Red Queen (Red Queen, #1)

by Victoria Aveyard

And this fall, they’ll come for me.

Let them ruin each other, he says. They’re not our people.

Silvers aren’t supposed to die here. Silvers are supposed to fight bravely, to flaunt their skills, to put on a good show—but not die. After all, they aren’t Reds.

People trust her around here, like they can never trust me.

But then Kilorn wouldn’t be here at all. He’s already given up. I will not.

So this is a pageant. A violent one, meant to showcase a girl’s beauty, splendor—and strength. The most talented daughter.

It remains, jumping and twisting in my hand like a kitten with a ball of yarn. It seems just as harmless, but I remember what I almost did to Evangeline. This power can destroy if I let it.

“You produced electrical energy.” Now I’m really confused. “Right. That’s my ability, Julian.” “No, I thought your ability was the power to manipulate, not create,” he says, his voice dropping gravely. “No one can create, Mare.”

Not like me. I’m not like anyone. “So what does this mean?” “I’m not quite sure. You are something else entirely. Not Red, not Silver. Something else. Something more.”

“Mare, focus on me. Mare, control it.” He speaks softly, calmly, but with steady force. He even looks frightened of me. “Control, Mare.”

But I can’t control anything. Not my future, not my thoughts, not even this ability that is the root of all my troubles. There is one thing I can still control though, for now, at least. My feet. Like the wretched coward that I am, I run.

“You better hide that heart of yours, Lady Titanos. It won’t lead you anywhere you want to go.”

Evangeline’s smile fades into a sneer. She’s used to being favored, to being the one everyone’s afraid of. And now she’s angrier than ever.

He will never choose me.

He’s taken it all away, all the strength and all the power I thought I had. I have lost. When my knees give out this time, there’s no one to hold me up. Dimly, I hear Maven cry out before he too is pushed to the ground.

I don’t recognize Cal’s voice anymore. I’ve turned him into a monster. I forced his hand. I made him choose. I was eager, I was stupid. I let myself hope. I am a fool.

Maven loves his father, his brother—how can he let her do this? How can he want this? But he stands still, watching, and I can’t find the words to make him move.

Once, I would’ve given anything to hear him say my real name, but now it stings like a burn. I thought I was using them both, Maven and Cal. How stupid I was.

Once, he told me Cal hated to lose. Now I realize the one playing to win was always Maven. Every breath, every word was in service to this bloody victory.

I thought you were better than him.” Better than Cal. Those are words Maven thought no one would ever say. He flinches, and for a second, I can see the boy I used to know. A boy that doesn’t exist.

To my dismay, he recovers quickly and smoothes his hair. “So you choose him?” That’s all this ever was. Jealousy. Rivalry. All so shadow could defeat the flame.

I wish there was more I could say, but there are no words for his evil. He knows what he is, and, worst of all, he likes it.

Maven’s words echo sharply in my head. Now you are nothing. I’ll die as nothing. They don’t need to hide my blood if they can claim my powers were faked somehow.

“Would you do it again?” The words sting sharply. “Would you risk me for your terrorist friends again?” I would. I don’t say it out loud, but Lucas sees my answer in my eyes. “I kept your secret.”

It’s worse than any insult he could throw at me. The knowledge that he protected me, even though I didn’t deserve it, gnaws at my core.

It’s not fair. We won. We showed them. It’s not fair. I want to scream, to shock and rage and fight, but the bullets will get me first. Hot tears of anger well in my eyes, but I will not cry. Not in these last moments.

“I’m sorry I did this to you,” I whisper to Cal. No matter how I feel about his beliefs, he’s the one truly losing here. I knew the risks, but he was just a pawn, torn between so many playing an invisible game.

Maven. His name makes my heart clench, twisting in anguish and shame. Anyone can betray anyone.

They don’t know he could destroy them all, that he could escape in a heartbeat if he really wanted. So why does he stay?