The Red Rising: Golden Son Part 48

The day is crisp. Sky robin's-egg blue, stars peeking through the atmosphere. I stand dripping in gold, purple sash across my chest, head naked and waiting for the laurel wreath at the end of the procession. By the end of the day, I will be given a Triumph Mask created by Violets in honor of my victory.

My chariot rumbles under me. Wooden wheels pulled over pavement. Over rose petals. Over haemanthus blossoms. Over a hundred thousand flowers thrown from the open windows of the skysc.r.a.pers that stand sentinel to either side of the grand avenue. Hands flourish in the air. Arms reach out. Faces peer down, beaming smiles. So many Colors. They're on the street too, surrounding the parade route. Cheering for the things that went before me, the wonderful floats. The fire breathers. The dancers. The griffins and drakes and zebracores. The few remaining Bellona prisoners. The heads of Imperator Bellona and his brothers and sisters adorn pikes. For all Augustus's personal austerity, he knows the importance of grandeur. RipWings zip overhead. Storks buzz through the air.

But he knows the importance of brutality too. Flies buzz about the heads. And they nip at the four white horses that pull my chariot from the grand boulevard into the white-stoned Field of Mars that stretches before the Citadel's grounds.

I wave to the crowd, holding up my slingBlade. Mania grips them. Fathers hold up their children, pointing to me and telling them that they'll be able to tell their own children that they saw my Triumph in person. They throw fig leaves and cheer wildly, climbing the Field's martial statues and marble obelisks to see me better.

"You are but a mortal," Roque whispers in my ear, riding his horse alongside the chariot, as per tradition.

"And a wh.o.r.efart," Sevro calls from the other side.

"Yes," Roque agrees solemnly. "That too."

I wish Mustang were here to ride with me. Her quiet strength would make all these eyes easier to bear, all these cheers more pleasant to stomach. Reds applaud in the crowd. They scream and cheer and laugh, perfect victims of the Society's entertainment divisions. They believe the lie of glorious war and glorious Golds. Millions will have relived the holo experience of my fall in the Iron Rain, at least until the EMP knocked my camera out. But Fitchner kept the footage of my slaying of Karnus.

The parade is a dream. A false thing conjured. I flow through it, knowing how little it means. My friends are behind me, at my side. All those I'd call lieutenants. They grin at me. They love me. And I lead them to a hopeful ruin. It all seemed worth it once. But after we take the war to Luna, what then? More lies. More deaths. More impossible schemes.

And what will Mustang do? She has not returned to Agea since she turned and walked away from me in the mines. Fitchner is beside himself with worry. She is an axe above my head. At any moment, she could sign my death. She might already have. Perhaps this is some grand ruse. Perhaps her father already knows.

The Jackal noted her absence from the Citadel when he came last night for the Triumph. I told him we had a fight about their father.

"Not surprising," he said with a sigh. "Just don't let the man come between you two as he came between her and me as children." He clapped my shoulder familiarly and poured us both enough drinks to give me the dull headache that now pulses behind my left eye. I swear to myself I'll never drink again.

Victra rides beside Roque and Lorn, languidly looking around, soaking in the sunshine and festivities. She's brought her mother into the Augustus fold, along with Antonia, who apparently aided in taking Thessalonica from Bellona hands. It's hard to keep track of what side they're on. But Victra, for her part, has been as loyal as anyone. She blows me a kiss.

The Howlers trot behind her, half their original number, though the Telema.n.u.ses have promised to bring them fresh recruits. Behind these lieutenants are the dozens of Praetors and Legates who led the army. And behind them walk thousands upon thousands of Grays, who, with embarra.s.sing affection, sing ribald songs at my expense. Behind them come legions of Obsidians. It's a furiously grand affair, not only for me, but because it signifies the beginning of a new era-a Solar System led by Mars, not Luna.

Fitchner is not here. He should be. I look for him at the top of the colossal white stairs that lead to the Citadel grounds. The ArchGovernor and his entourage stand there with dozens of our allies, and a skeletal, bald White who holds my laurel crown.

Leaving my chariot behind, I ascend the stairs, flanked by my lieutenants. Silence claims the plaza. My purple cape catches in the wind behind me. The city smells of roses and horse manure. Augustus steps forward.

