Around us swirls a chaos of greed. All the great Golds of Mars descend upon the Institute to lay claim to the best and brightest of our year. Their ships swarm the morning sky, cutting over a world of snow and smoking castles for Olympus, which I stord only hours before.
“Take a last look,” he tells as we near his shuttle. “All that ca before was but a whisper of our world. When you leave this mountain, all bonds are broken, all oaths dust. You are not prepared. No one ever is.”
Across the crowd, I see Cassius with his father and siblings as they make their way to their shuttle. Their eyes burn at us over the white, and I rember the sound of his brother’s heart as it beat its last. A rough hand with bony fingers lays claim to my shoulder, clutching possessively.
Augustus stares at his enemies.
“Bellonas do not forgive or forget. They are many. But they cannot harm you.” His cold eyes peer down at , his fresh prize. “For you belong to , Darrow, and I protect what is mine.”
As do I.
For seven hundred years, my people have been enslaved without voice, without hope. Now I am their sword. And I do not forgive. I do not forget. So let him lead onto his shuttle. Let him think he owns . Let him welco into his house, so I might burn it down.
But then his daughter takes my hand, and I feel all the lies fall heavy on my shoulders. They say a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. They made no ntion of the heart.
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