Page 3 of Ironhold, Trial Four

It's the simple pragmatic advice I've heard so often in Ironhold, but the truth is that I feel plenty for Alaric, and I can’t just switch that off. I had assumed that he felt the same way about me. But, in the brief space since the Champions Trials, we haven't spent as much time together. I certainly haven't been sleeping in his room every night. I feel as though there's something wrong, but I don't know what.

“Look,” Zara says. “Just go to him. Sort out whatever this is. Then you can train properly.”

It's good advice. Part of the reason that people have told me not to get attached is because such feelings can get in the way of the training we need to survive. Theyare a distraction in a place where the least distraction might be the difference between life and death. And Alaric is more than a little distracting.

Yes, I will go to Alaric. I will find out what is going on, and-

Even as I think about it, I see that I will have no timebecause a couple of soldiers are standing at the entrance to the training hall. They are not the usual guards from the perimeter of Ironhold, who come inside only when they need to. These wear the imperial insignia on their chests, a sword thrusting through a flickering ball of raw magic. I know what they will say beforethey say it.

“Lyra Thornwind, the emperor requires your presence. Alone.”

CHAPTER TWO

The imperial palace is a place of grandeur beyond anything I might be able to dream. For me, it is also a place of fear. I walk along halls thatare linedwith painted and gilded statues, my sandals clicking on the tiles of mosaic floors that shift with magic to show scenes of the past. Guards flank me at all times, looking ready for any attempt to break away on my part.

The emperor does not have me collected in a luxurious palanquin, carried by servants the way Lady Elara used to when she was my patron. Instead, he has me marched up to the palace instead between his guards like a prisoner, showing me off to the city while also showing his power over me. One day, I fear he will tireof me and simply have my dead body brought to him instead.

What does he evenwantfrom me? In the times I have come to the palace so far he has not answered that question, not really. He has spoken about his ability to see the future in flashes and fragments, seeing possibilities without fully understanding what will happen. He has spoken about knowing that I'm importantto great events that are about to come, but he doesn't seem to be able to make up his mind whether I'm there to help the city or to hurt him.

If he ever decides that it's the latter, he will have me killed. Every time I think of that, it sends a shiver down my spine.

Today, he has me meet him in a receiving room with views out over the imperial gardens. The room is partly open to the elements, although a shimmer of magic at one end suggests that it is not entirely unprotected. Great pillars hold up a ceiling decorated with scenes of the gods seducing mortals. Every time I come to the palace I fear that he will wantthat, too. If the emperor commands me to give myself to him, I will not be ableto refuse unless I want to take on his guards. It is a thought that makes me nauseous.

The room has several gilded marble couchescarved with scenes of satyrs and nymphs. A banner displays the imperial symbol of a sword piercing a purple ball of magic. The same symbol is repeated endlessly, carved into stones, painted in gold on doors. The gardens beyond are spectacular, tended with a mixture of care and magicthat makes flowers bloom impossibly, and strange creatures wander the grounds. A butterfly larger than my head flits from bloom to bloom.

The emperor waits for me in the receiving room, lounging on one of the couches. Emperor Tiberius VI is a lean man in his forties, taller than me, his dark hair thinningand his eyes glowing with purple hints of power that match the imperial robes he wears. He tries to cultivate a sense of cool calculation, but I know that there is a propensity for sudden cruelty and violence in him too.

I have learned what he expects from me in these situations. I fall to my knees before him, the way a slave is supposed to before the emperor. He smiles at that.

“There was a time when I would have had to remind you of your place, Lyra,” he says, sounding happy about my progress. “Tell me how things are going at Ironhold.”

“Everyone is training hard preparing for the next games,” I say, not quite understanding what he wants.

Now he looks a little displeased. “That is not what I mean. I can get that much from Darius.”

Lord Darius is themaster of the games and the most important trainer of Ironhold. He is utterly loyal to the emperor and seems to see the games as a holy thing. He has come to dislike me because of the way my talents disrupt the colosseum.

“What is it you want to know?” I ask.

“Tell me about the alliances there and the schemes. Tell me who is trying to influence things from the inside now that Ravenna is gone.”

“I… don’t know,” I admit. It isn’t something I pay attention to if I can avoid it.

“Then you should find out,” the emperor says. “Why do you think I've decided to become your patron?”

“I thought you wanted to see what kind of person I was before you decided whether I lived or died,” I reply.

The emperor shrugs. “Do you really think this is about whether you're a good person? Do you think that matters in the least in Aetheria? This is a place that is built on power, but also on intrigue. There are always plots, always schemes.”

He sounds faintly paranoid, assuming that everyone is plotting behind his back. But then… who’s to say that they aren’t?

He keeps going. “My ancestors did something very useful in centering society around the games. It means the schemers try to influence the games when they could be putting their efforts into assassinating me. That is useful but, it is also a world where, for all my power, I do not have perfect informationabout what is happening. Since I have you now, you're going to provide me with that information.”

“You want me to spy for you within the arena?” I ask.

“Not just spy. I intend to influence things,” the emperor says.

“You're the emperor, can't you just command things to happen?”

---