"An Iron Rain was called," he proclaims.

"And the call was answered," I reply, amplified words echoing like thunder over the city. A great roar rises from all who fell in the Rain. The White steps forward, face haggard from her many years of giving sentence to criminals. Milky eyes lost in past histories blink with gentle care.

"Son of Mars," her voice warbles dreamily. "Today you wear purple, as did the Etruscan kings of old. You join them in history. You join the men who broke the Empire of the Rising Sun. The women who dashed the Atlantic Alliance into the sea. You are a Conqueror. Accept this laurel as our proclamation of your glory."

She sets it upon my head. Sevro snorts beside me.

The White continues, winding flowery paths with her words, taking the better part of the afternoon, so that it is dusk when her words begin to run their course. I've come to understand why all this spectacle exists. Why all these speeches and monuments. Tradition is the crown of the tyrant. I eye all the Golds in their badges and Sigils and standards, all worn to legitimize corrupt reign, and to alienate the people. Make them feel they watch a species beyond their comprehension. The Jackal seems to read my thoughts, for he rolls his eyes at the farce. The closing words come soon after.

"Per aspera ..." the White warbles, body shaking from effort. Augustus raises his hand and the crystal obelisk commissioned for the siege of Mars rises from its place on the Field via gravLifts in its base. Groaning into place, it floats there fifty meters above the ground, and will continue to float until another Triumph claims its place. Then it will join those others on the ground. Towering tombstones for the million fallen.

"... ad astra!" the crowd roars.

I remain on the steps as the festival swings into motion below on the Field of Mars. The Golds disperse onto Citadel grounds, heading for our private feast. Augustus watches from my side. Behind us, the bronze sun sets on his city, stretching our shadows over the lowColors below.

"Walk with me," he commands.

We walk, surrounded by bodyguards. Unease spreads through me as I see them cl.u.s.ter tight about us. He's spoken to his daughter. He knows. Of course he knows. I have my razor, no gravBoots. Just ceremonial armor. How many of the Obsidians could I kill before I'm overwhelmed? Not many.

Then I realize where he's taking me and I nearly laugh at myself for being foolish.

The throne room burns with sunlight. Ceiling all of gla.s.s, marble columns stretching a hundred meters high. The expanse buzzes with noise. IonSaws, hammers, and the delicate thrum of seven ionScalpels on a lump of onyx twice my height.

"Out," Augustus demands.

The Violets slide from their perches on the onyx and disperse with the Orange masons and Red laborers. Augustus's bodyguards leave us as well. Our boots click against the floor, lonely sounds for such a room.

So he's not going to kill me after all.

"They're making you a throne," I say, going to touch the onyx. I breathe out the tension. A lion's paw takes shape near the base of the throne. To the left, its tail curls around the other side.

"You have broken the law, Darrow," he says behind me. "You gave Obsidians razors. The weapon of our ancestors in the hands of the only Color to ever rise against us."

"Is that all?" I ask in relief. "I did what I needed to do."

"An Olympic Knight was killed by your bodyguard. This is public."

"If Ragnar didn't take the wall, we would have lost, and you, my liege, would be in chains, or executed. You'd know better than I. Ragnar had my warrant."

"My father taught me it is weak to ask others what they think of you," he says, clasping his hands behind his back. "But I must. Do you think I am a cold monster?"

I turn to examine him.

"Without a doubt."

"Honesty." He looks up at the ceiling. "You'd think it would echo differently than all the other horses.h.i.t. What I am, Darrow, is a necessity. I am the force that corrects those who err. Tell me, why do you give an Obsidian a razor? Why do you urge lowColors to rise up? Why do you let a Blue run your ship when she should merely take orders and fly it?"

"Because they can do things I cannot."

He nods as if I've proven his point.

"And that is why I exist. I know that Blues can command fleets. I know Obsidians can use technology, lead men. That the quickest Orange could, if given a proper chance, be a fine pilot. Reds could be soldiers, or musicians, or accountants. Some few-very few-Silvers could write novels, I wager. But I know what it would cost us. Order is paramount to our survival.

