Red Queen

For Mare’s next lesson, she enters a room full of books and maps. Her instructor asks her to read a map on the wall. He tells her to look beyond the words, which are written in an unfamiliar language, because, “words can lie.” Mare manages to read the map passably well. She realizes that for the first time, she cannot sense any cameras in the room. The instructor, who calls Mare by her actual name instead of “Mareena,” is intrigued to find that she can sense the lack of cameras. He tells her that he is going to teach her to be a Silver and to be useful, and that he is also going to study how she, Mare Barrow (not Mareena Titanos), came to exist. He tells her never to forget who she actually is.

The tutor tells Mare that he will not reveal her identity. She asks if there are no cameras so that there is no record of his “examining” her. He replies that there are no cameras because he has turned them off. He introduces himself as Julian Jacos, brother of the former queen (Coriane) and Cal’s uncle. Julian, unlike Elara, wants to help Mare understand herself. However, he also must do as he has been instructed: train her to be the figurehead to stop a rebellion.

Julian says that Mare has the power to bring about slower but less violent change than that represented by the Scarlet Guard. The oppression of the Reds, Julian argues, is wrong, but so is the categorical condemnation of Silvers. Mare is proof that Silvers and Reds are equal. Realizing that he might help her, Mare agrees to let him train her to effect change.

At meals, Mare sits next to Evangeline, who uses her utensils like weapons. Mare tries to remember the names of all the nobles. At one gathering, some of the ladies begin asking Mare how it feels to live in the palace, insulting her home village. Mare tries to hold her tongue. Eventually, she breaks and defends the Reds, saying that, “Being forced to live such lives, with no respite, no reprieve, and no escape, would make servants of anyone.” Elara rushes in to say that Mare is still learning proper etiquette.

Another woman, a colonel, shocks the company by demanding to know what the king is going to do about the Scarlet Guard terrorist attacks. Mare is surprised to learn that there have been more. Elara says it is unwise to give the attacks more weight than they deserve. Everyone agrees except Mare and the colonel, who remain quiet.

Mare is lonely. She does not see Cal often, and she remains wary of Maven, who she fears might be hiding something. She enjoys Julian’s lessons because they allow her to discover her talents outside the view of Elara or the cameras. Still, progress comes slowly.

At one lesson, Julian tries to get Mare to harness electricity from a large electrical contraption. When Mare jokes that maybe she needs to be in mortal danger for it to work, Julian suggests that like a child whose abilities have yet to manifest, Mare might need a trigger. Mare remembers that when she fell onto the electrical shield, she was not afraid but peaceful, resigned to death. When she attempts to recreate this mood, electricity arcs between her hands. Julian tells her to try moving it. She throws a fireball of electricity that smashes apart a bookshelf. Mare and Julian feel triumphant.

Julian and Mare find a larger space to allow more room for Mare to practice aiming bolts of electricity. Julian measures the electricity in the room before and after Mare throws a bolt. He discovers that she generates electricity. He explains that this makes her something more than either Silver or Red: all other Silvers can only manipulate elements, not produce them. Cal and Maven, for example, wear bracelets that produce sparks, without which they would be talentless.

Mare, feeling there is something wrong with her, runs from practice. Sentinels grab her to escort her to her next lesson. Maven intervenes, telling them to leave her be. He says he understands Mare’s feelings because he often feels out of place under his mother’s watch and as the “shadow” of Cal’s “flame.” He warns Mare that she should learn to hide her heart. He also tells her he can fix her homesickness.