11: Red
Contains spoilersOverview
At the Sovereign’s winter gala, Darrow escorts House Augustus through a calculated social trap and secretly plants Ares’s trigger at their table. Antonia hints the Bellona are coming, and Mustang arrives with Cassius, newly the Morning Knight, devastating Darrow. Alone, he rejects mass murder and pivots to a new strategy: fomenting Gold civil war.
Summary
Darrow accompanies House Augustus to the Sovereign’s gala, unmoved by courtly games as Tactus needles him and Victra clings to his arm. The Jackal theatrically rejoins the family. At the lifts, staff force Augustus to share with the Falthes and forbid all attendants, a public slight Augustus endures for political necessity. Leto orders tight protection and sobriety as they ascend.
On the roof, a winter wonderland opens around concentric tables and a frozen lake. Pliny tells Darrow to be ready for introductions. Wrestling with doubt, Darrow slips the Sons’ pegasus trigger under Augustus’s table, preparing Ares’s massacre.
Antonia intercepts him, taunting and warning that the Bellona are coming, then glides away. Darrow observes the Sovereign, Octavia au Lune, with her Furies as power brokers murmur of distant wars and plagues. He shares a blunt conversation with Karnus au Bellona about Julian, pride, and death, sensing a darker undercurrent to the evening.
Then Mustang arrives in black, escorted by Cassius, now bearing the rising sun of the Morning Knight. The sight guts Darrow. He leaves the revelers, descending into the wooded margins to a bridge, unable to face them.
Alone, Darrow raises the Sons’ ring to his lips to speak the detonation phrase. He cannot. Recognizing the plan springs from anger and betrays Eo’s dream, he refuses to kill thousands. He wipes his tears, resolves to honor Eo by finding another way, and identifies the Golds’ greatest fear: not Red revolt, but civil war among Golds.
Who Appears
- Darrow au Andromedus
Protagonist; attends the gala, plants Ares’s trigger, refuses to detonate, and chooses to incite Gold civil war.
- Nero au Augustus
ArchGovernor; embraces a risky invitation without guards and remains the intended target of the aborted bombing.
- Victra au Julii
Darrow’s ally and escort; banters with Tactus and mingles, among those who would have died in the blast.
- Tactus au Rath
Augustus lancer; bickers with Darrow and Victra, blocks rivals at the entrance, and revels amid growing tensions.
- Adrius au Augustus (the Jackal)
Augustus’s son; publicly rejoins the family, opposes proceeding without guards, and sneers at Darrow.
- Leto
Augustus’s favored ward; directs lancer security, demands three on the ArchGovernor and no drinking.
- Pliny au Augustus
Politico; communicates no-guard edict and intends to showcase Darrow to influential guests.
- Antonia au Severus-Julii
Rival; taunts Darrow and warns the Bellona are coming, stoking his turmoil.
- Karnus au Bellona
Bellona Praetor; drinks with Darrow, exalts pride, and declares Darrow’s impending death.
- Cassius au Bellona
Arrives with Mustang as the new Morning Knight, publicly elevated and entwined with Darrow’s past.
- Virginia au Augustus (Mustang)
Appears in black with Cassius; her presence breaks Darrow’s resolve to kill and redirects his strategy.
- Octavia au Lune
The Sovereign; presides silently with the Furies, the gala’s center of political gravity.