Lunar Palace

Chapter 20: Scarlet

Wolf visited the morning after Cress arrived.

He didn't even blink when he saw Cress, sitting next to Thorne at breakfast. Wolf grabbed Scarlet's arm and pulled her out of her seat, his eyes urgent. "It's important," he gasped, looking like he'd just run a mile. "You have to come. Now."

"But-"

"Now, Scarlet!"

She sighed and followed him as he staggered out of the dining hall, his shoulders slumped with exhaustion. He didn't turn and stop until they had reached the garden, right next to her tomato patch. She cornered him, her arms crossed.

"What's going on?"

"I was researching on old royal records, and I found this." Wolf held out a portscreen, the glass already filled with letters forming themselves on the screen.

Scarlet took it, confused. "What does this have to do with-"

"Just read it," Wolf growled. He was obviously impatient, but Scarlet had never seen him like this before.

She blinked, and, shrugging, read:

ACT ISSUED BY QUEEN LEVANA BLACKBURN, T.E.

All labs to be researching for further weapons and antidotes, for future

problems that may arise within our own borders. To be continued even

after death of hierarchy. All perpetrators of current hierarchy will be put out of

power, by all means.

Blinking again, Scarlet furrowed her brow. "I still don't understand."

Wolf's eyes flashed their glowing green, significant to the Lunar special operatives. "Scarlet, Queen Levana anticipated what was going to happen. She took extra measures to make sure her legacy stays. It's simple--she grabbed her followers, issued this order, and therefore made sure that no matter what we did, there would be a movement going against us. And they're not just a few stray rebels--this act makes it obvious that they have doctors and scientists working against us, making a weapon just like letumosis--but worse."

She swallowed. "But--this doesn't make sense. I mean, a few rebels stealing our members, that's bad, but this-"

"They know how we think," he snarled. "And that's going to be the end of us. Queen Levana, whatever she was, was smart, Scarlet. She knew we were going to kill the hierarchy. She knew we would give her followers a second chance--because that's in our nature. But we can't keep on doing that. Doing what we've always done will be our downfall."

Scarlet tried to take this all in, but her growing heartbeat filled her with panic. "So we're going to lose, then? Because we do what we think is right." The last few words stuck in her throat.

Wolf opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Winter, who had just turned the corner to them. Scarlet wondered how it must look-Wolf and Scarlet, once inseparable, now having a heated argument.

Winter didn't show any reaction to that, if she noticed, but stopped and stared at them. "What's wrong?"

Scarlet wordlessly handed her the portscreen, and watched as the princess took in all in.

"By all means?" Winter looked up, her eyes brightening. "By all means--what does that mean?"

"It means," Wolf growled, "that the followers left over from the war will do anything in their way to defeat us."

"No, no--I mean, by all means," Winter impatiently shoved the portscreen in Scarlet's hands. "But that's the one thing they haven't been doing, isn't it? Cress came back, but did the movement send anyone to follow her back? No, if they did, they would have caught her. And what about Kai? Where is he? Don't you think that, if they had killed him and really put him out of power, that we would have known? They want to tear us apart--that would have been the perfect chance."