“Hey, cut me some slack, I’ve been training with Ella for the last six months and, as powerful as she is, she’s no combat fighter.” Despite being exhausted, he wiped the blood from his chin and green lighting sparked at his fingertips. “Let’s put the physical fighting to rest and level out the playing field a bit.” Mare’s expression darkened and she tried to hide her reaction. The training she’d done ever since she and Cal had started their training camp in Norta had been minimal. Cal had tried to pass off all royal responsibilities after the war but the palace had too much of a perfect training arena to pass up. They’d kept saying they would build their own centre in the Westlakes region so Mare could be closer to home, but the amount of newblood prodigies they’d discovered since they’d started the camp was too impressive to leave behind. And despite everything, she’d rarely used her abilities lately. A couple weeks back she’d gotten out of control. She wasn’t sure where it had come from but she’d never experienced anything like it. Ever since she could sense something different. Something that was causing an imbalance inside of her. She’d mentioned none of it to Cal, simply asking if she could work on combat instead of ability training. He’d showed some confusion but didn’t press it, assuming she was wanting to brush up on fighting skills. “Come on, Mare,” Rafe joked, “are you scared?”

“No.” She found herself yearning for the feeling of electricity coursing through her veins. She was surprised by how easily she summoned it after three weeks of suppression. She felt herself wondering if she’d created the whole situation in her head. Rafe shot a web of green energy at her to bring her back to reality.

“You’re distracted,” he observed.

“Never,” she replied. A bolt of lighting hit the ground beside him, causing him to jump. Rafe grinned and the hill lit up with green.

Mare was full of exhilaration, summoning lighting from the thundering sky above in ways that she’d forgotten she was capable of. If she were fighting Ella they probably would’ve torn the mountain apart by now but Rafe easily absorbed the purple bolts into the webs of his own and they reflected back up into the sky. Mare dodged the ones he sent her way, letting them sizzle into the grass behind her. Rain began to pour down on them and the purple bolts of lighting were coming down quickly and sporadically.

“Mare, cut it out with the rain,” Rafe yelled over the thundering noise. Mare looked up into the sky nervously, she hadn’t asked for the rain. She noticed a swirling pattern of lighting that was churning in the clouds, one she hadn’t called upon.

“I didn’t--” she started before she was knocked to the ground, a green light washed over her and she was left tingling. Rafe rushed over to her.

“I thought you were paying attention, sorry.”

“I probably deserved that,” she muttered, wiping mud off her cheeks.

“Call it off, let's head inside.” Mare nodded, wishing the clouds to disperse and the lighting to suppress. The storm only got more intense, she could feel the hair stand up on the back of her neck, Rafe seemed to notice it too. “Mare, call it off!” Lightning stuck too close to the pair, leaving the ground sizzling with purple, hot flames. Mare was suddenly happy for the rain. “What are you doing?” He yelled. Mare felt a wave of nausea roll over her. The hair on the back of her neck stood up again. “Mare!” She could hear the fear in his voice. He cupped her face in his hands. “Focus!” Mare felt her entire body shake as the rain stopped and static electricity was sucked out of the air. She fell back in exhaustion, her body trembling in sweat. “Jesus.” Rafe glanced around at the damage that their fight had caused.

“We should head back,” Mare grimaced. 

They had a silent journey home. Usually they would run but Mare seemed so exhausted that Rafe hadn’t mentioned it. The trek seemed about a million hours long but finally they said their goodbyes as they neared the entrance of the kingdom.

“Tell Ella and Tyton that I say hi,” she mentioned softly.

“I will,” he promised, studying his friend with concern.

“Thanks for demonstrating at camp today, I know it meant a lot to the kids.”  

“No worries,” he shrugged. “You should come and train with us though. It’s easy to get out of practice when there’s no other electricons to drill with.” He was worried he’d overstepped but was relieved when Mare nodded in response.

“Hey, you look like you got a good workout. I could see the storm you created from here.” Cal embraced her tightly as she let herself into their room. “You okay?” He asked as she winced.

“Yeah, just sore,” she muttered, trying to ignore his confusion as she pushed passed him.

“What’s wrong?” He pressed, sensing her anger.

“I’m just out of practice.” She stepped into their bathroom, turning on the shower.