"Humanity came out of h.e.l.l, Darrow. Gold did not rise out of chance. We rose out of necessity. Out of chaos, born from a species that devoured its planet instead of investing in the future. Pleasure over all, d.a.m.n the consequences. The brightest minds enslaved to an economy that demanded toys instead of s.p.a.ce exploration or technologies that could revolutionize our race. They created robots, neutering the work ethic of mankind, creating generations of ent.i.tled locusts. Countries h.o.a.rded their resources, suspicious of one another. There grew to be twenty different factions with nuclear weapons. Twenty-each ruled by greed or zealotry.

"So when we conquered mankind, it wasn't for greed. It wasn't for glory. It was to save our race. It was to still the chaos, to create order, to sharpen mankind to one purpose-ensuring our future. The Colors are the spine of that aim. Allow the hierarchies to shift and the order begins to crumble. Mankind will not aspire to be great. Men will aspire to be great."

"Golds aspire to be great, and we force the Colors to war," I say, taking a perch on the black lion's paw. Augustus has not moved from his place at the center of the floor.

"Yet there are men like me," he replies so sincerely I nearly believe him. "I do not truly fight because I want to be king or Emperor or whatever word you slap above my name in the history texts. The universe does not notice us, Darrow. There is no supreme being waiting to end existence when the last man breathes his final breath. Man will end. That is the fact accepted, but never discussed. And the universe will continue without care.

"I will not let that happen, because I believe in man. I would have us continue forever. I would shepherd us out of the Solar System into alien ones. Seek new life. We are barely in our infancy as a species. But I would make man the immutable fixture in the universe, not just some pa.s.sing bacteria that flashes and fades with no one to remember. That is why I know there is a proper way to live. Why I believe your young ideas so dangerous."

His mind is vast. Worlds beyond my own. And perhaps for the first time, I really understand how this man can do what he does. There is no morality to him. No goodness. No evil intent when he killed Eo. He believes he is beyond morality. His aspirations are so grand that he has become inhuman in his desperate desire to preserve humanity. How strange to look at the rigid, cold figure he casts and know all these wild dreams burn inside his head and heart.

"What about all you said? What about the things you've done?" I ask, thinking of his first wife, whose mouth he stuffed with grapes. "You take advice from creatures like Pliny. You bomb innocent civilians, who haven't broken any laws. You embrace a civil war ... and you say you're trying to save humanity?"

"I do what I need to do to protect the greater good."

To defend himself. To benefit himself. "To protect mankind," I echo.

"Yes."

"Eighteen billion draw breath across this empire. How many would you kill to protect mankind? A billion? Ten?"

"The number doesn't change the necessity."

"Fifteen billion?" I ask. Red, Gold, every part of me is shocked.

"Someone must make these choices," he says. "The rest of our race grows sicker by the day. The Pixies chase pleasure instead of achievement, while the Peerless have grown so hungry for power that our Sovereign is a woman who cut off the head of her own father in order to take his throne. They must be ruled."

"By you."

"By us." His unblinking gaze does not waver. "By us," he repeats. "I treated you poorly, because I feared your brashness, your impudence. But I promised I would make amends, and so I will, because you have shown the capacity for growth, for learning. Become my heir. Not my Praetor. I have enough lords of war. What I need ... what I want is a son."

"You have a son."

"I have a parasite that wants my power. That's all. He has no use for it. No plan once he gains it. He simply hungers as our Society has taught him to hunger." His face shows a flicker of intrigue. "Yet, remarkably, this was his idea. You have his blessing."

I don't doubt I have his blessing. Knowing my ally, I merely wonder what it's going to cost me. He's a businessman. He'll want return on his investment. Especially this investment. He should have told me.

"What about Virginia? You don't need your heir to be male."

"But I want it to be. And I want you for her. A husband fitting her mind."

"You're using me," I say suddenly, seeing through his scheme. "I tie her to you. Especially if we marry. We both know you don't want reform."

Even now Reformers from across the Society flock to Mars to rally behind the man who said he would give them the Senate when he defeats Lune and her allies.

"The Reformers are cancer," he says.

"But you're promising them that you will-"

"Promises were necessary to gain their support. When we have defeated Octavia, I will put the Reformers in prison, or execute them for treason."

"Mustang will never forgive you. She believes you're changing. Whatever conversation you had with her, whatever you promised her, you gave her hope in you."

Maybe she won't forgive either of us.

