The Red servants are thrown roughly into the cell, each one wincing except for the blonde one, the one who appears on all of the broadcasts. The cell bars weave back to their original positions as Evangeline turns on her heel and leaves. I wipe at the red blood staining my uniform, taking in one last glance of the pitiful traitors.

Suddenly, my eyes widen as they land on the last servant. I remember him- his bottle green eyes are familiar.

He's from Mare's village. "You," I whisper to him, and he smirks at me.

"Me," he says. He isn't just from Mare's village, I realize. He's Mare's friend. Why would she do something like this? Did she know this would happen? I spin on my heel and turn away, thinking of Mare's distant, upset eyes. She needs to explain some things. I walk to Evangeline's side, and she glances to me, her cheeks still wet.

"To the bunker?" she says, in an attempt to be bored, but her voice trembles. I merely nod, and we quickly set off on our way. On our way down, the Queen and Lucas pass us briskly. They don't look at us. Evangeline forces the door open, walking through, and I follow, not bothering to stop the red blood dripping from my hands. Everyone is already looking at the doorway, so their eyes latch onto us immediately. Mare stares at my uniform, her eyes wide and disturbed at the mess of red.

"Mare," I say angrily. "Come with me. Now."

Everyone follows anyway as I turn quickly back to walk to the cells. Mare's breaths are frightened and shallow. She knows I've found him, I think. I glance back to see Maven's hand grabbing onto Mare's shoulder. He knows how afraid she is; he knows it all.

Evangeline, whose eyes are dry now, turns to me. "You should've killed him where he stood," she claims, picking at the red blood on my shirt. "I wouldn't leave the Red devil alive."

I glance backwards again. Mare bites her lip, like her teeth are a seal on her mouth. She bites so hard I'm surprised her lips aren't bleeding. Maven's hand is even tighter on her shoulder. They both look terrified, though I'm not sure why Maven would be scared. Maybe just because Mare is. The closer we get to the dungeons, the further we go down the steps, the harder Mare bites her lip, the harder Maven grips her shoulder, and the wider their eyes get.

The blonde one- Farley or something- is leaning against Mare's friend from the village. She sneers at us, confident despite her position. She even spits, right at Evangeline's feet, a mix of crimson blood and saliva. Evangeline's lip curls in disgust.

"Take her tongue for that," she snarls, rushing the cell. Thankfully, she stops short. Farley just stares, essentially entertained, and still very confident.

"A little violent for a princess," she quips. Evangeline opens her mouth, but I reach over and pull her back. I glance once to Mare, then slowly raise a hand to point at her friend from the village.

"You."

A muscle twitches in his cheek. I turn to Mare, who is paler than usual, and not because of her makeup. "Mare, explain this," I say forcefully. Her mouth opens, her gaze flicking back and forth from me to Kilorn. Maven is paler, too. Neither of them say anything, not able to or not wanting to. "He's your friend," I snap. "Explain this."

Evangeline gasps, spinning to face her. I almost feel bad for Mare, but I can't, not if this is all her fault. "You brought him here!" she screeches, jumping closer to her. "You did this!?"

Mare takes a deep breath, Maven pulling her backwards more. I'm so sure that they're going to run away that I nearly jump when Mare speaks. "I did n-nothing," she stutters, voice trembling as everyone looks at her. "I mean, I did get him a job here. He was at the lumberyards and it was hard work, deadly work-" She takes another huge breath and her words start to move faster, powered by fear. "He's- he was my friend, back in the village. I just wanted to make sure he was okay. I got him the job as a servant, just like-" Her gaze flickers to me, but she doesn't reveal anything about me helping her, that night in the Stilts. She moves her gaze back to the ground and finishes, "I thought I was helping him."

Maven's hand lifts off her shoulder. He steps towards the bars, eyeing the servants curiously. He then gestures to their outfits. "They seem to be only servants," he says blandly. Oh, yes, of course.

"I'd say the same, except we found them trying to escape through a drainpipe," I snipe back at him. "Took us a while to drag them out."

"Is this all of them?" Father says, looking through the bars with a frown.

