Glass sword
DEDICATION
To my grandparents, here and there. You are always home.
CONTENTS
1. Dedication
2. One
3. Two
4. Three
5. Four
6. Five
7. Six
8. Seven
9. Eight
10. Nine
11. Ten
12. Eleven
13. Twelve
14. Thirteen
15. Fourteen
16. Fifteen
17. Sixteen
18. Seventeen
19. Eighteen
20. Nineteen
21. Twenty
22. Twenty-One
23. Twenty-Two
24. Twenty-Three
25. Twenty-Four
26. Twenty-Five
27. Twenty-Six
28. Twenty-Seven
29. Twenty-Eight
30. Twenty-Nine
31. Epilogue
32. Acknowledgments
33. Excerpt from Queen Song
34. Excerpt from Steel Scars
35. Back Ads
36. About the Author
37. Books by Victoria Aveyard
38. Credits
39. Copyright
40. About the Publisher
ONE
I flinch. The rag she gives me is clean, but it still smells like blood. I
shouldn’t care. I already have blood all over my clothes. The red is mine, of
course. The silver belongs to many others. Evangeline, Ptolemus, the
nymph lord, all those who tried to kill me in the arena. I suppose some of it
is Cal’s as well. He bled freely on the sand, cut and bruised by our would-be
executioners. Now he sits across from me, staring at his feet, letting his
wounds begin the slow process of healing naturally. I glance at one of the
many cuts on my arms, probably from Evangeline. Still fresh, and deep
enough to leave a scar. Part of me delights in the thought. This jagged gash
will not be magically wiped away by a healers cold hands. Cal and I are
not in the Silver world anymore, with someone to simply erase our well-
earned scars. We have escaped. Or at least, I have. Cal’s chains are a firm
reminder of his captivity.
Farley nudges my hand, her touch surprisingly gentle. “Hide your face,
lightning girl. It’s what they’re after.”
For once, I do as I’m told. The others follow, pulling red fabric up over
their mouths and noses. Cal is the last uncovered face, but not for long. He
doesn’t fight Farley when she ties his mask into place, making him look like
one of us.
If only he was.
An electric hum sets my blood on fire, reminding me of the pulsing,
screeching Undertrain. It carries us inexorably forward, to a city that was
once a haven. The train races, screaming over ancient tracks like a Silver
swift running over open ground. I listen to the grating metal, feel it deep in
my bones where a cold ache settles in. My rage, my strength back in the
arena seem like faraway memories, leaving behind only pain and fear. I can
scarcely imagine what Cal must be thinking. He’s lost everything,
everything he ever held dear. A father, a brother, a kingdom. How he’s
holding himself together, still but for the rocking of the train, I do not know.
No one needs to tell me the reason for our haste. Farley and her
Guardsmen, tense as coiled wire, are enough explanation for me. We are
still running.
Maven came this way before, and Maven will come again. This time with
the fury of his soldiers, his mother, and his new crown. Yesterday he was a
prince; today he is king. I thought he was my friend, my betrothed, now I
know better.
Once, I trusted him. Now I know to hate him, to fear him. He helped kill
his father for a crown, and framed his brother for the crime. He knows the
radiation surrounding the ruined city is a lie—a trick—and he knows where
the train leads. The sanctuary Farley built is no longer safe, not for us. Not
for you.
We could already be speeding into a trap.
An arm tightens around me, sensing my unease. Shade. I still can’t
believe my brother is here, alive and, strangest of all, like me. Red and
Silver—and stronger than both.
“I won’t let them take you again,” he murmurs, so low I can barely hear
him. I suppose loyalty to anyone but the Scarlet Guard, even family, is not
allowed. “I promise you that.”
His presence is soothing, pulling me backward in time. Past his
conscription, to a rainy spring when we could still pretend to be children.
Nothing existed but the mud, the village, and our foolish habit of ignoring
the future. Now the future is all I think of, wondering what dark path my
actions have set us upon.