"You will make her understand once you're part of the family, Darrow. By then, I suspect you'll be married, and she won't abandon you even if she hates me. Our family will stay strong, as we must. But you must always be mine. Answering to me. Not my children."

He takes a step toward me.

"Octavia steers humanity to slow decline. The Reformers, like the Sons of Ares, would slam us into the ground at a thousand kilometers a second. We must protect our species. Help me."

He is a n.o.ble man doing what he thinks best for humanity.

d.a.m.n him.

We never asked to bow. Who is he to say Reds and Browns toiling to death is for the greater good? Who is he to say Pink children being harvested for rape, Obsidians and Grays for battle, is a necessity? How can he sit there and say that he alone knows what is best for me, for my family? It is not his right. Just as it was not his right to come into my world and take Eo. And if he thinks might makes it his right, then it's my b.l.o.o.d.yd.a.m.n right to cut off his head right now.

Instead I stand and cross the distance between us. Kneeling, I take his hand and kiss his b.l.o.o.d.yd.a.m.n ring. "As you will it, my liege."

His hard lips curl into a predatory smile. "Call me Father."

"Try not to look so d.a.m.n pleased with yourself," Lorn says to me.

We stand amid the white-pathed gardens of the Citadel. A breeze stirs the bells that hang in the trees. It is a simple affair, not like the gross spectacle of Luna. Small tables sit beneath ivy-covered boughs. Pink attendants clear them of the feast. On green gra.s.s and white paths, Peerless stand laughing and impressing one another while cradling flutes of champagne. You can sense the Jackal's hand in the planning. He's a tastefully modest creature.

More dignitaries came to the dinner than to the ceremony. So there are many Augustus and I had to greet. They came to us in a line based upon hierarchy, of course. I soon grew tired of glad-handing and sought Lorn near the base of a thin white tree. His arms are crossed, face all stormy and scowling at the champagne in his hand. He tosses it into a shrub.

"I hate this sort of thing too," I say. "Soon as I get my Mask, Augustus wants me to cozy up to some of the Moon Lords. Then it's bed for me." Without Mustang here, there's no real joy to be had.

"Alone it seems. Where is your girl?" He squints around. "Been looking high and low."

"Don't know." Has everyone noticed?

"Ah." He grunts. "Lovers' quarrel? Well, I won't pour advice in your ear except to say, swallow your pride. She's a gem if you can keep her."

If.

"I'm glad you came," I say. "Even if your advice is s.h.i.t."

He laughs gruffly and nods to the Jackal, who speaks with Roque and several Politicos from Ganymede. "Your friend made it possible. Augustus somehow forgot to invite me, even though my men won him a planet. Manners are so conditional these days. Speaking of, how long do you think I have to stay before it's not rude to leave?"

"It's not even nine. Aren't you presenting the Mask in a few minutes?"

"I was, but it's tedious statecraft. I asked your friend Roque to do it, if that's fine with you. Actually, he asked me. Same difference."

"No. No, that's better actually." It'll be good for Roque to be included as much as possible. There's mending that needs doing. Public displays of friendship are a good place to start.

Lorn props his back against the tree. "My old bones creak at night. I'm going to check on security so I don't have to talk to any of these slippery people." He watches a ripWing pa.s.s high overhead.

"Let someone else do that." A Pink hands Lorn the tumbler of whiskey I ordered. His favorite label. He sniffs, subdued. "I only get to see you in armor. Act the proper mentor and stay with me. We have two bottles of the Lagavulin for you."

"Back to your old tricks. Two bottles for an extra two hours of training, wasn't that the deal? Should have charged more. Ha!"

He limps off with his whiskey to play tag with his grandchildren in the trees. I watch the Pink who delivered his drink slip back into the crowd, her movement vaguely familiar.

A woman loops her arm in mine. I turn excitedly only to find Victra. She doesn't notice my disappointment.

"I do hope the Violets put lions instead of a pegasus on your Mask." She laughs at my expression. "Yes, the rumor is already aflight. Darrow au Augustus." She shivers playfully. "The women will come running."

I roll my eyes. "Oh, shut up."

"Make me." She slides her hand along my low back. "It's a shame you already settled down." Nodding to a group of young Peerless from the Gas Giants, she leans close. "But does it mean you can't play?"