I shake my head in response. "There were more ahead, but they got to the river. How many, I don't know."

Next to me, Evangeline raises her eyebrows. "Well, let's find out. Call for the queen. And in the meantime..." She turns and faces my father. He grins and nods. I glance behind me again. Mare looks from Evangeline to my father, disgust in her gaze. Maven is still looking at the servants. I'm not able to read the emotion in his eyes. When Mare's eyes shift to Kilorn, she softens slightly. It's very obvious they have a close bond, one Maven or I probably couldn't achieve with Mare. I feel pretty bad for them, but I know it's necessary.

"Cal, I leave the honor to you," Father says, placing a hand on my shoulder. Mare's eyes shift to me, her eyes wide and pleading. Please don't, I can almost hear her say. Don't do it, Cal. But I have to. I glance at her, trying to apologize without words.

I think she understands my apology. I don't think she accepts it.

I turn to one of the Sentinels- one of House Gliacon. "Sentinel Gliacon, I find myself in need of some ice."

Evangeline giggles in response. "Good choice," she says.

Behind me, Maven has returned to Mare's side. "You don't need to see this," he breathes. She shrugs him off, staring at Kilorn. She doesn't want to leave him. I don't even know why I'm a little bit jealous of that, when she's probably going to hate me after this. Unless she knows how sorry I am, which I doubt she cares about, considering the situation.

"Let her stay," crows Evangeline. "This will teach her to treat Reds as friends." She waves open the bars of the cell as she turns back to it. She points to Farley. "Start with her. She needs to be broken." The Sentinel nods, pulling Farley out of the cell. Both Walsh and Kilorn hurry to the bars, eyes wide and fearful. The other member, who stands at the back with a bleeding and broken leg, is wide-eyed. The Sentinel forces Farley to her knees.

"Sir?"

I move to Farley's side, breathing heavily. I hesitate, then say, "How many more of you are there?" Farley looks up, gritting her teeth and locking her jaw in place. She's determined. I sigh. "Start with the arm."

The Sentinel wrenches out Farley's arm. Farley yelps but doesn't say a thing. Kilorn curls his lip in disgust, snarling, "And you call us the savages."

Sentinel Gliacon pulls away Farley's sleeve, setting hands to her skin. Farley screams, her cry echoing around the dungeon. I bite my lip, glancing away from her and the Gliacon girl. I kneel down in front of her. "Where are the others?" I inquire. Farley takes in a deep breath, going quiet as the Sentinel lifts her hands slightly. I lean in further, waiting for the answers.

Suddenly, she snaps forward, headbutting me with all her might. "We are everywhere," she shouts, laughing, but her laughter is cut off by a scream as the Sentinel resumes freezing her blood. I pull back, frowning as I put a hand to my nose, which is bloody and broken. It hurts, but I've been through worse, I guess. Farley's blood is starting to form icicles, points starting to stick out of her skin. I glance away.

Behind me, I hear Mare murmuring in horror. "Blood," she whispers, disgusted and terrified. "She's freezing her blood."

It continues on like that for a while, the Sentinel moving up and down her arm, the red points growing larger and larger. Farley doesn't speak a word, breath whistling in and out. Finally, I jump to my feet. "Enough."

A Skonos skin healer drops down next to Farley, starting her work. Farley chuckles darkly as everything slowly recedes, becoming warm again. "All to do it again, eh?"

I exchange glances with Father, who nods slowly. I sigh. "Indeed," I say, turning back to the shiver. However, we're interrupted before we can even continue.

"WHERE IS SHE?" a voice shouts, echoing down into the dungeons. I recognize it immediately- Ptolemus, Evangeline's brother. I wasn't sure if he had made it. I'm not sure if it's good or bad that he did.

Evangeline whirls around, hurrying to the bottom of the stairs. "I'm here!" she shouts. Footsteps echo down the stairs, and Ptolemus enters the room, quickly embracing his sister. Farley curses under her breath on the floor. After he lets go of Evangeline, Ptolemus starts toward the cell, his hands flexing and his eyes horribly furious. The bars quiver, loud screeches sounding out as they scrape the concrete. Oh. Of course.