“What are we going to do now?” I direct the question at Farley, but my
eyes find Kilorn. He stands at her shoulder, a dutiful guardian with a
clenched jaw and bloody bandages. To think he was a fisherman’s
apprentice not so long ago. Like Shade, he seems out of place, a ghost of a
time before all this.
“There’s always somewhere to run,” Farley replies, more focused on Cal
than anything else.
She expects him to fight, to resist, but he does neither.
“You keep your hands on her,” Farley says, turning back to Shade after a
long moment. My brother nods, and his palm feels heavy on my shoulder.
“She cannot be lost.”
I am not a general or a tactician, but her reasoning is clear. I am the little
lightning girl—living electricity, a lightning bolt in human form. People
know my name, my face, and my abilities. I am valuable, I am powerful,
and Maven will do anything to stop me from striking back. How my brother
can protect me from the twisted new king, even though he is like me, even
though he’s the fastest thing I’ve ever seen, I do not know. But I must
believe, even if it seems a miracle. After all, I have seen so many
impossible things. Another escape will be the least of them.
The click and slide of gun barrels echo down the train as the Guard
makes ready. Kilorn shifts to stand over me, swaying slightly, his grip tight
on the rifle slung across his chest. He glances down, his expression soft. He
tries to smirk, to make me laugh, but his bright green eyes are grave and
afraid.
In contrast, Cal sits quietly, almost peaceful. Though he has the most to
fear—chained, surrounded by enemies, hunted by his own brother—he
looks serene. I’m not surprised. He’s a soldier born and bred. War is
something he understands, and we are certainly at war now.
“I hope you dont plan to fight,” he says, speaking for the first time in
many long minutes. His eyes are on me, but his words bite at Farley. “I
hope you plan to run.”
“Save your breath, Silver.” She squares her shoulders. “I know what we
have to do.”
I can’t stop the words from bursting out. “So does he.” The glare she
turns on me burns, but I’ve dealt with worse. I don’t even flinch. “Cal
knows how they fight, he knows what they’ll do to stop us. Use him.”
How does it feel to be used? He spit those words at me in the prison
beneath the Bowl of Bones and it made me want to die. Now it barely
stings.
She doesn’t say anything, and that is enough for Cal.
“They’ll have Snapdragons,” he says grimly.
Kilorn laughs aloud. “Flowers?”
“Airjets,” Cal says, his eyes sparking with distaste. “Orange wings, silver
bodies, single pilot, easy to maneuver, perfect for an urban assault. They
carry four missiles each. Times one squadron, that’s forty-eight missiles
you’re going to have to outrun, plus light ammunition. Can you handle
that?”
He’s met only with silence. No, we can’t.
“And the Dragons are the least of our worries. They’ll just circle, defend
a perimeter, keep us in place until ground troops arrive.”
He lowers his eyes, thinking quickly. He’s wondering what he would do,
if he were on the other side of this. If he were king instead of Maven.
“They’ll surround us and present terms. Mare and I for your escape.”
Another sacrifice. Slowly, I suck in a breath. This morning, yesterday,
before all this madness, I would have been glad to give myself over to save
just Kilorn and my brother. But now . . . now I know I am special. Now I
have others to protect. Now I cannot be lost.
“We cant agree to that,” I say. A bitter truth. Kilorn’s gaze weighs heavy,
but I don’t look up. I can’t stomach his judgment.
Cal is not so harsh. He nods, agreeing with me. “The king doesn’t expect
us to give in,” he replies. “The jets will bring the ruins down on us, and the
rest will mop up the survivors. It will be little more than a massacre.”
Farley is a creature of pride, even now when she’s terribly cornered.
“What do you suggest?” she asks, bending over him. Her words drip
disdain. “Total surrender?”
Something like disgust crosses Cal’s face. “Maven will still kill you. In a
cell or on the battlefield, he won’t let any of us live.”
