Red Ruse

Chapter Fifteen

Mare

"Burning this place to the fucking ground," however, seemed to involve a lot less gasoline and a lot more abandoning-me-in-the-middle-of-Training-to-chat-with-my-sworn-enemy. Silvers. I hurl a lightning bolt at my target as our last conversation plays in my mind.

"Do you know what happens when Samos forsakes you?" She'd stared me in the eye. "You want revenge."

She told me the story of how she fled, her dead lover, the way she was married to a Merandus as punishment. Little did they know what a mistake they made.

"Artemy was kind, awkward, the black sheep of the family who married out of curiosity. When I first met him, I shielded myself in forks and knives, nearly skewering him on first sight. He went into my mind only to halt my blade inches from his throat. But he didn't retaliate." Tears streamed from her eyes. "He only asked me not to strike him."

Behind me, Nix coughs. "Are you going to help us, or just stand there?"

Anger rises within me, anger I have to squash. Shade is nowhere to be seen, not since I hugged him and whispered three sentences between us. I breathe in and out. "Let's name our abilities."

One by one, they approach, Ada at the front of the line. I don't know how to train her. I don't know how to train anyone. But just as I begin to lose myself to my own thoughts, Gwendolyn returns, grazing my shoulder with a firm hand. "I'll take it from here."

I exhale.

A voice rises from behind me. "So will I." Her voice is hard as Evangeline's, yet less refined, iron ore competing against a diamond. "Run along, worm."

I whip around to find Atara Viper standing behind me, far too smug and far too arrogant. A dove nestles on her shoulder and tugs at her hair, chirping in an unsteady cadence. "Who invited you?"

Her eyes narrow. "Hold your insults, Barrow."

"Ambassador."

"Yeah, yeah, you slept with–" A glare from Gwendolyn forces her to swallow. "Earned your position with grace and dignity."

"Smooth."

She studies her nails. "Evangeline needs to be put in her fucking place." A flick of her hand. "A lot of court wants what she has. And they don't care who helps them get it."

"Hmm." I tap my chin. "Even a Red?"

"Even a Red." She grits her teeth. "Dirty games need dirty players."

I know. I know, and yet I need confirmation. "What do you want from me?"

"Your place as the king's ear."

"Not that." I wave a hand. "You want more. You all want more."

For a moment, she hesitates. This is a pride she doesn't know how to swallow. This is a hand she doesn't want to reveal. "To steal her throne."

It grows hard to breathe. "You want me to become queen."

Gasps and whispers ripple behind me, and I whir around. The newbloods have gathered to listen. And not all of them are happy.

Atara pays them no mind. "I told him about that boy you were flirting with earlier."

My head jerks. "The what?"

"You know, the one you were whispering with." She has the audacity to smirk. "Shade, right?"

I barely bite back the urge to throttle her. "You told Maven I was flirting with–" My brother. "Another boy?"