Page 7 of Ironhold, Trial Three

His smile turns wan and wistful. “Because you've given me something to care about. A reason why it matters whether I live or die.”

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” I say. The fact that he cares about me like that makes warmth spread through me. I’ve been worried that anything between us can only be physical, but now, it seems clear that I mean so much more to him than that. My heart sings with that.

“Caring about that kind of thing can be dangerous. And you… I care what happens to you too. Especially when they won't have let you have your full powers. I could… I could cut away that cuff if you wanted. Either now or… maybe in the middle of a bout, if you really needed it? I could make it look like an accident.”

I know what he's offering, and a part of me wants to snatch at that offer. I’m grateful for it. I don’t think that anyone other than Alaric would make it to me. He must know it’s a risk to himself, but he doesn’t care. Or rather, he cares about me more.

I also know that I can't accept.

“There's no way anyone will believe it's an accident after last time,” I say. “I only salvaged that situation because I was the one to put the cuff back on. If it were to happen again, it would be obvious it was preplanned, and then… then we would both be punished for it.”

My survival relies on my powers staying bound, after my powers accidentally set a wraith loose among the crowd in the previous season. Aetheria already sees beast whisperers as something too dangerous to be allowed to live. If I start taking the dampener off whenever it is to my benefit, I will give people all the evidence they need to condemn me.

It's also too close to what Naia did. Alaric is asking for permission, but it would feel like the same kind of betrayal. I can't allow it.

“If you won't let me do that, then maybe we need to find other ways of gaining an advantage,” Alaric says.

“What did you have in mind?” I ask.

“Lord Darius has given us some basic details about the challenges, but I'm sure that there will be more out there, if only so people can place their bets accurately,” Alaric says. “We should both seek audiences with our patrons, and ask them if they've heard anything.”

"With your mother, you mean?" I say. "You can say it with me."

“It's hard to be open here, even with you,” Alaric says. “If only because I never know who else might be listening. Who might use it against me.”

The worst part is that he's right. Ironhold has its politics and its petty rivalries. There are plenty who would hurt each of us if they had the chance. It is better not to risk it by saying the wrong thing.

“You’re right, though,” I say. “I will seek an audience with Lady Elara. Maybe she will have heard more.”

And maybe she can teach me more, too. I need her to. With my powers restricted, I need her to teach mesomethingthat might help me survive.

Chapter Four

“Concentrate, Lyra!” Lady Elara says.

“Iamconcentrating,” I reply, trying to focus on feeling the animals around me as I stand in front of the great statue of the goddess Deira, mistress of beasts.

The temple of Deira is far below the city. To get to it we must slip from Lady Elara’s grand palanquin, heading down hidden stairs and through dank passageways. Aetheria has built over itself so many times that there is a whole other city beneath the city, containing its crypts and its sewers, tunnels and even mines.

This temple has been cleared out by the beast whisperers, but even so, moss clings to some of the walls and trailing plants wind around the pillars. I am wearing the dark robes of the spectral covenant, the collection of beast whisperers who hide from the persecution of the city and seek to change things.

This is the place I come to learn from Lady Elara, although that is far from easy when I have the dampener on my wrist.

“How am I meant to do anything with this?” I ask. It's hard not to blame her, when the dampener was her idea.

“It was a necessary step to save your life,” Lady Elara says. “And it is also a path to greater power for you. Didn't you feel the way your power built up behind it before?”

I did. When Naia cut the dampener from me the first time, the power that came roaring out felt like waters that had gathered behind a dam. I'm not sure if that is something inherent to the design of such a dampener, or if it is something that Lady Elara has built in. Either way, the rush of power was almost more than I could cope with.

“What use is having power behind it if I die in the arena in the next few days?” I ask.

“That's why you have to focus,” Lady Elara says. “The dampener does not cut you off from your power completely. You can pull threads of it past the dampening effect if you are careful.”

“Threads?” I say. “I can feel animals, but that's about it.”

She shakes her head. "You can do more than that. I'm convinced you can. You should be able to borrow a pair of eyes to exert some small influence over a single animal. You may even be able to do… more."

There's something about the way she says that word that hints at the nature of the power she's suggesting I use. I look up at the statue of the goddess, small animals coming to her hands, but a bloodied wolf beneath her feet. Again and again my teacher has told me that the goddess has two sides to her: she is a protector of nature, but she is also a huntress, willing to dominate and kill beasts as well as soothe them and speak with them.

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