“I’ve noticed.” He ignored the glare she shot him as he sat on the toilet seat while she undressed and stepped under the stream of water, covered in mud. “You haven’t really been training.” Mare sighed, watching the mud swirl off her in pools of grey. She stepped out of the shower once the water turned clear and was surprised to find Cal still waiting with a towel. “Mare,” he breathed, tracing his hand along her ribcage. She was covered in jagged burns. “What happened?”

“They don’t hurt.” She shrugged, which was a lie.

“Did Rafe hit you?”

“It was an accident, I wasn’t paying attention,” she grimaced as he wrapped her in the towel. Cal didn’t know Mare to be the type of person to not pay attention while fighting. If anything she was more aware of her surroundings than anyone he knew.

“I’ll tell Sara to come up.” He walked out of the room before she could protest, as he knew she would.

They were sitting on the bed when Sara arrived. Mare was draped in one of Cal’s t-shirts that seemed to be drowning her. She couldn’t manage to put on any restrictive clothing without grimacing in pain. Cal had thrown the shirt at her after watching her sort through her clothes for too long, which she’d pulled on happily.

“Cal,” Sara greeted the obviously concerned brunette as she followed him into the living room. He and Mare had built the apartment over the training centre, not wanting to live in the palace considering that sleeping there caused them both to have nightmares every time they tried to close their eyes. She eyed Mare, knowing immediately that something was off. She’d barely seen the young woman over the last couple of weeks and had been trying not to worry after hearing whisperings around the palace that she’d been barely eating. Despite the couple no longer living in the palace, they both usually had no problem requesting food from the kitchen. Apparently Mare was an awful cook, to which Sara wasn’t surprised. Mare lifted her shirt to reveal the blisters that were beginning to form in swirling patterns on her skin. Cal seemed to flinch. Sara was surprised by his reaction to seeing his girlfriend in pain, no doubt after experiencing it many times before. Mare sighed as Sara’s hands began to soothe her skin. The tingling of the burns began to diminish and the soreness in her lower back had also begun to suppress. She glanced up to see that Sara had paused, her palms hovered in place.

“Mare, have you noticed any changes lately?” She questioned softly. Mare glanced at Cal who was eyeing her as he bit the skin on his fingertips.

“What’s wrong?” He asked. Sara ignored him, waiting for Mare to respond. Mare nodded slowly.

“I’ve felt out of control,” she replied so softly that Cal could hardly hear it. “I noticed it a couple of weeks ago so I stopped for a bit. Today when I was training with Rafe...it got bad.” Sara nodded, although what Mare had told her was not what she’d been expecting.

“Sara--” Cal started, his voice filled with worry.

“She’s pregnant,” she interrupted him. “Three weeks.” The room’s temperature climbed to what seemed like a thousand degrees and the lights above flickered. Sara couldn’t help but suppress an amused smile at their reactions. Mare burst into tears and the healer immediately removed her hands from the trembling girl’s stomach.

“Thank you, Sara,” Cal shifted awkwardly on his feet as she practically fled from the room. He took Mare into his arms rocking her slightly back and forth, it was rare that she cried and he hadn’t seen her bawl like this in what seemed like years. “Hey, Mare, it’s okay,” he tried.

“Cal, you don’t understand.” She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to sit up. “What happened today scared me. I thought I was going to kill him.”

“What do you mean?” Cal asked, his voice was sympathetic as he rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her, stealing occasional, curious looks at her stomach.

“It started a couple weeks ago,” she explained as he raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to worry you. I was demonstrating for some of the newbloods and suddenly I felt everything pause, as if the lightning had slipped out of my grasp. It struck more powerfully than I’ve seen it, about ten meters away. The kids were impressed because they thought I was controlling it but I wasn’t. After that I decided to take a break. I was scared that it would happen again and hurt someone. Today was...bad.”

“You think someone else is controlling it when you slip?” He asked. “Or controlling you?” 

“I don’t know,” she shuddered.

“You think it might be the baby?” He added tentatively.

“I doubt a fetus could…” She trailed off. “I mean, I have no idea,” she finally confessed.

“Can we talk about this? Can you tell me how you’re feeling?” Mare bit her lip uncomfortably. 

“I should’ve noticed sooner. I’ve been nauseous and been feeling more tired than usual. My cycle has always been irregular since I lost it in the war,” she admitted. “We’ve just been so busy.”

“When I’ve brought up having kids in the past you’ve never seemed enthusiastic.”

