DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Adara au Caecilii Last heir of House Caecilli, former House Mars, ward of Otho
Clodia au Lucianus Last heir of House Lucianus, former House Mars
Xander au Virius Son of Otho
Liber au Virius ArchPrimus of the Institute of Venus, son of Otho
Otho au Virius Father, Praetor of the Legio XIII, once Daggershadow to Magnus au Grimmus
Silva au Bestia Legate of the Legio XIII
Jiminy Carver, a Violet
Kondo Lurcher, a Gray
Simone former lover of Adara, a Pink
Events happen in parallel with Iron Gold by Pierce Brown.
I would have claimed the glory. Instead, my brothers fed me shame.
I kneel beside the great mountain altar that saddles the oceans of our world. Waves rage. Pillars of white marble and shimmering silver pierce the volcanic peak.
Around us swirls a noble selection. The great Gold Houses of Venus claim the best of our year. Their ships slice the aquamarine waves, cutting across a world of froth and fortified islands for Olympus. None will come to claim me. Though fresh blood drips from my face, I was denied the scar of the Peerless.
"Rue this day," a proctor tells us. Many golden boys and girls surround me in this seat of dishonor, broken like wheat stalks. They say there is more rape in the Venusian Institute than any other, and all that have been violated graduate Shamed. "You who are humiliated will be as nothing in this world," he jeers. A hook-nosed boy on my left wails, shading his battered face. Not even the distant, hard colonies of Pluto remain to him and the others. They will flit around the Society Remnant, hungry, scraping out a meager living in the struggle against the Republic. I know I will never leave this planet. Even now, my paltry holdings are being stripped away, forfeit collateral against the cost of my tuition.
Across the crowd, I see Xander and Liber join their father. Their eyes flash at me over the stone, grinning, and I remember the slap of flesh as the twins held me prostrate. "Whispers," they grunted. "The people are whispering your name. Whispering comes before shouting. And we won't have that."
My guardian does not acknowledge me. It was his calculated cruelty that spurred them to the act, paid proctors to arrange it just before the Victory, denying my success, afraid of what it might mean for his House. Bronze, he forced his sons to call me. Drab. It did not matter that my House sailed with Silenius au Lune, that I sat in the Primus seat of House Mars or cut four highDrafts down in duels. My legacy was a threat, my growing strength an issue, so he had his boys betray me, shattering ribs and my nose, violating me like a common Pink. Stealing away my glory. Threatening my survival.
Shamed, destitute and the last of my name, I recount the final words my father spoke to me. With one foot on a shuttle, bound for Luna and the Reaper's war, he told me to act like Iron Gold. As I watch my adoptive family smirk and preen, I know how I'll spend the days of my life. My guardian thinks he has broken me, but he's wrong. While his sons collected seashells, I collected scars. My rage fills me, but it can't consume me.
Revenge will require the careful balancing of scales.
None of them will survive.
YOU ARE READING
Bronze Burning
FanfictionI would have claimed the glory. Instead, my brothers fed me shame. I kneel beside the great mountain altar that saddles the oceans of our world. Waves rage. Pillars of white marble and shimmering silver pierce the volcanic peak. Around us swirls a...
