Ironhold, Trial One (Ironhold #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Eventually, I head to bed. Around me the sounds of celebrations within Ironhold are continuing. Tomorrow, our training will resume but for now, people are just happy to be alive. Some are singing, some are sneaking into one another's rooms. I know that plenty are dancing around a fire in one of the practice yards.

I have decided to sleep instead. I don't feel as though I have much to celebrate. People are dead because of me. I know I've only done what I had to in order to survive, but the guilt of it is still there inside me.

A knock comes at my door. I briefly wonder if it might be Rowan, although it seems unlikely when he’s still recovering from his wounds. A strange part of me even wonders if it might be Alaric. What did that kiss mean? Maybe it means nothing. Maybe it was just Alaric being his usual infuriating, confusing self.

When I get up and go to the door though, it's neither of them. Instead, to my surprise, Lady Elara stands there.

“What are you doing here?” I ask. “How did you even get into Ironhold?”

She smiles. “That is not as hard as people think. It is a place designed to contain you, not to keep out visitors such as myself. There are plenty of people slipping in on nights such as this. A small bribe, and the guards think I have simply decided to visit one of my favorite gladiators for the evening as a patron.”

It's a continuation of the ruse she used back at the Colosseum to speak with me. I wonder if she has heard any of the rumors that have come out of it, of this just being another noble dalliance with a gladiator. I wonder if she cares.

“If you can slip in this easily, does that mean you could get me out?” I ask. I must ask it. If Ironhold is not the fortress I believed it to be, perhaps I can leave without having to kill anyone else.

Lady Elara shakes her head. “You will have seen what happens to those who escape. Even getting you out into the city for a brief while is… not easy. As for escaping, they would hunt you down relentlessly. I am sorry, Lyra. There is nothing I can do for you in that regard. But I can still help you.”

“You and the spectral covenant?” I say.

She puts her finger to her lips. “Shh. There are some things you do not say in a place like this. If someone overheard the wrong things, it could be bad for both of us. But yes, we can help you. You have seen that you have power. You have seen just how much you can achieve in the arena with that power.”

“And I've seen the cost of it,” I point out. “The shadow cat I summoned is severely injured, Finn is dead. So are two of my opponents.”

“The colosseum is brutal,” Lady Elara says. “But that is because of the system there, not because of what you can do. If anything, it is all the more reason why you should learn to deal with your powers. You could be one of the strongest beast whisperers I have seen, Lyra.”

“What do you get from helping me?” I ask.

“Has the violence and the death made you that suspicious already?” Lady Elara asks.

“Someone told me earlier that people would try to use me for their own ends,” I say.

She sighs. "It is natural not to be trusting here, but what I seek is to preserve those of us with a rare talent. With the right training, we can be powerful, and we can achieve great things. My hope is that you will survive your time in the Colosseum and go on to more. Far more."

“What did you have in mind?” I ask.

Lady Elara shakes her head. “That is for you to decide, not me. I am merely offering to help you on your journey. Although I must warn you again that there are risks.”

“Because we’re hated,” I say. “Because of the emperor’s vision?”

“And… this is an unpredictable talent. We are connecting to other living, thinking beings. There are those who say that something comes back along that connection. That a beast whisperer who is not careful can start to lose themselves, can become more beast than person.”

That catches me by surprise, and it's a frightening thought. “You didn't tell me that before.”

“No,” Lady Elara admits. “I suspected that if I told you it too soon you would refuse my help. And that help is vital now that it is clear you will use your powers. You need to learn to use them without losing yourself. Without giving yourself over completely to the bestial side that seeks to take over. Will you do it, Lyra? Will you let me train you?”

She has already held back information. It makes me wonder if I can trust her. For all her talk of wanting to help her kind, I get the feeling that Lady Elara has her own agenda. She sees a useful tool in me, and she is hoping that I will be able to do things that she cannot for whatever cause she represents.

But I must trust her, at least for now. I need to know more about controlling the powers I possess, more about what I can do. It might make the difference between living and dying in the arena.

“I accept.”