“I don’t think I’d be a good mom,” she confessed. “We also both get our fair share of PTSD episodes.” Cal grimaced at that. “I just have never felt ready to bring a child into this world. That’s why I’ve always been so careful about taking those pills Farley gave me. I don’t know what happened.”

“That makes sense,” he assured her before adding, “we’d have a pretty cool kid,” 

“Yeah, we would,” Mare breathed, placing a tentative hand on her stomach. “Gisa’s gonna freak.” 

“Your Mom would want us to move to the Westlakes immediately,” he joked. Mare smiled at the thought but Cal could sense the worry in her eyes. “Hey, if you don’t want to have it, I’ll support you.” To his surprise Mare shook her head.

“I love you, Cal. I know how much you want this and I see how good you are with the children at camp. Even though it’s not great timing and it might just be the hormones, I don’t want to make a choice that I’ll regret.”

“So we’re having a baby?” Cal asked, trying to conceal his excitement.

“I guess so?” Mare wiped another tear with Cal’s massive t-shirt sleeve. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without training for nine months.”

“You think it all has something to do with the baby?”  

“Three weeks works out pretty well with when I first noticed the change.” She nodded. “Our baby seems like she’s going to be a bit like her mom.”

“Her?” Cal asked, grinning ear to ear.

“I have a hunch,” Mare shrugged, laughing as Cal gently pushed her back against the mattress and covered her face in kisses.

“Nah he’ll be burning your insides in no time. The lightning thing was just a fluke.”

“Does that actually happen?” Mare froze.

“God no,” he laughed. “Though Maven and I found out about our abilities pretty young. Our parents pressed the testing on us pretty early. They wanted to start our training as soon as possible. I don’t think the palace staff appreciated unpredictable five year old fire wielders.”

“Oh god,” Mare shook her head at the thought as Call pulled the duvet over her. “Cal it’s nine.” 

“You said you’ve been feeling tired,” he said firmly.

“Tomorrow is Sunday, there’s no camp anyways.” 

“Perfect, you can sleep in too. My baby is tired.” Mare rolled her eyes at that, knowing she’d have a long nine months ahead of her.

“Fine, but you have to come to bed as well,” she bargained.

“I told Julian--”

“Nope, I’m actually carrying your child which makes me more important than Julian.” She smiled as she watched frustration pass over Cal’s face.

“Fine,” he finally sighed, swifty removing his shirt in one swift motion and wrapping his arms around her. Mare yawned, allowing herself to finally relax into their bed. “If you think you’re fighting combat you’re insane.” Cal’s voice pulled her out of sleep.

“If you think I’m going to sit on my ass all day you’re insane,” she shrugged, rolling over. Cal sighed as he heard Mare’s breathing begin to deepen.

     They both awoke to the sound of an alarm blaring continuously over their heads. This happened on occasion and as terrifying as the situation was, the couple had almost gotten used to it. After the war the idea of democracy had been popular among the regions. With red and silver becoming equal, the solution had seemed obvious. But it would be wrong to say that the idea of everyone living in harmony was accepted by all. It was mostly the silvers that had an issue with it all, still craving the power they once had maintained. The small rebellion had formed about a year after the war, and raids had been happening throughout the palace almost every month since then. It was rare that anyone would come near their apartment but Cal had built an underground bunker just in case. The raids never resulted in much, other than terrifying those who lived there. Occasionally, they’d take a staff member or government official but eventually would set them free after their pleas went unanswered. 

Mare stumbled out of their bed, still half asleep. However, Cal tugged at her arm, wide awake. He’d already secured his bracelets and a dim flame lit up their bedroom. He couldn’t help but worry that since word had gotten around about Mare’s pregnancy, they may somehow be a target. To which Mare had responded, days earlier, that no silver in their right mind would come anywhere near the two of them, in fear for their lives.

“Feeling nauseous?” He asked as she gripped the stair railing and swayed softly.

“When am I not,” she grumbled, following him down into the blackness. Cal sighed with relief as he bolted the door and pulled the string to an overhead light. The concrete room contained a double bed, a cabinet full of snacks and a pathetic sink that sat in the corner, almost always dripping. Mare crawled into the mess of duvet and leaned back against the bed frame. She was usually unfazed by the break-ins and normally slept through the entire event, unlike Cal who usually spent the night watching the door and allowing flames to creep across his fingertips. He glanced over to find her hands pressed against the small bump that had formed on her midsection earlier that week. Her first trimester was exhausting her and Cal had never felt more helpless.

