WAR STORM (Red Queen 4// Alternate Version)

Chapter 14

Hello, my readers. I'd just like to let you know that this chapter is shorter than my usual length, but it's needed as a transition point. If you haven't yet heard the Red-Queen inspired Maven and Mare song, I've linked it above. Enjoy!

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Mare

"It was probably nothing," Harrick pants out, wheezing the worst of all. We stopped several blocks away from the airforce, now arranged in a tight circle inside of the Samos' abandoned home, in a windowless room. I was surprised that there was residence so close to the plane base, but it makes sense; they were once Norta's main supplier of welded objects. "But, for a second or two, I mislaid my grip on Mare's cloaking. The explosion that caught you was the most powerful," Harrick goes on, directing his concerns towards me, "and between that and your lightning, the bond fractured."

I gulp down saliva, unsure of how to respond. He couldn't help it, obviously, Harrick had been veiling us for nearly a half an hour before that and shouldn't have managed that much in the first place. This entire scheme would be thrust up to nearly impossible without him, guards waylaying in the shadows, expecting us.

"Neither a freaking camera or a person could've seen anything through those fumes," Cameron assures Harrick, who wears a frenzied expression that is certainly there, though the candlelight doesn't reach him. While a light bulb encased in a decorative glass is bracketed to the ceiling directly above us, no one flips its switch, for unease that the palace monitors the electrical intake of the mansion.

She, hopefully, is right. The smoke was dense and the fire still burned furiously when we fled the crime scene. But if Maven picks up on a sole glint of purple sparks, I'm done for.

"It doesn't matter," I sigh, shaking my head though none can bear witness to it. "They'll guess who caused it without blinking. It was too big of a catastrophe to be an accident, though the monarchy might try passing it off as one. Or else they'll lay full blame to the Guard, maybe pin Tiberias for fanning the flames."

"For Heaven's sake, Mare," Farley growls out, speaking to me for the first time since before we left the jet. She's stricken with anger, anger for my stupidity in staying in that barrack a moment longer than I had to. She didn't comment when I walked out of the fire, fully well. In fact, no one did, stunned with bewilderment or irritation, some cases a mix. Tyton was the only one to come to my side, his face pale with worry. "He isn't here. You can call him Cal."

Reciprocated ire builds up for her saying such a thing during this mission. "Of all times," I say, nothing more than a croak, letting my emotions get the best of me.

"Of all times," Farley repeats scornfully. "We all know that an ember lingers in your heart, Mare Barrow," she divulges, uttering my name like I'm a total stranger. "So what is he?" Farley rotates her hand so that her palm is exposed, and jerks her arm upward, gesturing to Tyton. My organs grow cold.

The flame-small in comparison to the explosions-splutters, as if it too is shocked by the revelation. "What did I ever do to you?" I whisper, retaliating with a bitterness of my own.

"Don't you see what you're doing?" She asks, the sting of words dying down a bit. "I've tried to keep my mouth shut, to be a bystander and allow you to draw your own conclusions..." she trails off, dropping her hands to her hips, refraining from those hand gestures. "I worry how far you'll go to fill this gaping hole in your heart."

All I can do is blink lazily, as though coming out of a slumber overslept. I try to find the words to express a denial, but my jaw refuses to budge, steel nails hammering it together. Eyes stinging with anger, sadness, and everything between, I turn my back to my peers-whose gazes collide with my back, awaiting justification. "Whether in Whitefire or here, I won't be resting tonight and I doubt any of you will either," I explain, veering off topic entirely. "I assume we'll be leaving before the Kingsguard has a chance to regroup."