends,” Ravenna says. “Apologies if I have touched your mind. It comes so naturally for me. I certainly don't mean any harm with it.”

Again she sounds so plausible and so innocent of any wrongdoing. But I know her well enough by now to know that she very rarely does anything unintended.

“Friends don't push into other friends’ minds,” I say.

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