“You should rest,” he noted. “Practice starts at six tomorrow because of the holiday on Monday.” He knew that despite tonight’s events there was no way that Mare would miss even an hour of training.

“I would lie down but I’m trying really hard to not throw up,” she responded slowly. Mare wasn’t known as a ray of sunshine when functioning on little sleep. “I would appreciate it if you could get your child to give me a break, Tiberias.” She tried to sound bitter but he could hear the fragility in her voice.

“Do you want the plain crackers? Those usually help,” he suggested.

“Do we have any down here?” 

“No.” He expected her to yell at him but instead she leaned back in exhaustion. 

“Can you just come sit with me?” Cal glanced over at her apprehensively, not wanting to leave his position by the door. Mare rolled her eyes at his hesitation.“Cal, for fucksake it’s absolutely fine--” As if on cue the sound of their apartment door banging open echoed through the flat. Mare fell silent as the sound of moving furniture filled their ears. Someone was looking for them. Anxiety raged inside her and lightning sparked on her palms, growing brighter by the second.

“Mare, control it,” Cal hissed. Her ability was becoming more and more unpredictable as her pregnancy went on, to the point where they were in the midst of getting a necklace made out of silent stone for moments like these. Cal couldn’t help but wish they’d had it by now.

“I can’t,” her voice wavered. The light above them brightened immensely before popping and surrounding them in blackness. Light bulb glass reflected red as Cal’s flames dimly lit the room. Mare silently prayed that her purple sparks would not reappear. “Do you hear that?” She asked, as a familiar voice called out to them, calling their names over and over. “It’s Gisa!” She moved to the side of the bed

“No Mare, it’s not.” Cal’s eyes darkened, willing her to lie back down. 

“Cal, I think I would know my own sister--” 

“It’s a voice manipulator, it’s trying to convince us to come out.”

“How do you know--” She wanted nothing more than to answer the voice calling out to her. 

“Because I hear Maven,” Cal hissed, his eyes begging her to be quiet. Mare had never wanted to throw up more. She finally processed the idea of silvers rummaging through their apartment, playing tricks on their minds. Suddenly the situation was more nauseating than the smell of Cal’s green smoothies he’d been forcing her to drink lately. He noticed her gag and shot her a look of sympathy. Eventually the calling diminished and they heard less and less footsteps above, though neither of them wanted to go back upstairs. Eventually Mare fell asleep but Cal couldn’t bring himself to leave the door, waiting for the voice of his brother to return.

She awoke the next morning to find Cal missing from the bunker. A handwritten note was left on her pillow.  

Mare,

Taking the kids up the mountain today. Don’t try and follow us, we'll be back soon enough. Rest and please just be safe.

Love, Cal

Classic. She threw her head back in frustration. Despite the break-ins being an inconvenience, they always put Cal on edge. She was surprised that he’d decided to let her out of his sight, even if it meant her getting some extra hours of sleep. She walked lazily up the stairs to find their apartment torn to shreds. Furniture was pushed over and destroyed. Picture frames had fallen off walls and glass lay shattered on the floor. Although she hadn’t been too involved in the design of their place, she couldn’t help but feel awful that all of Cal’s hard work had gone to waste. She smoothed the crinkled photos that had fallen out of their frames. Most were of her and Cal, apart from some of Mare’s family and Cal had one photo of Coriane, which he cherished greatly. She couldn’t help but grin at the thought of racing up the mountain to meet the group, the idea didn’t seem too bad to her. Undoubtedly would piss off Cal, which was always fun. She didn’t bother having breakfast, through trial and error she’d learned that eating before noon would result in an hour spent in the bathroom. Eventually, after a while of trying to tidy up the apartment, she was dying of boredom. She tied her hair back into a messy braid and pulled on her training uniform before swifty leaving the apartment, locking it behind her.

“Hey!” She whipped around to find Evangeline morphing the garden fountain into a rather inappropriate image. “Cal cleared my schedule to sit around and wait for you to try and leave.” She narrowed her eyes, obviously upset by her change in plans.

“That’s dumb,” Mare shrugged, turning to leave.

“He also lied about where he took the kids today. If you go up that mountain you aren’t going to find them.” Mare stopped in her tracks, cursing. “Why do you want to go so bad anyways?” 

