Two Song Suggestions!

Queue: Deciphering the Signal from the Transformers Movie Soundtrack. (Don't ask just do it.)

DAVIDSON: The Night Before the Attack.

Five hours to wheels up. Although I need to go in with a clear head, I make myself a quick drink to take the edge off. My hands shake as I pour a small glass of whiskey. But once the warmth of the drink makes it way down my throat, my shoulders relax.

Three crowns will be brought to their knees. Two I don't expect to survive. But Cygnet has always been a wild card. Both Queens hold a vendetta against their father's killer. And I can only hope that once Samos is dead that our plans to bring down the Cygnets follow through.

Fort Patriot is another headache altogether. The base is well defended, with walls that are nearly impossible to penetrate. Breaking past them is dependant on the air assault.

And then there's Archeon. A week ago I wouldn't be worried, but since finding out Mare is pregnant, and with Maven's child no less, well, hence the drink.

I still can't believe it. The whole point of using her as a spy was because no one in their right mind would ever believe she would go back to him, let alone work with him. And now this.

I move to put the whiskey bottle away. With this line of thinking I won't be able to stop. But just before I do I hear a knock at my door.

My house in Officer's Row is far too big for mist me. And I count the days until I can return to Monfort. To my husband.

My heart twists in my chest as I think of him and I wonder what's he's doing right now.

I make my way to the front door and when I open it any thoughts of Monfort dissipate.

Mare stands before me. Her hands are held out, palms facing skyward. She looks like she's been crying.

"I didn't know who else to go to. I think I just ruined everything."

MARE

Davidson quickly ushers me inside. My vision is blurred from crying.

Davidson sits me on a couch. It's cool to the touch but it calms me just a little.

"Tell me what happened, Mare and I swear I will listen to every word you have to say. I promise I will believe you."

I nod head and wipe my eyes again. I see behind Davidson an empty glass along with a bottle of whiskey beside it. So many thoughts run through my head.

"Mare," Davidson says. "What happened?"

I swallow hard. How can I make him understand? How can I make anyone understand?"

"Mare, I promise I will hear you out, no judgment."

I can barely nod. I look down at my hands.

Then I tell him.

"It was an hour ago…"

I was walking back to my house on Officer's Row. It was getting close to dark so I was in a rush. After the meeting I didn't want to run into Cal, so I took a different route.

I was a block away when I felt a sharp sting on my neck. And then everything just went… black.

The next thing I know, I'm in this room. The lights are on but I can't feel them. I try to focus my eyes and look around but everything is hazy. I try sitting up but I can't. Something heavy sits on my chest and around my neck. At first, I think it's some kind of rope, but as I blink, I realize the rope is moving and hissing.

When I look down, two milky blue eyes meet mine, along with a forked tongue peeking in and out of its mouth.

I flinch and try to move away but the weight on my chest tightens. I wince at the pain and try to call to my lightning, but I come up short.

"Hurts doesn't it," a voice says from behind me.

I try to turn my head but the tight sensation increases around my neck. "A red-tailed boa. Typically a defensive predator, and nearly blind. But its unique hunting style is one to be admired. It compresses the body of its prey until blood flow to the heart and brain is completely cut off, killing its food in a matter of minutes."

I don't need for the person to move around to my line of sight to know who it is. I know that cold, callous voice anywhere.

"Larentia," I manage to choke out.

"It's Queen to you red," she spits.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask, doing my best to push through the pain in my chest.

"Because you killed my daughter!"

I flinch at her outburst, eyes wide. I open my mouth to say something but the snake's tail squeezes more around my neck. I can't speak, but I can breathe.

"Don't bother denying it," she hisses in unison with the snake. "I figured it out a long time ago."

The snakes head moves closer to my neck, letting up some of the tension but its hold remains secure. "I don't know what you're talking about." I try to flex my fingers but the lightning never appears.

"Don't bother, we have plenty of Silent Stone in the Rift. Bringing some with us wasn't an issue."

"Us? How many people know?" I say, no longer denying it.

But Larentia is smarter than Evangeline, "enough."

"How did you figure it out?"

"It didn't make sense that Iral would betray us. Especially when their loyalties lie with Tiberius and not Maven. And I then I remembered that woman in Whitefire, the one who could change her appearance. Fooled us all if it weren't for that other red. But of course, if there are more people with your ability than there must more shapeshifters. That wasn't you the prince was with that day, was it?"

I don't say anything, I'm too stunned to do so.

She takes my silence as my answer, "You certainly had the prince fooled." Then with a clawed, manicured hand, she reaches and pulls at my hair. I wince. She brings her face closer to mind and with a snarl she says, "You are the traitor, not Iral. The spy we've been looking for. A red rat." She uses her other hand and grabs my jaw, pulling me forward. I feel the boa shift and twirl around me further down, wrapping around my stomach. My hands are held against me by the snake so I can't even pull away.

