Red Queen

The next morning, a royal messenger summons Mare to the summer palace. She’s been given a job as a server for the royal family, which means she won’t be conscripted. She thinks that Cal is also a servant and somehow pulled strings to get her the job. She wants to find him and “convince him to do the same for Kilorn” (55).

Ann Walsh, who goes by Walsh, introduces Mare to palace life. It’s always busy, but today is exceptionally so because it’s Queenstrial—the day where all the highborn Silver daughters compete to be chosen as the next queen. For the next several hours, Mare helps prepare an arena-like room for the trial. Finally, the king and queen appear and announce the trials, introducing the crown prince who will pick a wife. The prince, Tiberias the Seventh, waves to the crowd, and Mare drops the goblets she’s holding because “the crown prince is Cal” (62).

The leader of a Silver house uses his power to rearrange the arena so there is an empty cylinder at its center. A net of electricity crackles twenty feet above the floor, and the floor opens to reveal a beautiful young girl. She grins up at Cal before demolishing everything in the arena.