I will be using some of the dialogue that happens in King's Cage for this chapter. I will write those words in bold italics. As a disclaimer I did not the words in bold italics. They are not my own and they do not belong to me. I felt it was stronger to use the words from the book for this chapter. I repeat they are not mine if it is in bold and italics.

Mare's Pov

I wake up to a knock on the door.

I get out of Maven's bed, wondering who would knock on the door this early in the morning. No one comes into Maven's room. I hesitate to open the door but I do it anyways.

Three Red maids come inside, one holding makeup, one holding hair supplies, and another holding a long red dress.

"We were sent here by King Maven. He gave us this letter to give to you." The maid with the hair supplies says, handing me the letter.

I open the letter up and begin to read it.

Dear Mare,

I give this letter so for one you will know they were truly sent by me to you. Secondly they are here to help you get ready. Along with this letter is a speech that you must memorize. You must be able to play this role if you want to save yourself and countless other Reds. You have until midday to remember this speech. Do be a good girl and cooperate. Until then.

~Maven

I look at the speech that is with it. He can't possibly be serious with this. This could put my family in danger.

"Miss we have to get you ready now. The king said to allow you to read it while we work. Though it is early, he wanted to give you as much time to memorize what he has given you." The maid with the makeup says.

The other maid puts the dress down on the bed and the three take me to the bathroom. They undress me and put me in the bath. One maid holds the speech up so I can read it as the other two scrub me down. I reread the speech, knowing I must at least memorize it if I want to avoid Maven's anger.

The third maid puts down the speech when they begin to wash my hair. They scrub any possible dirt out of my hair and make my hair smell as sweet as the soap they used on my body.

When they are done, I step out of the bath and they dry me off. I sit in front of the mirror in only the towel they wrapped around my body.

They pat dry my hair and let it sit for a bit as they move on to my makeup. Surprisingly they do light makeup. Enough to make my features stand out but little enough to show I'm still only a Red. No more no less.

One maid leaves and brings back the dress and undergarments. I put on the undergarments and then let them do the rest. They tell me to step into the dress and I do. They tighten the dress but it's not as stiff as some of the other dresses I've been in. The dress is long enough to cover the manacles I have on. It's red with silver running through it.

It feels like my blood. Red with Silver abilities.

I hold the speech, reading it again and again to drill it in my head. Just the words of it makes me want to cough up blood. How could I ever utter these words?

The maids move on to my hair. They just pin it down and leave it out. I must have made a questioning face because one maid says, "It's to hide the mark on your neck."

I move the hair away from my neck and see a reddish-purple bruise on my neck. My thoughts go back to what happen last night. Maven must of did that when he was kissing my neck. I knew he was sucking and biting but I didn't think it that hard.

I blush a deep red and put the hair back covering my neck.

"Thank you." I say.

They put silver shoes on my feet. I didn't even see them come in with shoes.

We leave the bathroom.

"Some guards will be here later on to bring you to King Maven." A maid says, and then all three of them leave.

I sit on Maven's bed and continue to memorize it. I feel sick each time I read it. Maven isn't going to really make me say this, is he?

Just as the maids said, guards come in later to escort me to Maven.

I follow them but look around to make sure I'm going a familiar way and that they are leading me to Maven.

We stop and enter a room where Maven, Evangeline, Ptolemus, and Samson are in. I shiver at one look to Samson. The guards leave and close the doors behind them. Is this another interrogation?

"Relax Mare, nothing is going to happen to you. I was just telling these three of their role." Maven says.

It doesn't calm my fears by much but at least I know Maven wouldn't let them do anything to me that he doesn't want.

"Now, did you memorize that speech like I told you to?" He asks.

"Yes." I reply.

"Good. In a matter of minutes you will be giving that speech in front of the high houses and a camera for the whole kingdom to see. You will play the broken little spy who just wanted to save her family and got caught up in a war. You will deliver that speech perfectly and gain the hearts of those who see you as a traitor." Maven says.

"I can't say this speech." I respond.

"And why not?" Maven asks.

"This could put my family in danger. They are stuck there with the very people this speech will attack. I cannot tell this lie. You're telling me to abandon everything I believed in and spit on it." I say.

"It wouldn't be the first time you lied so boldly. Besides think of how many Reds this can save. It'll tell them to forget joining this war. You don't really have much of a choice. Now be a good little lightning girl and do whatever it takes to sell this speech." Maven says.

Maven turns and leaves first to face the crowd. Then the siblings and lastly Samson and I.

"You better do this right or we'll all be facing the king's wrath." Samson says lowly to me.

I shudder but pretend that his voice didn't affect me. I listen to Maven speak. He calls for Samson first. Samson steps in front of the camera and delivers what he is supposed to say.

"I am Samson of House Merandus, and I performed the interrogation of Mare Barrow. As a whisper, my ability allows me to bypass the usual lies and twists of speech that most prisoners rely on. So when Mare Barrow told us the truth of the Scarlet Guard and its horrors, I confess I did not believe her. I testify here, on record, that I was wrong to doubt her. What I saw in her memories was painful and chilling." Samson says (page 88 of King's Cage)

Maven signals for me to step forward and begin. I lift my head up to look into the camera, feeling sick to my core. But I can't freeze up now.

