The next day, Mare wakes up to see her maids packing. They don’t know why they are packing, however. They also still dress her in trousers, which is apparently unusual. Mare is confused by all this, despite the fact that 1) the plan was to leave after the ball anyway, that was the point of the ball, it was a sending-off party and 2) they just got attacked, wouldn’t that make them even more in a hurry to get their squishy royalty out of the obviously-not-safe place?

Mare goes out expecting Lucas, but he’s nowhere to be seen, so she heads off to lessons. Hard to tell if she’s just following routine because she doesn’t know what else to do, or if she honestly thinks it’s perfectly logical to have class right after a major attack and while everyone is packing.

Maven shows up, tells her (with a wink and nudge) that the prisoners escaped last night and his mother has been questioning all the guards, but he was ‘helping’ and ‘directed’ said line of questioning away from Mare.

Except…

“It does indeed.” Though the smile remains, his eyes darken slightly. “Of course, that brings everything into question. The power outages, the failing security system, not to mention a troop of Sentinels with blank spots across their memories.” He stares pointedly at me.

How do you ‘direct’ away from Mare with that obvious glaring arrow pointing at her? And it’s not like the queen wants to think the best of Mare, or is even ambivalent to her. No, the queen hates Mare. So why would she allow anyone to convince her that Mare isn’t involved in this when MARE IS SO OBVIOUSLY INVOLVED IN THIS?

“There was no bomb.” What? “It was an explosion, but it was also an accident. A bullet punctured a gas line in the floor, and when Cal’s fire hit it . . .” He trails off, letting his hands do the talking. “It was Mother’s idea to use that to our, ah, advantage.”

We don’t kill without purpose. “She’s turning the Guard into monsters.”

He nods gravely. “No one will want to stand with them. Not even Reds.”

I am super confused. Is the lack of a bomb the lie, or is the gas line the truth and they’re letting people think it was a bomb? Because this is very unclear, but also, either way it doesn’t make much sense.

1. It was a gas leak but they’re saying it was a bomb. Mare already thought it was a bomb. Why is she so shocked that they’re telling everyone it was a bomb? Also, how is bombing the place really any worse than opening fire into a crowd? Why would that make Reds not want to join them. “Hey, you think they’re good for killing your oppressors? Well guess what, they actually killed MORE of your oppressors!” JFC, if they’re going to lie to make the guys look like monsters, why not have your lie be that they targeted the children that were there?
2. It was a bomb but they’re saying it was a gas leak. That straight up just doesn’t make the Guard look worse. It was an accident. If anything, it makes Cal look worse for lighting up carelessly.

Also who puts a gas line right under the ballroom floor?

Mare mopes about how they’re defeated and now they have to go to Archeon (the capital city.)

Wait, like two seconds ago she was confused about why the maids were packing.

Well, Mare’s inability to hold a thought aside, I’m annoyed by this girl yet again giving in so damn fast, and just because someone made some grand statement. How does she know how everyone will react to this lie? (Whichever lie it is.) It’s been less than 24 hours, and also the Guard is sure to spread their own PR about things. Does she assume that the Reds all 100% believe that what the oppressive government is saying is trufax? Why would the Guard not spread their own rumors? Why does Mare assume this is the only thing they’ll ever do and if it doesn’t work then everything is over and done? Why does she give up so easily? Being disheartened by a setback I can understand, but all this woe is us for the king and queen have won shit is just too much too soon.

They hear a disturbance, and it’s Cal…IDK, being angry? Something crashes, and then he walks out of a room all scowly and ragey, but I guess no one cares about what crashed. Cal is upset that he’s not being allowed to fight at the front as planned, and after a bit of banter with Mare he reveals that he’s joining up with Ptolemus’s guards to root out the Scarlet Guard in the capital city.

…are there any Scarlet Guard there? Well, I guess there would be some, but why assume that’s some seat of power for them? So far all the attacks have been elsewhere, and Farley (I guess she’s in charge? Maybe) has been everywhere but there.

Mare mopes some more and spouts off purple lines about cracks in all the finery. She eventually meets up with Julian, who lets her know that he will not be returning to Archeon with the rest of the court because he got a job searching through some old re-discovered archives. He says he got her a present and she’ll see it when she gets to Archeon, then they hug goodbye and there’s much talk about how he’s been such a father figure to her. Meh. Teacher and friend, sure, but has she even been there long enough for a father figure (who did literally nothing besides teaching)? Also she has a dad that she seems pretty close to so it’s not like she’s confused about what counts as fatherly.