“Because what else am I supposed to do?” she huffed.

“Domestic life not treating you well?” Evangeline teased, Mare glanced up at her, realizing how much she had begun to miss everyone she’d gotten close with last year. She hadn’t seen Farely in what seemed like months.

“How’s Elane?” She changed the subject and Evangeline took the bait, never upset when speaking of her girlfriend.

“She comes to visit today,” her eyes lit up with excitement. “I’m going back with her in a week and then staying awhile. There isn’t much to do around here,” she admitted, Cal had mentioned that her ‘government’ role had been less riveting than she’d anticipated.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Mare couldn’t help but grin at the idea of Evangeline in a stuffy room talking about politics.

“He did seem shaken up this morning though. The raids were bad last night?” Mare could tell Evangeline was trying to keep her from leaving but at that point she didn’t care. There were twelve off campus training sites scattered over Montford and the group could be anywhere. She sat down on the edge of the fountain and tried to look as if she wasn’t bothered.

“They don’t usually search our apartment.”

“Ah,” Evangeline responded. “Probably something to do with the bun in the oven.” She gestured to the small bump that Mare had been desperately trying to hide with baggy clothing.

“I don’t know what they think they could possibly achieve by trying to harm either of us.” She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Yeah, it’s messed.” Evangeline bit her lip. “The group is expanding though. If you go downtown there’s signs up everywhere. The silvers aren’t happy.”

“You think after last year people would want a break from the violence.”

“I don’t know, would be nice to have a little fun.” The rings on her fingers were morphing into tiny daggers on her palms. Mare couldn’t help but laugh.

“You haven’t changed.”

“Have any of us, really?” Evangeline shrugged. “Come on, Barrow, I know you miss silver blood on your hands.”

“We crave the chaos now but the moment we’re back in it we’ll wish we savoured these moments.” She shook her head but couldn’t suppress the rush of euphoria that passed over her as she imagined what Evangeline was suggesting. 

“You think there will be another war?” Evangeline’s voice was hushed, as if someone was listening in on the pair’s conversation. Mare nodded grimly.

“Cal’s been seeing Julian almost every night. I can tell they’re hashing out the beginnings of some plan. He’s been downplaying the silver’s revolt. I don’t know why he’s treating me like I’m too weak to handle the truth.” 

“Probably doesn’t want to stress you out.” Evangeline brushed a piece of her frizzy blond behind her ear and smirked as she watched Mare gag at the idea of her condition was making her incompetent. “Just go,” she finally caved. “They’re at the training centre in Elm.” Evangeline chuckled as the lightning girl’s eyes lit up with delight. “Tell him I told you and I’ll give the silvers a key to your underground bunker,” she added darkly, trying to hide her amusement. 

“I wouldn’t put it past you.”

Judging from the time of day the group would probably be on their trek back by now. Mare decided to go anyways. The idea of getting a rise out of Cal was too appealing to pass up. He deserved it for treating her like she was useless. The dirt road was longer than she remembered or maybe she was just more out of shape than the last time she’d run it. She pushed herself faster at the thought. It took a lot for someone to sneak up on Mare. Cal failed miserably almost every day. Which is why, when she was pulled back suddenly, she froze in shock rather than fought back. Before she could react a knife was pressed to her neck and it drew a small amount of blood that began to pool under her chin. She felt the silent before it even started reaping her ability from her, tugging her strength away.

“Not so powerful now, sparks.” She could hear the enjoyment in the unfamiliar silver’s voice and wanted to spit at the nickname. The knife, however, permitted her from doing such.

“I’ve got guards watching me,” she forced out a lie. “Letting me go would be a smart move.” To her dismay the group of silvers only chuckled.

“Look Red Queen, you're the issue here. You’re the reason that reds think they can waltz into our cities and act like they aren’t the worthless vermin that they are. You may have deceived the prince but there’s no mistaking your true intentions.” Mare couldn’t begin to guess what they were talking about.

“He’s not your prince anymore.” Was all she could think of to say. Cal didn’t want anything to do with the crown anymore, or so she hoped.

“And that’s where you're wrong.” The new silver’s voice was calm and poised. “Tiberias Calore VII has been working to revise the new laws. The democratic system is flawed. It’s only a matter of time before it splits. Your boyfriend is working hard to fix the damage you caused.”

“That’s not true.” She could hear the falter in her own voice.

