Page 12 of Ironhold: Trial Five

“Which is why he got me to agree toit, rather than simply commanding it,” I say.

“You agreed to keep fighting in thecolosseum?” Rowan doesn't sound any less shocked than he was before. “Why wouldyou do that?”

“Because the emperor has agreedthat he will not have Alaric executed as long as I keep fighting and winning toentertain the crowd.”

Rowan shakes his head. He reachesout to take me by the shoulders. “Do you think that's what Alaric wouldwant,Lyra? You are buying him a reprieve, but not his freedom, and to do ityou're placing your own life at risk. The emperor plans to keep you fightinguntil you finally die in there.”

“Then I need to keep from dying,” Isay, trying to sound more confident than I am about my odds.

“I don't care how well you've doneso far,” Rowan says. “No one can be lucky all the time, and it only takes onethrust of a weapon at the wrong moment for you to die.”

“Do you think I don't know that?” Isay. I can’t keep the hurt out of my voice. I know the situation I’m in.

Rowan tilts his head to one side.“I'm not sure if you do. You're acting as though you're invincible, but now youdon't even have your powers to help you.”

I lower my voice even further. WhatI'm about to tell him puts us both in danger, along with Selene Ravenscroft. Itgives Rowan a measure of power over me that I wouldn't give to anyone else inhere except Alaric.

“I still have my powers,” I whisperto him. “Selene Ravenscroft adjusted my dampener. I have full access to all thepowers of a beast whisperer.”

Rowan’s eyes widen at that, perhapsas much because of the involvement of the arch magistrate as because I have mypowers back.

“That’s…” I can see him thinkingabout it. “That's so dangerous for you, Lyra. If you slip even once and peoplethink that you have your powers back… you could be executed.”

“I have some leeway, I think,” Isay. “After all, my dampener was meant to limit my power, not cut me off fromit completely. It only cut me off from my powers completely after it wastampered with the first time. People expect me to have at least some power.”

“But the emperor still won't reactwell if you start summoning creatures to your aid,” Rowan says. I'm worried nowabout having told him because it's obvious he's not going to let this go, andthere's a chance that someone else will overhear us.

“Which is why I'll be discreet,” Isay.

“And when you can't be?” Rowancounters. “When it's a choice between doing something spectacular and beingkilled on the sands? If you're going to fight there forever, do you reallythink you'll never be in a situation where you need to use your full powers? Doyou think that even with them you can survive everything?”

“I must try,” I say. “Alaric’s lifedepends upon it.”

“Do you think he'd want you to letyourself be controlled by the emperor like this?” Rowan asks again.

“Is it so different from the powerLady Tyra has over you because she still controls your sisters?” I say. It’s alow blow, but I need to make him see my position.

Rowan’s expression darkens,possibly because he knows I have a point. We are both in situations whereothers have control of the ones we love, and that means they can make us dowhat they want.

“There's a difference,” he insists.“Two more seasons, and I will be out of here. Just two more and I will be ableto take a place as a free citizen of Aetheria. I will be able to get a positionwhere I can work to free my sisters.”

I shake my head. “Do you reallythink that Lady Tyra will ever let them go if it means that she has power overyou? Has she commanded you to her bed yet?”

“She…” Rowan looks almost sick.“She wants me to go to her at the end of these games, to ‘celebrate’. She saysit will go badly for my sisters if I don’t.”

“Then you understand the positionI'm in,” I say.

Rowan shakes his head. “It's stillnot the same. Alaric chose to enter the games, and he chose to kill Callus,knowing what it might mean for him. And… Lady Tyra is not a fate that leads tomy death.”

“You really believe that I can'tsurvive, don't you?” I say.

Rowan steps back from me, settingaside his weapons, and gestures for me to follow him. I leave my weapons and doso, heading with him through to the dining hall. There, I see some of my fellowgladiators gathered around the chalkboard at one end. I realize that, while Ihave been with the emperor, the pairings for the next set of games have goneup. There are matches marked up there for me although the names are absent asusual because Lord Darius and Lady Selene don't know who will be alive fromround to round.

But my first matchup is there. Ifrown at the sight of Aya’s name. The large gladiator is new, and so shouldn'tbe as much of a threat as Rowan is implying. Then I see the markings beside thematch. This is to be a blindfolded match, the same as those that Rowan hastaken part in previously. Only I don't have his knack for feeling thevibrations of the earth to know where my opponent is.

“You see,” Rowan says in a lowvoice. “They are giving you dangerous matchups. Aya has some of the same talentI do. She can feel the vibrations of the earth the same way. She will knowwhere you are.”

“And I can see her,” I reply. “Ican look through the eyes of birds.”

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