"Ptolemus, not yet-" I growl, latching onto his arm in an attempt to stop him, but he shoves me off. I stumble, trying to regain my balance, while Evangeline runs forward, pulling at his hand.

"No, we need them to talk!" she shouts. Ptolemus shrugs her off, though more gently than he did me, striding forward with anger and power. As the Sentinels watch silently and the bars open to him, Walsh and Kilorn scatter quickly to the walls, Farley watching in horror.

"You will not threaten my sister again!" shouts Ptolemus, directing a bar straight through the taller one's chest. Said taller one chokes and gasps, blood soaking his shirt almost immediately- dying. And Ptolemus smiles at that.

He turns to Kilorn. I take a long, deep breath.

Suddenly, Ptolemus stumbles forward, just a bit. My eyes widen as I see Mare has literally thrown herself onto him, slamming one hand to his throat, sparks jumping to her fingertips. Ptolemus seizes, his uniform vibrating and smoking, essentially cooking him. Then he drops, Mare freeing herself and stepping back in somewhat satifaction. "Ptolemus!" cries Evangeline, scrambling to his side. One of Mare's leftover shocks jumps to her fingers. She spins to Mare, angry fire in her eyes. "How dare you-!" she snarls out.

Mare hardly blinks, looking disinterested. Is that what I look like? "He'll be fine," she says dismissively. "Like you said, we need them to talk. They can't do that if they're dead." She states it so easily, so simply.

She looks around the room. Everyone is wide-eyed and afraid, but when she looks at me, I can't bear to look at her at all. What are you afraid of? a part of me asks. Another part of me knows what I am afraid of; what will she look at me with? Anger? Fear? Hate? I glance to Maven, who doesn't look afraid at all, just sad. Not for Mare, for the dead tall boy. Speaking of Maven, he turns to face Father.

"Mother can attend to the prisoners later," he says. "But the people upstairs will want to see their king and know he is safe. So many have died. You should comfort them, Father. And you as well, Cal."

A hand touches my shoulder. I know, without looking, that it's Mare's. "He's right Cal," she breathes. "This can wait."

In sharp contrast, Evangeline bares her teeth as she sits on the floor. She growls, "The court will want answers, not embraces! This must be done now! Your Majesty, rip the truth from them-"

Father shakes his head. "They will keep," he says. "And tomorrow, the truth will be known." Mare's grip tightens on my shoulder, and I sigh, relaxing back into her touch. As I do so, the Sentinels drag Farley back into the cell. She stares at Mare as she's being dragged. Evangeline half drags her brother out, but before she exits as the bars knit behind her, she stops my me.

"You are weak, my prince," she hisses.

I stare at the floor.

Someone approaches, standing next to me. I hardly notice until they speak. "How many dead?" It's Mare. She sounds incredibly worried.

I glance once up at her. "Ten so far," I mutter. "Three in the shooting, eight in the explosion. Fifteen more wounded." I take a deep breath. "But they'll all heal," I mutter. I jerk my thumb back to the injured and the healers. Mare turns, staring out at them. Then she moves her gaze to the dead, and her hand slaps over her mouth. She must have seen the children.

Maven approaches her, taking her hands and leading her off. I don't have time to be jealous. I wipe, in vain, at the red blood on my hands that's dripping onto the floor.

"The time for tears is over," thunders my father. "Now we honor the dead, heal the wounded, and avenge our fallen. I am the king. I do not forget. I do not forgive. I have been lenient in the past, allowing our Red brothers a good life of prosperity, of dignity. But they spit upon us, they reject our mercy, and they have brought upon themselves the worst kind of doom."

My gaze moves to him as he snarls, curling his lip in disgust as he throws down the silver spear with the red rag, clanging across the floor with a sound like a bell. I stare down at it as it lands in the middle of the floor.

"These fools, these terrorists, these murderers, will be brought to justice. And they will die. I swear on my crown, on my throne, and on my sons, they will die."

A/N: Hurray, new chapter! Please R/R~