Scarred

Tristan reflects on how easy it is for him to kill. Only one death has ever bothered him. He contemplates how his brother’s abuse toward him as a child “stole his power every day” (77). It wasn’t until Tristan’s father died that he wanted to kill his abusers. Now, Tristan leads Antony down to the dungeons, excited by the man’s nervousness. Once Tristan and Antony are in a cell together, Tristan drops the pretense. When Antony attempts to draw his weapon, Tristan breaks his wrist, forces him to the ground, and asks him what he saw. When Antony calls Tristan a “disfigured freak,” Tristan hits him and stomps on his face. Antony admits to seeing Sara and Tristan in an intimate position, and Tristan breaks his neck.

Sara tells Xander that she wants to speak to Uncle Raf. Sara’s maid, Sheina, leaves the room, and Sara notes that Sheina has been quieter over the last few days. She worries that Sheina wants to return home and will soon leave Sara alone at the castle. When Sara and Xander are alone, Sara vents her frustration that she is being used as a prop. Xander tells her that in an hour, she must go to the town square, where Michael will propose to her publicly. Xander promises not to let Sara feel so alone. Despite Xander’s comforting words, Sara does not fully trust him.

When Michael takes Sara out in an automobile, she asks where they are going, but he dismisses her question, and she bristles at his arrogance. She thinks about Tristan and considers telling the guard that she knows Tristan killed a man. However, she justifies the killing of an innocent man, telling herself that Antony’s death was for the greater good.

Tristan has become obsessed with Sara. He paces the Elephant Bones Tavern as a crowd of hundreds waits outside for Tristan to address them. When he steps out, he basks in their attention, enjoying “being revered the way [he] should have always been” (89). Tristan announces that King Michael will soon marry. The crowd boos at the information and threatens to burn her, but Tristan decrees that no one will touch Sara, surprising both the crowd and himself. He covers his confusion by telling the crowd to avoid showing their hand. A man in the crowd questions whether they can trust Tristan and says that he is one of the enemies.

Tristan has the man step forward. Edward then brings out the corpse of Antony, the commander of the king’s army. Tristan orders the man who yelled to pour the kerosene on the body. He then locks eyes with Edward, wordlessly making it clear that the man who yelled should die. Then, he lights the body on fire.

Sara has never been to the prosperous town of Saxum. As she and Michael sit in a patisserie, she asks if he comes here often, but Michael says that he has not been since he was a child. They engage in some light but edged banter, and Sara deliberately flatters Michael, which he enjoys. 

Xander tells Michael that the journalist is here. Appearing nervous about the crowd nearby, Michael leads Sara outside. She is surprised when he takes her hand and asks to marry her but does not get down on bended knee. Sara accepts the marriage proposal and the ring. When she glimpses a figure across the street, she knows that it is Tristan.

Sara attends Sunday service. Afterward, everyone leaves because she claims to want time to pray, but she is really waiting for Xander. She walks around the church and notices a large portrait, and Tristan appears and tells her that it depicts his father. Sara asks if he misses his father, and he says he does. Sara then tells Tristan that she saw him in the crowd the day before. Tristan flirts with her and then goads her into anger, and she declares, “Nothing will get in my way of being Michael’s bride. Not even you” (100). Tristan is taken aback and tells her that he could give her power. Hearing a sudden noise, he retreats, and Xander appears, looking suspicious.

Tristan is troubled by how intensely he desires Sara. Admiring her ambition, he decides to make sure that her execution is quick. Tristan goes to his room, rolls a joint, and then masturbates to thoughts of Sara, but he finds himself brooding on the fact that she has chosen to tie herself to Michael.

Later, Tristan eavesdrops on a conversation between Xander and Michael and realizes that Michael has nightmares about their deceased father. When Xander asks Michael if he has once again seen his father during his waking moments, he suggests that Michael speak to someone, but Michael resists this idea, fearing that others will question his mental health. Tristan leaves, excited to spread the rumor that his brother is experiencing a mental health crisis.

News of the proposal has spread, and people in the castle are treating Sara with more respect. Marisol, one of Sara’s ladies-in-waiting, is attempting to get her to make decisions about the engagement ball, but Sara is not interested in the details, so she tells Marisol and Ophelia to plan the event. She asks for Sheina, but Marisol does not know where the maid is and tries to prevent Sara from looking for her. Sara retorts that Marisol is not her keeper.

When Sara leaves the room, her guard, Timothy, follows, resisting her attempts to engage him in conversation because he is not allowed to speak to her. Sara runs into Paul, who takes her to the queen’s garden, where she wanders as he and Timothy talk. Sara envies their relaxed friendship. When she goes into the woods, she finds Tristan drawing on Simon’s arm with ink. Sara notices that Simon has been hit in the eye.

Tristan goes to the Elephant Bones Tavern to make an appearance because he has heard that morale is low. In the rooms upstairs, he hears noises and opens the door to find Edward and Sheina in bed together. Tristan furiously orders them to dress and come downstairs, resolved to make an example of Edward despite the man’s loyalty. Tristan waits on his makeshift throne. He has brought food and clothing for the people who gather there.

Sheina and Edward approach and drop to their knees. When Tristan is cruel to Sheina, Edward tells him to stop. Tristan loses his temper and strikes Edward, snapping the ligaments in Edward’s arm. Edward says that he has brought Sheina there to Tristan. When Sheina tells Tristan that she will be anything he wants, he decides to use her. He threatens to kill everyone she loves and to allow his followers to torture her. Then, he welcomes her to his cause.