“So that leaves you as the problem. A red can never sit on a silver throne.” Mare could feel the knife digging deeper into her skin. 

“I don’t want your stupid throne.” She managed to kick her leg back, connecting with the soft area that she’d been aiming for. The man yelped in pain, allowing the knife to drop. Mare whirled around to find a larger group than she’d expected. As the sky began to darken she noticed a line of sweat was starting to form on the silent’s forehead.

“Calore!” Evangeline raced to pull the sheet around her. “What the fu--”

“Where’s Mare?” Cal cut her off, his body was giving off so much heat that the room was immediately stifling. Elane couldn’t help but giggle as she hid under the covers. Cal hoped whatever she’d been up to before he’d entered the room was on pause.

“What do you mean?” Eve answered. He glared at her. “Oh, right.” She tried to hide a guilty expression. “She was getting all fussy so I told her that you guys were at Elm so she wouldn’t go looking all over Montfort for you.”

“Well where is she now?”

“I dunno.” Cal’s irritation was growing.

“Well she’s not with me and she’s not at the apartment and she’s not with you so you’re trying to tell me that you lost her?” Evangeline scoffed at that.

“Okay, Cal, it’s literally Mare. Like lightning destruction Mare. I don’t know why you’re treating her like she’s not capable of fending for herself. You of all people know her better than that.”

“Did she tell you that?” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Something along those lines,” Evangeline huffed. “Now can you leave?” 

“No Evangeline I can’t just leave. Do you honestly think that us not running into her when she was coming to meet us and the break in at our apartment last night is nothing to worry about?”

“Fine,” Evangeline finally caved. “That’s kinda weird.” Cal could hear Elane sigh as he felt something breeze past him and heard the shower in the bathroom turn on. “This better be worth it.”

Before either of them could even look for Mare one of the guards came sprinting into the room. He notified Cal that they’d received a call that Mare had been assaulted and taken, to which Cal went so silver Evangeline thought he was going to pass out.

“Well just give them what they want and get her out.” Evangeline could tell he was trying so sound commanding but his voice was wavering almost comically.

“Every time we don’t feed into them and give what they want they end up just letting the person free.” 

“Well this isn’t just any person,” Cal snapped. “Who knows what they’re doing to her.”

“Look, if you give them what ask for they’ll just take her again and again knowing that it can get them what they want.” Cal shook his head and looked away from her in response. Evangeline knew he knew that she was right. However, if she were in his position she’d probably give anything to get Elane back.  

“What are they even asking for?” Cal finally turned to the guard.

“Uh nothing, sir.” He gulped, they both could tell that he wasn’t happy to be the one informing them. “The call we got was from a red who watched the kidnapping occur. The popular belief is that Ms. Barrow is keeping Officer Calore from the throne. The silvers want her out of the picture.” Evangeline momentarily believed that the entire palace was going to go up in flames.

She was surprised by how long it was taking Cal to find them. He was definitely out of practice. If the circumstances were changed she’d probably be chuckling at the idea of him ordering guards around frantically in an attempt to rescue them. She found herself worrying for him instead. Other than the manacles that were beginning to open old scars on her wrists, she had definitely been in worse situations. Obviously their bed at the apartment beat sleeping on a floor covered in her own vomit but compared to her former imprisonment experiences, this hadn’t been awful. Until today, when she realized that unlike when she was in Maven’s clutches, she had more than herself to look out for. 

“Get up,” Pig ordered from the metal doorway. He’d received his nickname due to his chunky looking appearance and scrunched up face. She’d taken up observing him as he brought her meals. He was the only social interaction she’d really been receiving. He definitely had his nose broken at some point and never got it properly fixed. Mare realized she’d never laid eyes on such an ugly silver in her life. Usually they were mesmerizing. All of the most breathtakingly beautiful people she knew had silver blood coursing through their veins; Pig however, was a disgrace to all of them. “I said, get up.” She took in a sharp intake of breath as he kicked her in the side. He made up for his appearance with his strength. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed,” she bit back a groan, “but I’m kind of shackled to the ground.” She straightened her wrists out for him to see. 

“I knew that.” He spat, rolling his eyes. He removed a ring of keys from his pant loop and twisted a specific one into the lock on the ground. “Follow me,” he grumbled, allowing the rest of the chain to awkwardly trail along the ground. “The train is almost here.” 