"How long have you been planning this? How deep does your treachery go?"

The snake tightens against my chest again.

"Tell me what you're planning," she demands.

Se lets go of my hair but maintains a firm grip on my jaw. Then the snake tightens even further around my neck, it's becoming difficult to breathe. My face goes warm and tingly from the lack of circulation.

"St-stop…," I choke out. And just when I think it can't get worse, the boa strengthens its grip around my stomach. Panic consumes me and my vision begins to spot.

"Please, don't….," tears prick my eyes as I beg. Her grip on my jaw remains. As my blood circulation begins to cut off, true terror flows throughout my entire body.

And then something happens, a warmth courses through my body from my stomach and it reaches down to my toes and up to my chest and arms and even to the tips of my ears.

It feels like a relief, like the kind I felt the day I fell at Queenstrial. I thought I was going to die that day, it feels exactly like that but different at the same time. All the pain evaporates and I close my eyes and welcome the feeling.

Then I feel the boa loosen its grip, I feel it collapse around me like a dead weight.

I open my eyes and look down and realize that's because it is dead. I look down at my hands and I feel a renewed strength, similar to the kind I felt when I killed Evangeline. I stand with no effort despite being crushed to death just moments ago.

I look over to Larentia, who now cowers against the wall. Her face is pale, but not so in a way that she is scared, it's more than that, she seems to be drained of life.

Curious.

She tried to kill you, my conscience says, almost sinister. She tried to kill your child. And I bet that even if she knew, she wouldn't care. She might even try to kill it first.

A child for a child, I follow the line of thinking.

I slowly stalk towards the doomed woman.

"You look frightened, Queen," I sneer. "Don't tell me you're afraid."

Her eyes dart towards the door. She makes run for it but I'm faster. I beat her to it and just before she can turn around I bring the back my hand across her face hard. She lets out a cry and she falls to the ground.

She puts her hand up to her mouth and when she brings it back it a bit of silver blood stains her fingertips.

I tilt my head.

You knew what you have to do, the inner voice whispers.

I nod in agreement. "I certainly do. You are going to pay for what you did to us," I say, meaning all things. "You look so small, Larentia, with no creature for you to hide behind," I mimic her callous tone. "Now you know. You finally understand what it's like to feel powerless and weak."

She tries to move away, pushing on her elbows. By it's useless. All I can see is red, the blood of millions she never thought about other than someone to carry her coat.

"You look just as she did," I taunt, remembering her daughter's death. "You raised her to be a fighter. But she didn't when the time came. She knew her fate as soon as I drove that dagger into her chest."

Deep inside I feel something screaming at me to stop, but I can't, the anger, the hatred, the pure loathing courses through my veins.

"I want you to know that this is your fault. You brought this on yourself. You all did."

I bend to a knee and clasp hand around her throat. She tries to fight back. But she's too weak from whatever I did to her. And I'm stronger.

As I wrap my fingers around her neck I notice silent stone manacles on both of my wrists. I still can't feel my lightning, but I feel something else, something just as strong and just as lethal. The tug on that day of the wedding, the tug I felt just minutes ago when the now dead boa was crushing me to death. Crushing us.

Her futile attempts to push me off begin to lessen. And I watch as he pales even more. As she weakens I grow stronger. I feel her pulse under my fingertips slow.

Then her arms fall the ground, but I'm not done yet. I lean into the power that drains from her body. It's exhilarating. Then her face begins to wrinkle as if she's aging by the decade before my eyes. But I can't let go. The pull is too strong, the power is too strong, it's more addicting than any drug. I keep holding on and I can see her veins under her skin.

Let go, Mare, I hear a voice say. I know that voice anywhere.

"Maven."

Let go, he says again. Don't become this person, Mare. Don't become this monster, Not like me.

My vision begins to clear and tears sting my eyes again as I let go. The longing as painful as ever.

Queue: Inner Demons by Julia Brennan

I stand and look down at what I've done.

Larentia lies lifeless on the floor. Her body drained beyond recognition. And for the first time since finding out I'm pregnant, I throw up.

I bend over and empty my guts all over the carpeted floor next to her dead body. Then the thought causes me to vomit more. I fall on all fours and heave my stomach until it's empty.

Once I'm done I sit up on my heels and run a hand through my hair.

I look around the room, at the chaos I've caused. Now that my head is a bit clear I realize I'm in a bedroom. The dead snake lies in the large chair I was held in. Seeing from this view I realize how long it is, nearly fifteen feet. I flash to when it wrapped itself around my body and around my stomach. The fear I felt when it began to squeeze. I put my hand on my stomach. I don't know for sure if the baby is okay, but my heart tells me it is.