Sara is upset with Marisol, who continues to “instruct” her on etiquette. Suddenly, Sheina appears, and Sara rushes to hug her. Sheina says that she has so much to tell Sara. Sara dismisses Marisol so that she and Sheina can catch up. Sheina has felt like a stranger to Sara since they’ve arrived, and she also admits that she has met someone. Sheina does not say his name, only that he is a general. Sara wants to meet him, but while Sheina says that she’d love that, the sentiment does not seem genuine.

Sara has Timothy take her to the queen’s garden. Timothy has thawed and is now willing to talk to her when they are in her private quarters. As Timothy walks Sara through the castle, she asks him to show her the hidden passages. He shows her a passageway hidden behind a wall.

Tristan reflects on his animosity toward Michael, who terrorized him as a child. Tristan enjoyed time spent with his father, but that connection faded as he got older and the king had to focus on training Michael to inherit the crown. Tristan would often leave the castle and fantasize about enacting vengeance on Michael and on anyone who failed to defend Tristan from Michael’s abuses.

Tristan uses the hidden tunnels to reach his brother’s office and leaves an item there. As he heads back through the tunnels, he encounters Sara, who asks him not to tell anyone that she has accessed the secret tunnels. Tristan promises not to, as long as she tells him a secret. Sara refuses. He presses his body against her and asks if she reacts the same way to Michael as she does to him. 

Their mutual attraction intensifies, and he tells her that he should kill her for making him feel this way. Furious over his attraction to Sara, he declares that he “would rather rid her from the face of the earth than exist in a world where she tempts [him] but leaves [him] with empty arms” (134). Tristan labels Sara a witch and his “brother’s whore” (134). He then storms off and grows upset when she does not follow him.

Sara contemplates her paradoxical loathing and attraction for Tristan and realizes that she also inexplicably trusts him. However, she finds Michael much easier to deal with. As she and Michael have lunch in Michael’s office, he asks to know more about her, but she dodges the question and says that she would rather know about him. She asks Michael what will make him a great king, and he is offended by the question. She smooths it over by telling him that when she is his wife, she wants to highlight his accomplishments.

Xander enters the room and tells them that they look cozy. When Michael gets a cigar, he freezes, looking terrified, and then demands to know if Sara did “this.” Bewildered, she approaches and finds a handkerchief on top of Michael’s cigars. Xander reassures Michael that there must be a rational explanation. Refusing Xander’s suggestion that she return to her quarters, Sara says that she would rather be present to support Michael. Michael hugs her and calls her a good luck charm because he has found something of his father’s that he was missing. However, Sara knows that something to do with his dead father has spooked him.

In an abandoned cottage in the woods, Tristan tells Edward that he does not want to keep hurting him. Tristan has Edward restrained on a table with a damp cloth over his face. Tristan asks Edward if he knows what he has done and tells him to repent. Then, Tristan pours water over the cloth on Edward’s face, torturing him with the sensation of drowning. Tristan forces his prisoner to thank him for being merciful enough to allow him to live. He then leaves Edward chained in the dark cabin to think about what he has done.

Tristan walks back to the castle and finds Sara sitting in the moonlight in the queen’s garden. He offers her his joint, and she accepts, but it makes her cough. Tristan shows her how to inhale, but Sara still does not like it. She asks Tristan why he uses this drug, and he admits that it calms him. He is surprised when she sympathizes and states that her own thoughts are difficult to turn off. Sara tells him that ever since her father died, she has been a different person. Tristan thinks of losing his own father.

He tells Sara that he’d like to draw her because she is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. He wants to claim her, but then he remembers that Sara will be his brother’s, so he will have to kill her. He walks away.

Sara has been in the castle for nearly a month. She misses Silva. Xander reminds her that after the engagement ball the next day, everything will be different. He tells Sara that he has a gift for her, but when he sees the approaching Simon, he grows angry and states that Simon’s mother should keep him out of sight. Sara storms away from Xander and speaks with Simon, giving him sword-fighting tips.

Uncle Raf appears. As Sara introduces him to Simon, she is struck by how closely Simon resembles Michael. Tristan arrives and greets Simon, and Sara thinks that he might be the only one who loves Simon. Raf asks Sara if Tristan is “the scarred prince” (152). Sara tells him not to call Tristan that. When she tells Raf that Tristan does not like her, her uncle is pleased.

Sara has her last gown fitting before the ball. She is anxious about the ball but attempts to quash her feelings. Uncle Raf enters and compliments Sara on the dress. Once they are alone, he tells Sara that it is time and asks her if she has the ear of the king. Sara says that she does, but she admits that Michael is not always around and accuses Xander of being unhelpful. Raf admits that Xander is always plotting, but he reassures Sara that she can trust him. As Raf tells her that her father would be proud of her, Sara feels the weight of her responsibility.

Tristan speaks to his followers inside the tavern, telling them that he will attend the engagement ball the next night. He also spreads the rumor of King Michael’s mental illness. When a young woman asks why they cannot storm the castle, Tristan tells them to wait. Then, he shows them his new tattoo, a jackal with the words “together we rule, divided we fall” written beneath. (A “jackal” is a derogatory term for a lower-class person.) Tristan urges the crowd to take their power back. After giving an inspirational talk, he serves the food he brought.

Edward and Sheina are in the back. Tristan praises Sheina for bringing the food from the castle. When she tells him that he seems different from the rumors, Tristan cannot tell if she is naïve or stupid. Sheina also says that if Sara knew what Tristan was doing, she would help him. Tristan forbids her from speaking Sara’s name to him and then asks if she remembers the threats he made. She nods.

Later, Tristan talks with his mother, Gertrude, who asks what Sara is like. Tristan declares that Sara is everything Gertrude is not; his intention is to create bad feelings before the two women have even met. His mother tells him to let go of his grief for his father, and he lashes out. He then demands to know where she was last night since she was not in bed with her husband. When Sara arrives, Tristan has the urge to stay in order to protect her.