all that we have amassed sits before us, shattered into ash

A coup, an uprising, a mutiny. Whatever you would like to call it—Cress doesn’t know the exact terms. It seems to be the way that the Valley is handed from king to queen and to and fro. Her father had seized the throne from the queen before him, and Eight had seized it from him. After a period of inactivity, Demian had stepped forth and taken the kingdom from Eight (or was it willingly given?). Now it is Demian’s turn to give up the throne, and who better to give it to than Gallows? She has been here as long as any of them and has worked hard to keep up a measure of activity. She deserves it more than any of them.

The golden girl jerks when Gallows’ telepathic call resounds in her mind, a tremble running from the tip of her nose down to the end of her long legs. She is too old to be frightened so easily (what is she, a child?) but the sudden invasion scares her, and she almost doesn’t respond… but it’s Gallows. It would be rude to ignore the woman who has done so much for Cress and for the Valley. She should at least see what the woman wants.

Gallows gets right down to business when she deems that enough have gathered, and though Cress is shocked by the reason for gathering them, she cannot speak out against the mare’s ideas. She is right—Demian has been around about as much as Cress lately (by that she means: not at all) and it’s true. He deserves to be king about as much as Cress would deserve to be queen. She doesn’t want to be queen—save that for the ambitious—but there is a point to what Gallows is saying.

But Cress cannot bring herself to speak up against the king that she adores so much. “Maybe he’ll come back to us,” she murmurs finally, trying her best to ignore the eyes that she knows are turning towards her. She is uncomfortable and scared and vulnerable and broken. Demian is gone. He is one of her only friends and he is gone; maybe she should leave, too. She swallows and glances up at Gallows—her second friend, the only other friend she has—and she knows that Gallows knows exactly what she is thinking, how much she is hurting. Gallows knows how she feels—the mare understands. She is more a mother figure to Cress than anything else, but Cress doesn’t want to think of her broken relationship with her mother anymore.

“You will make the Valley a wonderful queen, Gallows.”

cress

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