The strength I felt when I killed Larentia, still courses through my body. I feel a strange calm similar to a healer's touch.

But despite that, my hands begin to shake. It's a struggle to stand as my legs wobble and I lean against the wall when I finally do. I still can't feel my lightning because of the manacles Larentia must have put on my wrists. They're different from the ones I wore in Whitefire, not strong enough to make me physically weak, but enough to hold back my ability.

Then how was I able to do what I just did?

My mind is a mess right now and the only thing I can think about right now is getting these damn manacles off. They add to the mix of emotions that I can't handle right now, even though the feel of them on my wrists no longer troubles me, thanks to Alex.

I find the key on a nightstand near the bed. It takes me a few tries to insert the key. Once the manacles fall to the carpet with a soft thump, the buzz of the electricity in the room fills my senses. It brings a bit of comfort, but only a little.

But soon it becomes too much. I've escaped death numerous times. So many have tried to kill me, but how is it this time that affects me the most.

The answer is simple and it scares the hell out of me.

My breathing begins to pick up and I can't stand being in this room any longer. I wipe away any remaining tears and run away as fast I can.

DAVIDSON

I stare at Mare now, its all can do. Processing what she's told me is horrifying.

She looks so scared, and the look her face makes my heart twist unexpectedly. She is so young.

My first instinct is to ask if Larentia said anything more about who knows, but I know that's not the way to go about things. Mare isn't much older than Riley when we first met. Granted the situation was a bit different but the fear is still real. So the first step is to do what I did then.

"Mare," I say in my best comforting voice. I move to gently hold her trimmering hands.

She flinches violently and backs away further into the cushions of the couch, trying to make herself disappear.

"Don't, please don't. I don't- I don't want to hurt-," she stammers.

"You are not going to hurt me, Mare, or anyone else. There is nothing wrong with you or your son." I say the words quickly but softly because she needs to hear them. Her concerns are clear, so I must quickly reassure her. It works, at least a little.

"What do you mean?"

"I think I know what happened, at least to an extent."

"What?"

"It's called transmaternal potential. It's a very rare condition and I've only ever heard of it happening a handful of times. One in nine hundred thousand pregnant women. But here's the catch, I only ever heard of it happening with silver unions."

"So what does that have to do with me?"

"What happens is the mother will experience and sometimes even control the abilities of their child for a short time, once maybe twice during their pregnancy. I think what you experienced is your son's ability."

"But you said it only occurs during silver unions. So how am I able to go through this? Have you never heard of something like this happening to anyone besides silvers? Not even in Monfort?"

I sigh. "Mare, I want you to understand something, something I haven't told you about Monfort."

Mare tenses. She should.

"I made Monfort out to be this safe haven, but in reality, it's far from perfect. Don't get me wrong it is much better off than Norta. And I spent decades making it was it is now, but you have to understand Monfort has only been a Republic for twenty years. There are still thousands of silvers, reds, and Ardents alike that remember what it was like before. If there were any unions between a silver and red, I would know about it. Everyone in Monfort would know about it. Sometimes it just takes time to heal."

"So you've been lying this whole time?"

"I'm a politician Mare, I didn't lie I just told the truth with more flavor. But I swear on everything I love that it gets better. I look at Norta, a place I once called home and although it's under different circumstances, I see the same thing happening here. It's going to get better Mare, I promise. We just need to try, that's the best we can do."

Mare looks down at her hands, which have stopped shaking. Her face is calm and neutral, I can't tell what she's thinking, but I can guess.

"I'm sorry about the other day," I say.

"What?"

"The way I reacted, when we found out you were pregnant. I was surprised and...worried."

"You were scared."

"Yes," I admit. "I was scared. I'm scared that it might fall to pieces. I'm scared of what will happen after tomorrow. I've been scared every day of my life, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little, but I always push through."

The tension in Mare's shoulders disappears, but her next question catches me by surprise.

"What is it like getting to be with love of your life?" she whispers.

I'm not sure what to say at first. But I get her meaning and I answer in the only way I know how.

"It's...magical. It feels like a dream and a reality all at the same time when we're together. I used to think feeling that much love for one person wasn't possible. But when I'm with him...anything is possible. And every day I spend away from him feels like I'm always trying to find my way back. Like a pull like from a magnet."

She doesn't answer instead Mare nods slowly and stands up, "I have to go or my family will be worried. Thank you, Davidson."

I walk her towards the door and open it. But before she can leave I have one more thing to say.

"Mare," she turns and meets my eyes. "Whatever happens tomorrow, I'll have your back."

"Alex told you about her offer."

"She did. I'll be here every step of the way, no matter what you decide."

Mare nods in understanding and walks away.

I feel an awful sense of dread as I close the door behind her.

ANALYSIS

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