Red Queen opens in August on First Friday, the one day each month when work and school end early for Reds to watch two Silvers battle in a televised match. Mare, a member of the oppressed Reds class, shuffles through the crowd toward the arena, pickpocketing trinkets and small amounts of money as she goes. She meets up with Kilorn Warren, her only real friend. Mare and Kilorn are 17 years old, which means they will graduate from school the next year. Since Kilorn has an apprenticeship, he will go to work, but Mare will be shipped off to the war against the Lakelanders like her three brothers before her.

The arena is rows of benches around a few giant monitors that broadcast the match between the two Silvers in the capital city. Kilorn enjoys the matches because he believes it shows the Silvers are vulnerable, but Mare sees them as a warning. The Silvers use the violence to keep the Reds in line, broadcasting the message that compared to the Reds “we are gods” (6).

The match is between a strongarm (a Silver with super-strength) and a shisper (someone with the rare ability to control minds). The whisper forces the strongarm to stab himself with his own sword and is declared the winner.