“Then better we die fighting.” Kilorn’s voice sounds stronger than it
should, but there’s a tremble in his fingers. He looks like the rest of the
rebels, willing to do anything for the cause, but my friend is still afraid. Still
a boy, no more than eighteen, with too much to live for, and too little reason
to die.
Cal scoffs at Kilorn’s forced but brazen declaration, yet he doesn’t say
anything else. He knows a more graphic description of our impending death
won’t help anyone.
Farley doesn’t share his sentiment and waves a hand, dismissing both of
them outright. Behind me, my brother mirrors her determination.
They know something we don’t, something they won’t say yet. Maven
has taught us all the price of trust misplaced.
“We are not the ones who die today,” is all she says, before marching
toward the front of the train. Her boots sound like hammer falls on the
metal flooring, each one smacking of stubborn resolve.
I sense the train slow before I feel it. The electricity wanes, weakening,
as we glide into the underground station. What we might find in the skies
above, white fog or orange-winged airjets, I do not know. The others don’t
seem to mind, exiting the Undertrain with great purpose. In their silence,
the armed and masked Guard looks like true soldiers, but I know better.
They’re no match for what is coming.
“Prepare yourself.” Cal’s voice hisses in my ear, making me shiver. It
reminds me of days long past, of dancing in moonlight. “Remember how
strong you are.”
Kilorn shoulders his way to my side, separating us before I can tell Cal
my strength and my ability are all I’m sure of now. The electricity in my
veins might be the only thing I trust in this world.
I want to believe in the Scarlet Guard, and certainly in Shade and Kilorn,
but I won’t let myself, not after the mess my trust, my blindness toward
Maven got us into. And Cal is out of the question altogether. He is a
prisoner, a Silver, the enemy who would betray us if he could—if he had
anywhere else to run.
But still, somehow, I feel a pull to him. I remember the burdened boy
who gave me a silver coin when I was nothing. With that one gesture he
changed my future, and destroyed his own.
And we share an alliance—an uneasy one forged in blood and betrayal.
We are connected, we are united—against Maven, against all who deceived
us, against the world about to tear itself apart.
Silence waits for us. Gray, damp mist hangs over the ruins of Naercey,
bringing the sky down so close I might touch it. It’s cold, with the chill of
autumn, the season of change and death. Nothing haunts the sky yet, no jets
to rain destruction down upon an already destroyed city. Farley sets a brisk
pace, leading up from the tracks to the wide, abandoned avenue. The
wreckage yawns like a canyon, more gray and broken than I remember.
We march east down the street, toward the shrouded waterfront. The
high, half-collapsed structures lean over us, their windows like eyes
watching us pass. Silvers could be waiting in the broken hollows and
shadowed arches, ready to kill the Scarlet Guard. Maven could make me
watch as he struck rebels down one by one. He would not give me the
luxury of a clean, quick death. Or worse, I think. He would not let me die at
all.
The thought chills my blood like a Silver shivers touch. As much as
Maven lied to me, I still know a small piece of his heart. I remember him
grabbing me through the bars of a cell, holding on with shaking fingers.
And I remember the name he carries, the name that reminds me a heart still
beats inside him. His name was Thomas and I watched him die. He could
not save that boy. But he can save me, in his own twisted way.
No. I will never give him the satisfaction of such a thing. I would rather
die.
But try as I might, I can’t forget the shadow I thought him to be, the lost
and forgotten prince. I wish that person were real. I wish he existed
somewhere other than my memories.
The Naercey ruins echo strangely, more quiet than they should be. With a
start, I realize why. The refugees are gone. The woman sweeping mountains
of ash, the children hiding in drains, the shadows of my Red brothers and
sisters—they have all fled. There’s no one left but us.
“Think what you want of Farley, but know she isn’t stupid,” Shade says,
answering my question before I get a chance to ask. “She gave the order to
evacuate last night, after she escaped Archeon. She thought you or Maven
would talk under torture.”