Later, on the boat headed to Archeon, Maven and Mare talk about the prison guards who have been ‘reassigned.’

“The front, of course. They’ll be attached to some rabble group, to captain injured, incapable, or bad-tempered soldiers. Those are usually the first to be sent in a trench push.”

…why do you hate tactics, book?

Also Lucas is fine, he’s just with his family.

Maven mentions that they found some blood in the prison, and oh by the by every Red is in a DNA database and that hasn’t come up for the whole book until now because reasons. The test takes some time, but they’ll soon know who at least one of the rebels were. (Would that even help? I get the feeling these guys aren’t sitting around at their own homes. Eh, couldn’t hurt.)

Mare freaks out because that’s her blood there, though I don’t know why since everyone in charge already knows she’s Red and is actively covering it up. And they don’t seem to mind peons finding out, because her maids and a bunch of guards already know.

Also doesn’t the presence of a population-wide DNA database already belie the story that she was secretly silver-blooded this whole time? The only way that works is if they claim she was never registered (thus skipping the blood test) (also it seems like this should be something a lot of people try to do?) and if that’s the case then she shouldn’t have been able to get a palace job.

Well, Mare mopes because she figures she’s about to die now, and Maven kisses her and swears to help. Just in time for Cal to show up for some triangle angst.

Then they have to go to the viewing deck, where they find out that the entire village has been ordered to stand out by the river and watch the royal procession go past. Mare gets upset all over again at this display of power from the royals, especially when someone gets whipped for straying out of line. (For some reason the random villagers are…all in formation?) Cal points out that this display is to make sure that everyone sees the rich people are still strong and rich, despite any bombs/gas leaks.

There’s some taunting from the king and queen when Mare gets visibly agitated, and she eventually backs down.

Soon the landscape fades from lumber and farming communities to proper towns. They center around massive mills

WTF is your tech base, book? Sometimes you feel 1940s, and then you throw out watermills instead of factories? Are the watermills powering factories? Also how giant can they be? If those things get too big, the river current isn’t going to turn them anymore.

Next they pass a bunch of grand noble estates along the river.

“The houses are empty most of the year, and no one would dare leave the city now, not with this Guard business.” He offers me a small, bitter smile. “They would rather hide behind their diamond walls and let my brother do their fighting for them.”

Hey, Mare, want to go back on any of your ‘woe the royals have won’ thoughts?

“If only no one had to fight at all.”

I guess not.

He shakes his head. “It does no good to dream.”

Um, excuse you, wanting to not have to fight is what started this whole revolution. I mean, sure, it’s not practical in an immediate sense, it’s more of a dream for the next generation. But still.

Next it’s time to pass “Grey Town,” which is apparently where all the factories were hiding. It’s….well, a typical factory town. And apparently it’s the only one. I wonder why; unless they’re all interconnected it doesn’t really make sense to have everything centrally located like this. The power plants in particular should be distributed throughout the country because producing everything in one place and sending it out over wires is extremely inefficient. And the factories should be spread out so they’re not all competing for resources. Granted, those things do tend to congregate around shipping and population centers, but you have more than one of those, don’t you?

Most techies will never leave their own alley. They can’t even conscript.”

I think the word you’re looking for is ‘enlist.’ You literally can’t ‘conscript’ yourself.

Their lives are so terrible that the war is a better alternative, and they’re not even allowed to go.

…um, it was just a town? I don’t see how it’s materially worse than the Stilts, especially considering the only description we got was of the buildings. Something tells me factory towns are just a pet issue for someone. >.>

At first I don’t see the capital at all, mistaking its lights for blazing stars.

…whut?

The city is on both sides of the river, connected by a huge bridge that has multiple layers and a bunch of shops and such on it. On the east side are some big towers and bunch of other buildings, on the west side the palace. There’s diamondglass walls and guards everywhere.

Archeon was built to endure war, not peace.

Ahahahahahahahahaha! You have a giant, easily-explodable bridge that separates your palace from literally all of your resources! You are the most seige-able city I’ve ever seen/read about!

But Mare thinks instead that this is all some awesome display of power, and she remembers the factory town and resolves to bring it all down.