Red Ruse

Chapter Fourteen

Evangeline

My parents think I don't listen. That my loyalty begins and ends with the crown, and they must threaten it to keep me in line. But I am a Samos before Evangeline, daughter of fangs and steel above all else. My ears are always open, my eyes wide for treason, my blades perked and ready for any flesh it must tear.

So when Mare swears in her newest underling, I study him. Something tugs at his face, the shadows of familiarity, snapping into focus as he faces me. Shade, the woman called him. Someone who cared enough to ask of the lightning girl.

I grin.

Maven sneers as I approach, my dress shifting from chainmail to spikes. "What is it, Lady Samos?"

"There's a traitor in our midst." My lip curls. "And Ambassador Barrow has just let him into our court.

Murmurs ripple through the council, and Maven juts his chin. "Oh? Lay out your proof, my dear."

"I saw him on my mission."

"Hmm." He tilts his head. "I don't believe you."

My fists curl. Around us, the council jitters, itching for a fight. "My word is worth its weight in gold."

"Such a shame that sound weighs nothing." He's enjoying this far too much. "Lupa, darling, does she speak true?"

She quivers. "No."

I sneer. "You dare call me a liar?"

Maven sniffs. "You have plenty of reasons to paint Ambassador Barrow as one."

Someone catches my eye, a turn of a head and a blink of dark eyes. Gwendolyn Samos peers down at me, unblinking. Elane told me how she was wandering free. How she had lurked in the shadows, closer than she should've been able to dare. Mare had drawn her out of hiding.

It's time to scare her back in.

I dismount from the dais, pinning my hair back and sliding a razor to my wrist. There is much I could promise her, but not much I could threaten to take away. Her life is all that's left.

Does she even value it?

I shudder.

I expect her to keep to the shadows, not stride into the open. Not laugh, shaking Mare's hand and hauling Lu in her arms. She was a general once. Now she fights again.

Shade twitches as I approach. He called Mare something, the hint of a secret, a relation I can easily judge from their faces. An older brother, a protector, someone who would separate her from Maven at all costs. If I can't kill him, I will use him.

"Evangeline." Mare grits her teeth. "You're not welcome here."

"Shame you can't enforce that." I grin. "Lady Gwendolyn, if you will?"

She perks, turning from the man she was coaching to gaze upon my face. "Evangeline!" Her face alights. "How nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise." My voice holds no warmth. "May we talk in private?"

Her head tilts. "What do you plan to say?"

I sniff. "Come with me, and find out."

The Reds eye me with caution, and I sneer. They'll meet their end soon enough. Elara won't stay away forever, no matter how Maven wishes her to. Strange, his desire to hide from his own mother.

Gwendolyn meets me in the corner, jittering. I caress the razor with a smile. "Out of hiding, are we?"

"I was hidden from you, dear, not the other way around." She has the gall to smile. "How does Larentia fare?"

I stiffen. "My mother is none of your business."

"Didn't stop her from rumors of me, did it?" There was a bitter edge to her, a knife hidden beneath her smile. "She helmed the search for me, you know."

"As was her right."

"What do you want?" She towers over me, eyes that have no right to judge me so. "Samos always has its motives."

"We can let you in again." My voice is honey, my smile soft sympathy. "We've kept you out for far too long. You have children now, insurance of loyalty. Your sins are long in the past by now."

She tilts her head. "As are yours."

I scoff. "My actions are only crimes to the weak." My eyes narrow. "Are you weak, Lady Gwendolyn?"

She sniffs, turning away. "I will not quit, not for Samos. Maven is the only one to let my daughter into court. My loyalty begins and ends with him."

In the corner of my eye, Shade watches us.

I spin around, marching up to him. My blade slides along his neck, and Gwendolyn jolts, her ability twitching as she fights for control of it. She is strong, I'll give her that. Strong enough to wrench it from my gasp so it slides within her armor. She doesn't dare threaten me. Not when I will still be queen.

My lips curls. "Once a traitor, always a traitor."

"Better than a fallen queen." Shade smiles, and I want to claw it off. "Shall we walk, Lady Samos?"

I straighten. What he thinks to hang over me, I don't know. But one wrong step, and I will make him bleed.