She was wrong. There was no need to torture Maven. He gave his
information and his mind freely. He opened his head to his mother, letting
her paw through everything she saw there. The Undertrain, the secret city,
the list. It is all hers now, just like he always was.
The line of Scarlet Guard soldiers stretches out behind us, a disorganized
rabble of armed men and women. Kilorn marches directly behind me, his
eyes darting, while Farley leads. Two burly soldiers keep Cal on her heels,
gripping his arms tensely. With their red scarves, they look like the stuff of
nightmares. But there are so few of us now, maybe thirty, all walking
wounded. So few survived.
“There’s not enough of us to keep this rebellion going, even if we escape
again,” I whisper to my brother. The low-hanging mist muffles my voice,
but he still hears me.
The corner of his mouth twitches, wanting to smile. “That’s not your
concern.”
Before I can press him, the soldier in front of us halts. He is not the only
one. At the head of the line, Farley holds up a fist, glaring at the slate-gray
sky. The rest mirror her, searching for what we cannot see. Only Cal keeps
his eyes on the ground. He already knows what our doom looks like.
A distant, inhuman scream reaches down through the mist. This sound is
mechanical and constant, circling overhead. And it is not alone. Twelve
arrow-shaped shadows race through the sky, their orange wings cutting in
and out of the clouds. I’ve never seen an airjet properly, not so close or
without the cover of night, so I can’t stop my jaw from dropping when they
come into view. Farley barks orders at the Guard, but I don’t hear her. I’m
too busy staring at the sky, watching winged death arc overhead. Like Cal’s
cycle, the flying machines are beautiful, impossibly curved steel and glass. I
suppose a magnetron had something to do with their construction—how
else can metal fly? Blue-tinged engines spark beneath their wings, the
telltale sign of electricity. I can barely feel the twinge of them, like a breath
against skin, but they’re too far away for me to affect. I can only watch—in
horror.
They screech and twist around the island of Naercey, never breaking their
circle. I can almost pretend they’re harmless, nothing but curious birds
come to see the obliterated remnants of a rebellion. Then a dart of gray
metal sails overhead, trailing smoke, moving almost too fast to see. It
collides with a building down the avenue, disappearing through a broken
window. A bloom of red-orange explodes a split second later, destroying the
entire floor of an already crumbling building. It shatters in on itself,
collapsing onto thousand-year-old supports that snap like toothpicks. The
entire structure tips, falling so slowly the sight can’t be real. When it hits
the street, blockading the way ahead of us, I feel the rumble deep in my
chest. A cloud of smoke and dust hits us head-on, but I don’t cower. It takes
more than that to scare me now.
Through the gray-and-brown haze, Cal stands with me, even while his
captors crouch. Our eyes meet for a moment, and his shoulders droop. It’s
the only sign of defeat he’ll let me see.
Farley grabs the nearest Guardsman, hoisting her to her feet. “Scatter!”
she shouts, gesturing to the alleys on either side of us. “To the north side, to
the tunnels!” She points to her lieutenants as she speaks, telling them where
to go. “Shade, to the park side!” My brother nods, knowing what she
means. Another missile careens into a nearby building, drowning her out.
But it’s easy to tell what she’s shouting.
Run.
Part of me wants to hold my ground, to stand, to fight. My purple-and-
white lightning will certainly make me a target and draw the jets away from
the fleeing Guard. I might even take a plane or two with me. But that cannot
be. I’m worth more than the rest, more than red masks and bandages. Shade
and I must survive—if not for the cause, then for the others. For the list of
hundreds like us—hybrids, anomalies, freaks, Red-and-Silver
impossibilities—who will surely die if we fail.
Shade knows this as well as I do. He loops his arm into mine, his grip so
tight as to be bruising. It’s almost too easy to run in step with him, to let