Hello everybody! I have recently read King's Cage. Along with the previous books in the Red Queen series. And they are absolutely phenomenal!
Below is a two-part one shot between Mare and Cal, set sometime during the plot of King's Cage and takes place in Piedmont, after Mare is rescued from the palace, before they head to war. In short, an assassination attempt on Mare, with some MarexCal fluff too. Hope you all enjoy
Mare POV
I had stayed the night at my family's place, still relishing the joy of sleeping with Gisa in the same room. As annoying as her snores were, I couldn't help but smile.
Besides, as long as she kept the nightmares out of my head, I was fine with whoever I slept with at night. Weird as that might sound.
The sunlight creeps into my bedroom at dawn, and I swung out of bed. I pulled my hair up and changed into a simple clothes: tee, shorts, flat shoes comfortable to run in.
Even though the sun was barely up, I felt the scorching summer heat the instant my feet left the house. Cal sat at my doorstep, shirtless, rubbing his face in fatigue. I smirked at the sight, but felt my eyes staring at his shoulders, how even the subtlest of muscles pulled as he engaged in a simple action
"I know you're staring." His voice is smug too, but heavy with fatigue. He was not a morning person.
"I'm noting how tired you look." I refuse to indulge him and admit of my libido.
He stands up, pushing his arms up in a morning stretch, I watch his biceps intently flex, for the split second, as he drops his arms, as if playing me around now too.
He then turns. "Arent you coming?" His crooked grin appears when I meet his eyes
I walked down the stairs, noting his smoky stench.
"Did you sleep in a coal mine again?" I smiled, wrinkling my nose
He frowned playfully, and his hands grabbed my waist, pulling me in.
"I dunno. You smell like fried breakfast." He pretends to gag. I knew he loved my scent, just as I loved his. We would just never admit it.
I didn't even have breakfast yet. I'd throw up a mile into our jog if I did. But it was just his attempt to counter my insult. His way with words was definitely weaker than his brother, but I still appreciated the effort, and my heart skipped once seeing the warmth in his bronze, red-gold eyes
"Cal. It's literally 80 degrees outside. And you're a furnace!" I felt my hands push on his chest. He flexed, enduring no escape, eyes cool. As if intentional, I hear his flamemaker bracelets click and his skin heat up an additional five degrees. Beads of sweat formed along the brim of my forehead, as I laughed torturously. I sent tiny sparks through him from my fingers, and he tenses. Almost as if were playing a miniature game of who could tolerate the other longer.
"Stop it." I laughed and whined simultaneously, feeling sweat form all over my body. "I just showered recently too."
I feel his abs vibrate a bit in chortle. He leaned his head down, and dropped the usual morning kiss. I felt his hands loosen and cup my cheeks for a few seconds before releasing. His touch was cooler now. Still warm, but definitely a more tolerable temperature.
He pulls away to my dismay, and we start the morning jog.
LINEBREAK
Ten grueling miles later, Cal has broken sweat, and I'm drenched. My legs are like noodles, and other muscles are still stiff from waking up only a couple hours ago. I'm nearly drenched from the hot summer heat, which doesn't seem to bother him.
We walk towards breakfast, joking most of the time. My hand intertwined his hand, which dangled on my shoulder. His arm was wrapped around my shoulder, half in affection, half in playfulness.
I knew how he would be a distraction to my motivation, and possibly an obstruction preventing me from killing Maven, but I indulge it anyway.
"Your arm feels worse than that python Evangeline's mother wore around her neck." I complain.
"Is that your way of telling me I'm muscular?" He winked
"I'm complaining about the heat. Your heat" I joke
And before he could reply, I add, "And no, I'm not confessing that I think your hot either." I flush, realizing the awkwardness of my words. Six months of silence had taken its toll not only on my body, but also on my conversational skills
"Liar." He catches the red that rises in my cheeks, tightening his possessive hold on me. If it weren't for his temperature, I'd find it quite consoling
I frown, and my other hand rose two fingers, zapping his side.
He twitches a bit in discomfort, but takes the tiny blow. "Hey." He now frowned.
"Hmm." I try to feign ignorance
He shakes his head. "I'm used to it by now." He replies with a princely tone.
I giggle like a child, letting him distract me. I raise my hand subtlety again, but he notes it, spinning aside, and his calloused hand envelopes my fingers
I send my minimal sparks through his palm anyway, but he also has a dimly lit candle flame generated at his palm. The heat isn't enough to burn me, but causes me equal discomfort.
"Two can play at your game." He chuckled, and kissed my temple roughly, before we continue walking
"We are so destructive." I admit, losing myself in his charisma. "Wonder what we would do if we weren't trained for war. If none of this was real." I murmur, leaning my head into his shoulder.
I knew it wasn't true. The past six months were proof that this conflict was very much real. But it doesn't hurt to dream, especially now. The blazing summer heat, my temptation of happiness, losing myself in this misplaced prince who had utterly captured my heart.
"We could start a food joint here." He chortles, breaking my thoughts
I pull away. "I can't cook to save my life." I give him a surprised look. "In case you haven't tried my mother's cooking, it runs in the family."
"Exactly." He says with a soft smile. "Burned Fries." He winks
I roll my eyes, stopping in my tracks. "How many horrid puns do you know?" I laugh
LINEBREAK
I had missed the lighthearted conversations, distractions, and life here in the guard. Everything here seemed, no, was better than life at the palace
Cal sits next to me at breakfast, across from Farley, Darmian, and a few other Newbloods I didn't recognize. Some other silvers walk down the food aisles too. I'm guessing those who surrendered at Corvium. I guess the Colonel and Farley knew that any rash act, and the newbloods and remainder of the guard would put them down anyway. There wasn't a point in imprisoning them.
The newbloods don't speak to me, or more realistically, Cal. It doesn't seem to bother him though.
Gisa and Kilorn join us.
"How was your jog?" Kilorn asks us.
"Good." Cal spoke
"Hot." I said simultaneously. Gisa raises a brow at us. I rolled my eyes a bit, and Cal's hand finds my thigh.
His touch is warm, and soothing now. Unlike earlier.
"You look like a monsoon just drenched you Mare." Kilorn chuckled and Gisa flushes next to him. I shook my head, and kicked him under the table
"And I wonder whose fault that is." I look sideways and Cal shrugs. He on the other hand barely broke a sweat, and the summer blaze had absolutely no effect on him.
He opens his outs to speak, but is stopped by the popping of a pistol. Screaming follows, and Cal instinctively ducks. Kilorn pulled Gisa down. I tried to follow, but found all my nerves taut. The all too familiar surge of pain pours hits my chest, and my vision immediately goes fuzzy. Unlike the heavy sensation of silence that weighed down back at the palace in Archeon, this pain rips through me, but I don't find the voice to scream. A second pang in my chest, and I feel more liquid rushing out of me, numbing out the sensation.
I only realize that I've been hit after tasting metallic blood in my mouth, and air writhes within me to escape out of my nose, mouth, anywhere
"MARE!" A piercing voice drowned through all the screams from around me. Newborns sprint uncontrolled.
Increased figures appear around me. Figures I don't exactly make out anymore.
My last physical vision is down, and I see a growing scarlet, a vivacious red, soaking my chest.
And right before all blackens, I see Maven. My eyelids flutter, everything around me slows His ice blue eyes, and cold blue flames engulfing me into another blood curdling nightmare.
To be continued
Apologies for the cliff hanger, but I will try to upload the second half as soon as possible. In the meantime, feel free to leave some reviews, feedback, ideas for other one shots etc.