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"Rise, Red as the dawn," I say, quiet but sure
Cal scowls openly, glaring out theThe expression makes him look like his father, and I think of who he could have been A thoughtful warrior prince, eline Maven said he would not have lived past the coronation night, but I don’t truly believe that Metal is forged in flame, not the other way around He would have lived, and ruled To do what though, I cannot say Once, I thought I knew Cal’s heart, but now I realize that is impossible No heart can ever be truly understood Not even your own
Ti silence Within the jet, we are still, but on the ground, things are in do in thethe world as it changes Will the Silvers react as I hope? Will they see Maven’s betrayal for what it is? Or will they look away?
"Fires in Corviuape "In the city center, and the River Town slu"
My heart leaps, then plunges War has begun And we have no idea what the cost , and too many handshakes to sto over themselves I never trip Never But I barely make it to the back of the plane in one piece I feel dizzy and sick, ready to lose the dinner I never ate all over the wall One hand finds thethe coolness calm me It works a little, but my head still spins You wanted this You waited for this You ain This is the trade
The control I’ve worked so hard to maintain starts to splinter I feel every pulse of the jet, every turn of the engines It veins in ht to stand
"Mare?" Kilorn stands from his seat He takes a step toward me, one hand outstretched He looks like Shade did in his lasta bell Cal turns in his seat, finding , deliberate steps, boots sla on the metal floor The others let him pass, too afraid to stop the prince of fire I share no such fear, and turn entle
"Calm down," he snaps He has no tie to shove hi to agree, trying to do as he says It stills hiain, this time just for me, soft as I remember But for the pulse of the jet, we could be back at the Notch, in our room, in our cot, wrapped up in our dreams "Mare"
The alarm sounds seconds before the tail of the plane explodes
The force knocks me on my back, so hard I see stars I taste blood, and I feel blazing heat If not for Cal, the fire would incinerate me Instead, it licks at his arms and back, harrows, pushed back by Cal’s power, containing itself to embers But even he can’t rebuild the back of a jet--or keep us fro out of the sky The noise threatens to splitwith the voice of a thousand banshee shrieks I hold on to whatever I can, metal or flesh
When my vision clears, I see black sky and bronze eyes We hold on to each other, two children trapped in a falling star All around us, the Blackrun peels apart, piece by piece, each tear another bloodcurdling screech With every passing second, more of the jet disappears, until only thin bars ofcold, hard to breath, and i to the bar beneath h slitted eyes, I watch the dark ground below, getting closer with every terrifying second A shadow darts past It has an electric heart and gleaon
My stomach plummets with the reth to screa, pleading, begging for ravity’s pull The structure shudders all around, accoether Re-for to us
The jet is no longer a jet It is a cage, a steel trap
A tomb
If I could speak, I would tell Cal that I’m sorry, that I love him, that I need him But the wind and the drop steal ly fa me to look at hiy all the sa but each other Not the lights of Corviu up tobut his eyes Even in darkness, they glow
The wind is too strong, tearing at my hair and skin My e of her pulled away I wonder ill tell her how I died, if anyone will even know the end we met What a death for Maven to dreaive us tie stops short, I screa arers Hoonder, pulling away It’s hard to find balance, and I fall The cage rocks withfro a hand to the back of lows red in his fist
I follow his gaze, looking across the forest clearing to the people standing in a wide circle around us Their silver hair is hard to netrons of House Sa in unison, and the cage lowers slowly It drops the last inch, earning yelps fro bolt I throw off Cal’s grip and vault to e Before I can hit the side, the bars drop, andthe half-frozen grass, skidding onin the ed spark in their direction, butover with a splitting crack
The strongar e-feeling fingers, coated in plastic, rip, sparking, but it doesn’t seehfor a way out of this Instead, I see onlyat the bars in vain
Theits own prison Through one bruised eye, I watch metallic snakes lock around Cal, Kilorn, and the others, binding their wrists, and ankles, and necks Even Bree, big as a bear, has no defense against the coiling rods Canetron after another But there are too many When one falls, another takes their place Only Cal can truly resist, burning through every bar that comes close But he’s just fallen out of the sky He’s disoriented at best, and bleeding from a cut above the eye One bar cracks hi him out cold His eyelids flutter, and I will hihtening with every passing second The one at his throat is worst of all, digging in deep, enough to strangle