Red Queen

Cal and the Sentinels march Mare and Maven to the throne room, where the king and queen await, away from the fray of the battle outside. The king has his ceremonial sword. Elara goes through Mare’s mind, seeing all her secrets. Elara pushes Maven’s face aside, not wanting to know what Mare knows about her son. The queen then orders the Sentinels to leave the throne room. Cal confirms her order, and all depart except the one who is muting Mare’s gift.

King Tiberias demands that his sons tell him what is going on. Maven confesses that he chose the assassination targets. Mare notices that although Maven and Elara look at each other, Elara refuses to look at Maven’s thoughts. Maven tells his father that he should be proud—after all, Maven has finally found a cause. The king then turns on Mare, telling her that she is responsible for Maven’s actions. Elara comes to Maven’s defense, and Mare is surprised to find herself mentally pleading with Elara to save Maven.

The king says that Maven has committed grave crimes that must be punished. Cal pleads with his father to spare Maven, but Tiberias tells Cal, “When you wear my crown, you will understand.” Elara then says that will never happen, and Mare notices that her eyes are the same as Maven’s. Tiberias tries to question Elara but seems unable to move. Mare realizes that she is seeing Elara control the king’s body, just as the whisper controlled the strongarm in the arena at the Feat of August.

Mare, shocked, thinks that Elara is saving her and Maven where Cal failed to do so. Cal tells Elara that he never believed Julian before when he said that Elara was responsible for hurting Coriane and Sara Skonos. Mare pleads with Elara not to be distracted and to get Maven out. Elara releases Maven, but neither of them does anything to release Mare from the shackles that are preventing her from using her gift.

Julian’s words, “Anyone can betray anyone,” crescendo in Mare’s head as she pleads with Maven to help her, and he refuses. Elara now has control of Cal, but he manages to shout for help from outside the throne room. Mare realizes that Maven is “truly his mother’s son” as he allows Elara to manipulate Cal’s body to turn toward the king.

Mare realizes that Elara did not care about Maven’s presence in her memories because she knew about his involvement with the Scarlet Guard. Maven chose the assassination targets not because they were the Guard’s enemies, but, rather, because they were his enemies. Maven and Elara then confess that they have been using Mare and the Guard all along. For all Mare’s attempts at secrecy, Elara has known all along about her subterfuge and has been covering her tracks. Elara tells Mare, “But you are Red, and like all the others, you were doomed to fail.”

Mare feels foolish for trusting Maven and realizes that Elara must have used her knowledge of the inner workings of Mare’s mind to tell Maven what to say to win her over. Even Maven’s story of his fallen comrade was a lie.

Elara tells Maven to say his goodbyes to Mare. He says he does not have any, and instead confronts his father for only loving Cal. King Tiberias insists that he loves Maven too, and that not even Elara’s actions can change that. Elara says she is not doing anything. Cal, on the other hand, moves toward Tiberias like a puppet. Insisting that Tiberias does not love Maven like he loves Cal, Elara forces Cal to take the king’s ceremonial sword. Mare is powerless to intervene, and Maven chooses to stand by. Tiberias tells Cal that he knows it is not him as Cal raises the sword and beheads the king.

The king’s silver blood pools on the floor, and the crown rolls to a stop at Maven’s feet. Elara begins screaming over the king’s body as the cameras turn back on. She acts as though Cal has cruelly murdered his own father. Mare finally understands what Julian once tried to teach her: what people believe matters more than the truth. Mare and Cal try to run, but resisting is futile. Realizing that the bond of loyalty has been broken between Cal and his soldiers, Cal and Mare allow themselves to be arrested.