Red Ruse

Chapter Twenty

Corros sprawls around us, punishing and dark, my blades catching the gleam of what little light there is. Lady Iral is two steps behind me, weakened from the stone, but no less deadly. I toss her the sword at my hip. "I should've brought Wren."

"And my granddaughter." Her fingers close around the hilt. "She thinks I'm dead, doesn't she?"

"Been told? Yes. Thinks?" I chuckle. "I wouldn't be so sure."

Her smirk could cut diamondglass. "Of course." She strides forward, limbs sharpening with each step. "I raised her, after all."

The blades at my shoulders ripple with purpose, some tearing off while others harden into place. My eyes rake across the nearest cell, a small cage of stone and iron. Jacos paces inside, his lover idle on the bed. I waver. Perhaps I should've waited longer to free her. But my instincts are screaming for me to strike, to ruin Maven with all my Samos wrath.

I run a hand along the bars. "Lord Jacos." I chuckle. "It seems Elara was too stupid to kill you."

He looks up, eyes flickering past me to Lady Ara. "And you have found a way to defy her."

I smirk. "It wasn't hard."

It's a lie, and he knows it, grip tightening as he wars between vengeance and safety. He's a strange man, so obsessed with history, always insisting we learn of those below us. "My sister would disagree."

The words hang in the air, sharp and deadly. They cost Sara her tongue, and him his courage. I have no reason to speak them. Instead, I pull away from the bars, allowing them to rise at a silent command.

The guards eye me, jittery, blades poised at their shoulders as Jacos exits his cage. I've given them every reason to strike, and it gives me hope for their allegiance. I flick my hair. "Come. I have someone I need you to meet."

He wavers, waiting for his lover to stagger closer. She steadies herself on his shoulder, looking at me with something bordering on hope. I stride forward, head high. "You know he's down here, I presume. Maven is too stupid to keep his mouth shut."

It dawns on him, and he lunges, about to rush past me when I slam a foot over his. "Respect your betters, Jacos." He flinches. "I lead. You follow."

His teeth grind, but I yield no ground. We march without much fanfare, even as Cal's cell looms closer and closer. Anyone else would be dead by now. But a Samos is never "anyone else".

I force Jacos to halt as we arrive, lights flickering as night approaches. The guard is thinning, but still fearsome, moreso as I tap the bars. They jitter. I glare.

Within the cell, something creaks.

"You're back." Cal's eyes glisten in the light. "What for?"

I step aside. "See for yourself."

Jacos runs to him, grabbing the bars with a knelt head. Cal stumbles, then reaches back. "She freed you."

I think he's going to cry.

"Yes." He softens. "She wants to free you too."

Cal bites his lip. "Where would I go?" His voice is pained, tortured. "I'm wanted by all of Norta. Even the Guard wouldn't take me in."

"We would." The words fall from my mouth with a startling finality. "Maven is not our master, Cal. So many of us want you to reign again."

His breath catches. "That's not enough."

"Am I enough? Is your uncle enough?" I stare him in the eye. "You are not the only one suffering, Cal. Maven is a tyrant to us all."

He wavers. "He's–"

"Broken." Jacos wrings the bars, tightening as if they might break. "I've always known it. Always watched him make fun of Sara and belittle Coriane. He's not worth saving, Cal. You know it in your bones."

For a moment, he hesitates.

I play my last card, ruthless as it is. "It's what your father would want."

He staggers back, wrenching away. But even he can't deny their truth. Even he can't find it in himself to argue.

"You can't let yourself die as he did, Cal. By Elara's hand masquerading as your own, with Maven laughing beneath a thin veil of grief. He would never forgive you if he did."

"My father is dead."

I gnash my teeth, about to counter again when he straightens, tall as a mountain and angry as a wildfire. His next words come in a whisper.

"And so is my brother."

I close my eyes, reaching for the metal that covers me head to toe. Around us, the guards have finally caught on, metal swishing in an echo of might. I raise my voice. "Cousins." My words are stately, regal. "Stand with me. Stand with House Samos against the impending Red invasion. Let us not be replaced by the rats of this new court."

Cal grimaces, but it fades as the bars to his cell rise. My command burns through the guards like wildfire, some joining while others remain locked in place. One throws down a spear. I catch it with a flash of teeth.

Shouts ring out among them, cousin turning on cousin as Huse Samos splits in half. One by one, I open prison cells. One by one, I add more soldiers to my army.

Cal grabs a receiver and throws it down, cracking it until sparks ripple across it. He wastes no time in turning them to flame, a circle of ire that flares as if screaming. "Get my uncle out of here." His eyes are wild, manic. "Save yourselves, and I'll make my last stand."

I almost maul him then and there. "I freed you for your crown, Tiberias." The name makes him flinch. "I'm not leaving until it's lost."

Jacos raises his voice, humming with ability. He, too, calls for them to fight. He, too, knows better than to surrender.

Cal doesn't look at me. "You think one battle will change anything? You think one battle will save us all?" The flames grow higher. "I'm here to die on my own terms. I'm here to save as many as I can."

"Well, too bad." I scowl, dodging the first wave of metal shards. "We're fighting for you, whether you like it or not. It's your choice to make it worthwhile."

He wavers.

I snarl. "I never took you for a coward."

"And I never took you for a fool."

"Enough." Jacos cuts between us, too close to the flames for comfort. "There's no time for arguments. Not when–" He falters. "Not when there's bigger things to worry about."

Before I can ask what he means, he raises a hand, one finger pointing to the walkway above. To the crackle of purple ripping through the air, slaying two guards that were locked in a stalemate. To the lights flickering, lightbulbs bursting, leaving us in darkness but for Cal's flames.

To Mare standing above, crimson glinting off her sash.