"I went to the Scarlet Guard willingly. They told me my brother had been executed while serving in the legions, for a crime he did not commit." My voice begins to crack as I think of Shade.

"They asked if I wanted vengeance for his death. I did. So I swore my allegiance to their cause, and I was placed as a servant inside the royal residence at the Hall of the Sun. I came to the palace as a Red spy, but even I did not know I was something else entirely. During the right of Queenstrial, I discovered I somehow possessed electrical ability. After consultation, the late King Tiberias and Queen Elara decided to take me in, to quietly study what I was and, hopefully teach me what my ability could become. They disguised me as a Silver to protect me. They rightfully knew that a Red with an ability would be considered a freak at best, an abomination at worst, and they hid my identity to keep me safe from the prejudices of both Red and Silver." I say, trying not to choke over my own words. (Page 89 of King's Cage)

I feel so wrong for saying all this.

"But the Scarlet Guard discovered what I was. They threatened to expose me publicly, both to ruin the credibility of the king and to put me in danger. I was forced to serve them as a spy, to follow their orders, and to facilitate their infiltration of the king's court. My ultimate mission was to gain Silver allies for the Scarlet Guard. I was instructed to target Prince Tiberias, a cunning warrior and the heir to the throne of Norta. He was… he was easily convinced." I continue.

The Scarlet Guard is most likely watching this right now. They know of the lies I am speaking.

"When Prince Tiberias killed his father, King Maven acted swiftly, making the only choice he thought he could. He was grieving, and we were sentenced to execution in the arena. We escaped with our lives only because of the Scarlet Guard. They took us both to an island stronghold off the Nortan coast. I was held prisoner there, as were Prince Tiberias and, I discovered, the brother I thought I'd lost. Like me he had an ability, and like me, he was feared by the Scarlet Guard. They intended to kill us, the ones they call newbloods. When I discovered that others like me existed, and the Scarlet Guard was hunting them down to exterminate them, I managed to escape with my brother and a few others. Prince Tiberias came with us. I know now that he intended to build himself an army to challenge his brother. After a few months, the Scarlet Guard caught up with us all, and they killed the few abilitied Reds we were able to find. My brother was murdered in the conflict, but I escaped alone." I say. (page 90 of King's Cage)

My mask begins to break as I feel tears stream down my face. I feel terrible for saying these things.

"With nowhere else to go, I turned myself in to King Maven and whatever justice he saw to give me. I stand here now a willing prisoner. I am sorry for what I have done, but I am ready to do whatever I can to stop the Scarlet Guard and their terrifying hope for the future. They stand for no one but themselves and the people they can control. They kill everyone else, everyone who stands in their way. Everyone who is different." I say through my tears. (page 91 of King's Cage)

Maven clears his throat, signaling me to say the last line.

"We, the newbloods, are not fit for their dawn." I force out.

I am to stop there but if I am going to give a speech for Maven then something I say is going to be from my heart at least.

"Right now the Scarlet Guard is holding my family captive, and Prince Tiberias has his army of newbloods. The two are currently working together in this war with the common enemy between them being King Maven. I am sorry to you all. All I ever wanted was to be treated fairly and for my family and loved ones to be safe. I never wanted this to happen. I just wanted my family to be safe and not worry about us being harmed or separated. I didn't mean for any of this to happen." I say.

My tears begin to fall more as I think of my family. Maven grabs my hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. He gives me a remorseful look as if he has pity for me.

"To the newbloods among you, hiding from what seems to be little more than genocide, my own doors are open. I have instructed the royal palaces of Archeon, Harbor Bay, Delphie, and Summerton, as well as the military forts of Norta, to protect your kind from the slaughter. You will have food, shelter, and if you wish it, training for your abilities. You are my subjects to protect, and I will do it with every resource I have to give. Mare Barrow is not the first of you to join us, and she will not be the last." Maven says to the camera and crowd. (page 92 of King's Cage)

I step out of the camera's view as discreetly as I can. I don't want to be here. I want to go back to Maven's room away from everybody. I feel like a fake again. A lie. It's as if the ghost of Mareena haunts me now, reminding me that all I am is just a lie. A puppet.

When the camera is off and Maven addresses the high houses, I turn to a guard and ask to be escorted back to Maven's room.

"I do not have orders to bring you back as of yet." The guard says to me.

"Please. I do not feel well. Recalling such memories of my time there has had more of an effect on me than I realized. If King Maven asks you should tell him that I made you take me back. Just please take me back." I say.

The guard reluctantly agrees and takes me back to Maven's room.

I sit on Maven's bed, recalling my words. I've been drilling those words in my head since early morning. They ring in my mind. What will my family and Kilorn think after hearing such words? Cal. What will Cal think? I painted him to be the monster instead of Maven. Even when speaking what was in my heart, it just really helped Maven more.

If I thought the Guard wasn't coming to save me before this, then I know they're really not coming for me after what I just said.

The lightning girl is just a puppet. Always been one and will always be. No matter whose side I'm on.