Mare

Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.

Chapter Music: Rage Against the Ghosts

The ball is all a beautiful facade. As most are. The Silver Houses whisper to each other, glancing from me to each other. By now they've heard the rumors or have guessed what happened. The absence of the Marandus House tonight has only confirmed it. I let their rumors grow like a beast. A beast of my own making that has served me well to ensure everyone knows exactly what happens to those who fail me and their loyalty to the crown.

It's best they think I am also a beast. For beasts can do awful things, and I can turn them all into ruins if I so dared. But I am also a person too. One little girl who can no longer smile. I hid her from anyone who cared to find her, behind my mask of lightning. But she will always remain there. Eyes wide and frantic as they destroyed everything I could have been. I push her away in every moment I draw breath, but she will forever haunt me. She will never leave me. Not ever again.

Below me, Silver ladies and lords dance in spins and dips I can never dream of attempting. I could have been a silver princess once. If Elara hadn't poisoned her own son's mind to bring misery to my own. I could have been content, happy even. Away from the crown, but so near it. At peace with my love for Maven, even if my eyes wandered to another Calore that I could never have. But you are not the princess, the voices say, you are not the one that gets saved.

I grip tighter onto the glass in my hand as I watch Evangeline walk up the steps towards me. Her shoulders carry gilded spikes with a gown of melted iron wrapped around her form. The metal forms a spine of sorts down her back, making her look like bones and strength. She dips her head as she walks up to me and the throne.

"They're invading," She says, leaning in.

"Let them come."

"That's all you've been saying for days. They're nearly at the Capital."

"Good."

"I'm not sure of your plan, but maybe it would be a good idea to share it with me. I do control our armies." I laugh, taking a drink of wine in my glass. A chorus of voices fill my mind, chanting the same thing, She does not control anything. She is the queen of nothing, and you, you are the queen. "You've been keeping much from me. Not just your plans for allowing the Scarlet Guard to waltz into our country. Where exactly did Julian go?" The glass slips out of my hand, breaking over our boots. The sound is lost to the noise of the ball, but not to us.

"Never speak that name to me again," I snap. Evangeline looks from the broken shards back up to me and nods. I stand up from the throne, raising my hand for the music to be cut. The dancers skip to an end, moving to stand with the rest of the court.

"Lords and Ladies of the court," I boom, "As some of you may have noticed, there is one house that is absent tonight. The Marandus House has faced the punishment of the crown." In the thickness of the crowd, I see Wren. She's stood there by the door all night, staring at me with dead eyes. She doesn't turn away from me as I stare back at her. She doesn't even breathe. "The Marandus House sent their soldiers onto Red villages and burned them to the ground. They let innocents choke on flame and ash. They choked on something too. Their own fates. This is what happens when you defy the new order. Reds are not inferior to us. They are our equals! The Marandus lands will be split. Half of their land will be given to a red, enough to make them a Lady or Lord of the court. Electing a new era for Norta. The other half will be given to a Silver to enforce our equality among one another."

The houses applaud the sentiment, although few actually look happy. They're cheering to make sure they don't join the Marandus house in their graves. Or rather, the bay. Even they did not deserve a burial, so they got the sea and her mercy. 

"The Scarlet Guard marches through our country," I continue, "tonight will be our last night before we enter war. Our armies are ready. Their bleeding dawn will never break over the Nortan throne. Thank you to your families that fight. Now we must prepare."

The doors to the throne room open wide and through them Iris Cygnet and a few of her soldiers enter. She's been gone for a week, gathering her soldiers and marching them through Norta from our northern border. I gesture towards the music to resume and walk to meet her. Eyes follow me as I go. Even with Iris becoming a familiar face, Norta had been at war with the Lakelands for a hundred years. No one likes a fresh ally.

"Welcome back, Queen Iris." I reach for my hand, taking it and squeezing it with a hello.

"I heard the end of your speech, my armies are here in full and they are ready," Iris smiles back at me and Evangeline, "How did they get through your borders so fast? They've burned right through Norta."

"We've pulled back our military to the capital to not waste blood over small battles."

Iris nods, her crown sparkling in the light, "When will they get here?"

"Soon. A day if they continue their pace." Evangeline answers.

"A ball on the eve of a war." Iris glances around the room, smiling at anyone peering over, "How fitting. I hope the rebels are celebrating too. It's the last time they'll get the chance."

"But they're winning?" Wren approaches our circle. She smiles, but it doesn't conceal her fear. I can still see her hands trembling at her sides.

"Every inch they have taken, Wren, I gave to them. They may think they are winning an easy war, but they haven't even tasted battle." Iris smiles next to me. This has always been a game of lies. Lead them into a sure victory, make them feel safe enough to kneel, all while we wait to step on their throats.

"So Archeon will be turned into a battle ground? Shouldn't we evacuate the city?" I laugh at her foolishness. Her mind isn't built for war. She sees a difference in lives and traps. There isn't a great divide between them. It's just another move on the chessboard. Moves and countermoves.

"Too easy. Mare wants them to get a little dirty first." Evangeline looks at me with a smirk. "That is your plan, isn't it? Let them march to you through a sea of civilians. It's smart. Let them draw the first blood. War is a price after all."

"And they get to pay it. Let's see which side history writes them on now."

"We'll amass our armies in front of the palace, the seas on our backs. By the time they meet our soldiers, they'll never get a chance to breach the walls." Iris nods in certainty, smiling back at me. The seas will make a useful tool for her. Anything near them will be at the mercy of her lethal hands.

"Well," I swirl my finger around the lip of the glass, "I want a select few to." I look to Evangeline. She understands without a word spoken between us. She'll let them in. She'll let them find me. Then I will undo them.

"To the death of the rebels," Iris chants, raising her glass to a toast. My glass joins hers in the air, and even though I see the tiniest moment of hesitation, Evangeline's glass joins ours. Wren has no glass to toast with us. So I bring her hand to my own glass. Forcing it up to the air. The smile we share is as false as her words. Give her until the war. She'll choose her side then. She'll choose right.

I had intended to do it differently once. To make an alliance with the Guard as soon as I was crowned. See my family again, tell them all the lost words between us. To tell them how I was going to change the world. Tell them I'm sorry for Shade. But they never came for me. Farley left me. Kilorn left me. Cal left me. Even Julian. I miss them, but they never came.

I wanted to save them from Maven. I had asked Jon how once. His voice itches with finality in my brain, That all depends on your definition of saving. Death is a form of saving. If that's true I've saved so many. Maybe I don't wish death at all. Maybe I just want them to lose.

And to devour their own heart as they are forced to live with it.