“What train?” She knew she was asking herself more than him, not surprised when he didn’t answer. Suddenly the rumbling of the building every hour made sense. They were under train tracks. Where the fuck in Norta were they.

x

“We're running out of time, they’re going to move her,” Cal argued. Ever since they’d gotten a possible lead on where the rebels were holding Mare it took everything he had not to storm into the pathetic outpost and tear everyone and everything apart. They were lucky that the rebels had a mole or they never would’ve found them. The hiding spot was so good it was almost impressive. The outpost was from a war long before Cal was even born. Built under the railroad tracks, it was a perfect harboring area for anyone trying to have easy access out of the kingdom and into the states. After the railroads started to be outdated and the war finally came to an end, the outpost was abandoned. It didn’t even appear on today’s battle maps. They had gotten too lucky and Cal wasn’t about to let that change. Everything lately was reminding him of the weeks Mare spent in Maven’s clutches and it seemed like now there was even more at stake than there was back then. The other officers didn’t seem to agree. Apparently the couple’s personal reasons weren’t pressing enough to go in blindly in order to get her out as quickly as possible. Cal knew they were just trying to do things properly but if he had to spend one more night glancing at the empty spot beside him in bed, he would probably go insane. 

“We’re so close, Calore. We just need one more day to finalize plans.” Officer Leadger was a good man. Cal knew he had a wife and kids at home and could tell he was sympathizing with him but Cal was done with being asked to wait. 

“It’s time!” The large concrete doors swung open forcefully as the man that Cal had grown to appreciate over the last week burst into the room. He was sweating profusely as he raced to face the large group of generals. “You can’t wait.” Cal waited for him to say the words that he’d been expecting for days now. “I just got news to prepare for transport. You have two hours tops. I got here as fast as I could and I’m sure my departure raised some flags. If they weren’t on to me before, they definitely are now.”

“Which most likely will cause them to speed up this entire process,” Leadger was flipping through maps of train routes and bases like a maniac. “We were expecting them to move to the closest base near Corvium. Let them go, it’ll throw them off thinking we’re onto them and we’ll send out a message to the Westlakes base to keep an eye out. They won’t get far.” 

“What if they aren’t planning to go to Corvium?” Eve stated the obvious. She had been sitting unassumingly in the back of the hall for days now. Not offering a single piece of advice or input the entire time. Cal couldn’t help but wonder if she felt guilty. He hoped she did. “You can’t be sure.” 

“We go now,” Cal shouted over the eruption of officers trying to share their thoughts. He’d lost count of how many times he’d said those words since finding out her location. 

“For once he’s right,” Eve’s voice rang clearly over the commotion. “Once they’re on a train they can ride it out to Montfort for all we know. You can act like this kidnapping is all an inconvenience but have any of you thought about how the disappearance of Mare Barrow is going to affect you?” You could hear a pin drop in the room. “This little red girl is the face of more than any of us can even begin to understand. For the first time in history our country is not divided and withering in poverty. You let this little rebellion win, you let Mare Barrow die and you are diminishing the hope of recovery and you are asking for another fucking war. Do you want to see what will happen when you have hundreds of newbloods, who are more powerful than any silver in this room, tear this kingdom apart because you destroyed the one person who they could rely on?” Silence hung in the air like a thick wool blanket. “Didn’t think so.”

x Mare probably shouldn’t have electrocuted Pig. It was just that it was too easy. It also felt like a joke because the smell of fried flesh kind of smelled like bacon. It seemed meant to be too since she hadn’t hit so accurately since the baby was conceived. The humor was pretty short lived. The silent stormed into the train car as Mare lay curled up on the ground, letting out occasional groans of pain. She originally muffled the wear sounds by biting forcefully into her sweater. Unfortunately, out of pure distaste, Pig’s little friend had decided to wrestle her into a position where she was lying on her stomach and tied her hands behind her back. “I told you not to move her until I was ready!” The silent raged, shoving Pig’s friend against the wall and wrapping her slender fingers around his neck.

 “What did you idiots think was going to happen?” 

“Brutus said that we had to move quickly.” Mare was surprised by his lack of fear. “Anthony fled as soon as we mentioned leaving. He’s a traitor.” The man spat. “Brutus just wanted to speed up the process and then she killed him.” His voice was filled with hatred and Mare could feel their eyes on her. All her strength was sucked out of her as she sensed the silent moving towards her.