Page 23 of Ironhold, Trial Four

“I chose to do a deal with you because it amused me. Now, you are no longer amusing me. If you continue to displease me, perhaps I will find other ways for you to serve me. Perhaps I willtake you to my bed as a plaything, or maybe I will watch you screamas you are punished.”

I would shudder with the thought of either of thosepotential outcomes but I do not have the luxury of moving even that much.

“Or maybe I will just declare that you are to be cast out of the games. Maybe I will have you sold.”

That outcome is almost worse than the others, because he's threatening to send me into servitude for the rest of my life, and with the dampener around my wrist cutting me off completely from my powers, I would have no way to fight back or escape, even if the harsh laws of the city didn't mean that I would be hunted down if I tried.

“You will find out who sent Callus,” the emperor says, the knife still pressed against my skin. “You will learn everything you can, even if it means putting yourself in danger. Because failing me is far more dangerous. I'm going to let go of you in a moment, and then the only thing I want to hear from you is that you understand and will obey. Not whining about your dampener, not attempts to negotiate about your village. Just that you understand.”

I feel his power ease its grip over me, and his eyes stare into mine.

“I understandmy emperor,” I say. “I will obey.”

“That is good to hear,” Emperor Tiberius says.

Then he cuts me. It is a single, straight line, the knife dragged across my flesh, the pain agonizing.

“Do you know why I have done that, Lyra?” he asks me.

Because he is cruel? Because he is mad? Because he sees the whole empire has nothing more than a series of toys for him to play with?

“No, my emperor,” I say instead.

“Because I can,” Emperor Tiberius replies. “And because you need to be reminded that I can. Maybe next time you come to the palace, I will findotherways to remind you of the difference in our position.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I shake as I return to Ironhold with the others. We go through the familiar ritual of honoring the fallenand heading to the practice rooms to work on whatever we've learned from our bouts.

I go to one with Alaric and try to keep the trembling out of my hands as I help him dissect his fight from the day. He killed his opponent swiftly, it seems, using illusion to distract him and then closing the distance.

“It sounds like you did well,” I say, not wanting to think about the ease with which he has killed someone.

“But it wasn't perfect,” Alaric says. “I left an opening as I went in and-”

“The emperor called me to see him after my bout,” I blurt out. I don't want to talk about the details of Alaric’s fight, about whatever small mistake he thinks he's made. Not after the terror of what happened to me.

“That's normal, isn't it?” Alaric says, but he sounds uncertain. He can obviously hear the fear in my voice. “What happened?”

I touch my shoulder. I have stitched the wound closed. “The emperor did this.”

A flash of anger crosses Alaric's face, followed by fear that's obviously for me. “What did you do to anger him that much?”

“Why do you assume that I've angered him?” I counter. “Can't he just be that unpredictable and dangerous?”

Alaric shakes his head. “No, because if he is like that then…”

He tails off, butI think I understand. If the emperor is dangerous and unpredictable, if he acts according to his own whimsrather than according to any sense of justice, or the law, then he is incredibly dangerous to everyone. There is nothingthat Alaric or anyone else can do to protect me from him, and he would be a danger to the whole city.

In other words, he would be exactly the monster that I'm starting to believe him to be. But Alaric doesn't want to believe that about the emperor, not yet. Whatever else he is, Alaric is a noble of Aetheria.

“Come on, we need to focus on the sparring,” Alaric says. He lifts his weapons, and I move around with him, knowing that he's right even though I’m not sure what I should be working on to prepare for the next fights. My third fight is marked down as a doubles bout, which means I'll be working with someone else, fighting alongside them. I have bad memories of such fights. In both of the ones I've fought in so far, someone I have considered to be a friend has died.

Who will I be fighting alongside tomorrow? Will it be Alaric? Will I be fighting opposite him instead? I will be sleeping in his arms tonight, and possibly we will fall on each other even if we merely intend the arrangement to be one that keeps me safe from Callus. The prospect of danger drives people to all kinds of things, and it is hard to hold back everything I feel for Alaric, even as he tries to push me away to spare us both the pain that will come from separation if,when, he leaves.

I am trapped because I must hope for him to leave. The alternative is him failing, and possibly dying. I cannot wish for that.

He and I trade blows back and forth, attacking each other with speed and precision, but also holding back slightly. It is one thing to prepare for the morning, quite another to risk injuring one another. I'm not sure we should be doing this at all, but if Alaric is determined to train them I must be here with him. I cannot just wander off alone, thanks to the threat of the assassin lurking within the fortress.

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