Blood Curse - Red Queen Fan Fiction

Chapter 20

"Farley told you I tried to deactivate the bombs," he says.

"And, did you? Are you an expert at bomb deactivation?"

"Only in stopping the explosions and decreasing their radii." He cackles and turns to me. "That would be an actually good idea, Mare. I don't have to fear failure while training."

The words – my name – are a bait I don't fall for. "But I hope you found the culprits as well," I say.

"A group of Silver commoners. I could only arrest two of them, the rest got away."

"Can't you find them again?"

"Probably. They're known in Harbor Bay's underworld and been up to no good for weeks."

Oddly, this wakes memories of the last time we were in this city, when Crance brought us in and Maven branded me. I resist the urge to touch the scar, to even think of it. "So you have your sources here? A royal lowering himself into the ugly shadow business?"

He fastens his gait. "The commoner Silvers did it before. There's always been business between them and the gangs, but only about some forbidden goods. Then the governor here was murdered and a scapegoat was found. A Red, claimed of being a gang member who was executed afterwards. Only he wasn't a criminal. And the unrest here started for real. Control had lessened everywhere after ... you were freed and the Rift declared their independence.

"In Harbor Bay, the rest of the city council fled or went into hiding. Now the Silver commoners try to take hold of both the underworld and the city proper. There've been fights between new and old gangs. That is a minor issue, though," Tiberias claims and I snort. I wonder what's so proper about the Silver parts of the city.

"The real problem are the weapons showing up currently," he continues. "Those are military gear, from Harbor Bay's own arsenal."

"Meaning the Silvers holding them are taking a side," I conclude. "Or staging their own coup."

"Exactly." The buildings around us are becoming more and more destroyed, the farther we go. It's not a living quarter, but the administrative sector, and its air is still filled with dust and smells burned. I check my lightning, preparing for further attacks. They don't come though the sight of Harbor Bay's royal palace at the center of the sector doesn't lift my dread. Yet it's Tiberias's goal and I follow. Once he told me it was built for his mother but it has nothing of a queen's holiday residence anymore. Unlike the buildings around it, it hardly shows damage, only a few marks in its steel and concrete façade. Again, I have to think of Coriane Jacos, a woman who lost herself under the burdens of Norta's crown. Did her heart become as heavy as her palace? Or is it the heart of her son, the soldier king-to-be who locks away his feelings?

"I've heard nothing of Harbor Bay," I say. "Neither in Piedmont nor in Archeon."

He opens the gates. "Strange, given how vital Harbor Bay is. But every town, every region, fends for itself now."

It disturbs me that he says the same as Farley – although it shouldn't. He's doing his job. His bleeding, awful job. I stop in the front of the stairs under the doors that he's already climbing.

"Why have you vanished, Tiberias?" I say. "Archeon, Whitefire and the throne were yours for the taking."

He turns and stares. I'm tempted to say more, voice all the things I've pondered on in the last weeks, but I stay quiet. I won't give him possible excuses and explanations, he has to think for himself. He does so visibly. His lips quiver, his eyes burn, finding mine with a begging intensity. I've asked a question, but he's asking me something as well. For trust, maybe. Not only for mine, which he won't get, but, as I realize when a shadow of doubt falls over his face, his own in me too.

"I didn't want to marry Evangeline," he says finally, thus stomping out the tiny flame I felt kindling a moment ago. "She wouldn't ever have wanted me but couldn't deny her family about it," he adds.

I laugh. Louder and harsher than Evangeline did, so it fills the dull gray sky above us. I believe he means it. Yet it's a blatant omission of his true reasons and the following scowl on his face is proof, and a pleasing sight. It's like a cold coffee, distasteful, hardly enough, but still serving its purpose. "How considerate of you, Tiberias. Truly, I'm impressed how much Evangeline's feelings concern you. Unlike mine."

It's even better to see this arrow hit its mark, and the devastation and shame in his eyes. Although it cools my heart even more.

"I care about you, Mare Barrow," he claims, not too proud to contradict me. A part of me is glad he thinks it's necessary to insist on it.

"You should rather show me," I say. "You say the Red and Silver gangs fight. What do you do about that? Do you work with the Red Watch?"

For a second, relief washes over him because I've switched the topic. However, he turns sombre quickly. "The Red Watch's house was the one attacked today."

I hmph. I jump up the stairs and open the doors in his place. Where's all the security gone? The palace seems positively evicted. "Now I really hope you find the culprits."

"I – I'm working on it. There're the two arrests today, and the contacts in the gangs. However, the Silvers ... I can't trust their reports."

"What an observation. You want the Merandus' back?" The foyer is still lush and luxurious. Tiberias, finally catching up with me, points down a corridor. "Maybe you need better interrogators," I say.

"Maybe I need to give the Silvers something," he replies.

"Maybe your lot has had enough already." I stop to face him. "Maybe all you should promise them are their lives and freedom in exchange for their cooperation."

He doesn't object again. He nods. "You realize you admit I have power here," he says.

"And you should use it for good. Promote the Red Watch. Declare the alliance with the Scarlet Guard, again. Give Farley command – "

"You think I haven't considered that myself? It won't work, Mare. I can't hand over rule, the Silvers won't have it. They only accept rule take by power and strength – "

Don't interrupt me ever again, Tiberias Calore," I say with all calmness I can find when a storm forms in my guts. I don't care where he wants to take me any longer. Every second in his presence only raises old issues. His fake understanding paired with utter conservativeness and resignation. He unravels me and I can't stand it. I can't stand this place.

I take off. I walk down corridors where I might've murdered people and ran for my life. Portraits of Calores and their ancestors and allies look down on me and I wonder of Tiberias feels cosy here, if he re-hung his mother's image as well. Does he like it here, doe he like to feel royal, powerful, and probably welcome again? I, for sure, know I'm not welcome here. These walls want to exile me, and if not that, chain and incarcerate me. With its red and gold colours, the palace is nothing like Whitefire, I tell myself. There's no Maven. No Arvens, no manacles. My lightning is proof of it, as is the flickering of the lightbulbs I pass. Yet my breathing fastens and my sight fails, red paint turning into bloodstains.

Tiberias runs to me, calling my name in dimmed sounds I can barely hear. All I want is to get out before I really faint. Stumbling, I take step after step with my blackening sight until I can taste the sticky city air again. I sit down, crouching and hugging myself. What has happened?

Slowly, I try to calm my breathing, let my eyes rest. I know Tiberias is near. His hand is on my back, warm and steadying. I would've pulled away in another situation but I remain still, too exhausted to move at all.

His palm is gone the second I straighten. I still don't dare to rise. Perhaps I'd fall down on weak legs. "You see, I could never be your queen," I murmur, and my confession already feels like a concession, a weakness.

"So are you going to declare yourself king in your mother's palace if you don't dare to in Archeon? Even though Evangeline is here, there's no Anabel to make you marry now."

Cruelty is my only crutch. His grief, for his mother and grandmother, is tangible. Yet he doesn't leave me. I could tell him to sod of but what I want is to prompt him to finally say he won't become king.

He doesn't do that either.