Page 16 of Ironhold, Trial Three

I can see Rowan, stuck in front of a noble woman in her forties, with deep red hair, a pale green dress, and enough gold and silver ornaments on her arms to buy an interest in any gladiator she chooses. Rowan actually looks scared, and I see him touching the silvery scar on his face. I know who this is, too, and almost without thinking I head through the crowd of nobles, towards the two of them. The nobles make noises of complaint about me abandoning them but I have other priorities in this moment.

“You must be Lady Tyra,” I say, moving up beside Rowan.

She looks at me with sudden dislike. It's obvious I've interrupted something.

“Do you mind?” she says. “Rowan and I were just in the middle of a conversation. We were about to retire to one of the side rooms.”

“Somehow I doubt that's what Rowan actually wants,” I say, meeting her gaze easily. “Do you want that, Rowan?”

Rowan shakes his head. I'm used to him being so strong, so powerful, but now he feels like a much younger and more frightened man.

“So you see,” I say. “He won't be going with you today.”

"If I pay for the time, I get the right to"

I step in closer to her. “You lost that right at the moment you cut him to make sure no one else would want him.”

“Is that how you think the world works, dear?” Lady Tyra says. “You know I could have you whipped just for confronting me like this.”

“Confronting you?” I say. “I'm just having a whispered conversation with a potential noble patron. Now that conversation is concluded. Goodbye, Lady Tyra.”

She takes a step back. I doubt I’ve scared her, but I suspect that she doesn’t want to cause a scene here. “Very well. But Rowan, you might want to think about what I said. After all, your sisters still serve me. That service can be more or less pleasant, depending on your choices.”

She walks away, leaving me standing there with Rowan. He's shaking in a way he never would after combat.

“What was that all about?” I ask him.

“What it’s always about with her: she wants to control me. She wants to be my patron. I've caught her attention again and she doesn't see why things can't pick up exactly where they left off,” Rowan says. I see him shudder at the thought. “The worst part is that she can make this happen. She can pay to be my patron, and with the power she has over my sisters… I will have to do everything she wants.”

He sounds so vulnerable in that moment that I put a hand on his shoulder without thinking about it, trying to give him some kind of comfort. I notice eyes looking our way, the nobles clearly trying to decide what, if anything, we mean to one another.

Lady Elara is there then, moving gracefully through the crowd of nobles, who seem to move aside for her, letting her glide her way over to me.

“Ah, Lyra, there you are,” she says, moving in to take my hands in a gesture that is more familiar than usual with her. It also means that I have to take my hands off Rowan, and I suspect that's partly the point of it. “You won me a lot of money earlier. Come on, we should go celebrate.”

She pulls me towards one of the side rooms, making it all look as if she is just an excited patron, wanting to spend time with her favorite gladiator. I go with her without complaint, even though Rowan gives me a questioning look, obviously wondering if he should save me the way I saved him from Lady Tyra. He looks almost disappointed when I go with Lady Elara willingly.

She leads the way into a cool, calm space, with a couch at the center of the room. She leads me to that couch and sits with me there. With another noble, this might be the first move in some attempted seduction, but her eyes harden as she sits down.

“What do you think you were doing, making an enemy of Lady Tyra?” she asks. “If the emperor finds out, it will be bad for you.”

“That’s Rowan’s former mistress,” I explain. “I couldn't let her just-”

“You can't do anything to stop her,” Lady Elara shoots back. “That's thepoint, Lyra. That's how this whole system works. She's a noble, and you and… Rowan, was it? You're both not just gladiators, but slave gladiators. If she pays enough to be his noble patron, she can do more or less as she wishes with him. If he rebels against her, she can have him punished. If he tries to fight, he would be executed. That's a part of how the city works.”

“It shouldn't work like that,” I say.

She nods. “I agree with you, Lyra, but that doesn't mean things will change unless we change them. Unless we overturn the whole system. And in the meantime, you can't afford to make enemies. Even your trial today… you weren't getting the crowd on your side."

“Should I have bled more for their amusement?” I ask. I don't know what she wants from me. It was all I could do to survive the trial today.

“You could have made someone else bleed,” Lady Elara says. She gives me a serious look. “You need to be more ruthless. Embrace the violent side of the goddess, as well as the peaceful one.”

“Who should I have attacked?” I ask. “Malira? I think I only survived that encounter because Vesper intervened.”

Lady Elara looks troubled. “You need to be careful around him too. You must not put too much trust in someone you don't know.”

“I'm just meant to trust you and your plans.”

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