Hey everyone! Thank you so much for continuing to read my story! I always enjoy reading any comments, they put a big smile on my face.
Enjoy, and as always Rise, red as dawn.
Days pass. Leaders of the guard meet to discuss our plans, of course, Cal is not there. We have decided that it would be best to keep a king as ruler, to not disturb silvers, but also create a court divided into silvers, reds, and newbloods to create a balanced society.
I've been lucky to not cross paths with Cal, if that happened, Evangeline's parents would be very angry at me for destroying their home.
" We already have hundreds of members who have infiltrated Archeon, as well as the palace itself," Farley explained, while holding Clara in one arm, while making gestures with the other.
Whenever I look at baby Clara I already see Shade. She clearly has his nose, the same nose as my dad has himself. She's already a month old, how time flies. I remember my time in the king's cage vividly. I have a hard time remembering I spent six months at Whitefire, the whole time chained to silent stone. Times flies when you're constantly fighting your enemies.
"We'll surround the city from the outside, using every last resource we can find." Farley continues.
I try to listen to Farley's plans, but I find my mind wandering off all the time. Sometimes I look at Clara during the meetings, wondering what it would be like to be her. I would certainly trade jobs with her if I could.
One day I mentally asked her, and at that moment she locked eyes with me and shook her head. I nearly fell out of my seat, laughing at her response. Maybe she's a whisper and can read thoughts, or it could just be a coincidence.
Farley continues to speak, "You may have noticed that a few strong Maven supporters have been disappearing for the past few weeks. This is not a coincidence. Our soldiers posing as servants have been poisoning their excessive amounts of wine and champagne. For every silver we lose, we save ten reds. Meeting adjourned."
Just as I'm getting up from my chair, Farley comes over and gently touches me on the shoulder.
"Mare, are you okay?" she asks in a mother-like tone.
"Of course I'm not alright, Farley," I confess in a whisper. "I've been picked second to a crown and before that, I spent six months in manacles, without my lightning," I continue.
"I just noticed you were pretty zoned out today, and staring at Clara for a large portion of the hour."
"Sorry to stare, but you know, I envy your daughter."
"And why's that, Mare?"
"She doesn't know the weight of the world yet. Hasn't had the pleasure of meeting either of the Calore brothers and hasn't had to steal practically everything to keep her family alive."
"If there's ever anything I can do to help, please let me know. Now pay attention to the next meeting, okay Barrow?"
"Yes, sir!" I salute with an overly happy attitude, as I exit the room.
After a few days, I have become a mastermind at avoiding Cal. In the beginning, it was just luck keeping me away from him- or he could have been avoiding me. But now, I know exactly where not to be and when after having Cameron do a little bit of spying for me.
I was just leaving my lavish room that reminded me all too much of Mareena's room at Whitefire, if you had put a few gallons of that white paste in there, I could've had a panic attack.
"You know we have to talk about this at some point, right?" An abrupt voice said. I closed my eyes for a good five seconds before turning to him.
"What's there to talk about?" I stuttered.
"I-I need you Mare, please."
At this, I scowled, "I thought your crown came before all else?"
He closed his eyes, then spoke, "I have a responsibility. I'm expected to be king,"
"Who expects you to do that? All the dead silvers?" I questioned.
"You know, not every silver deserves to die, you unnecessarily killed many back at Corros!" He snapped.
"I don't want to be your queen, Cal, I just want to lead a life where no one has the need to depend on me or kill me," I said sadly.
"I'm sure Evangeline will make a lovely queen, Cal."
At this, it looked like he was either ready to fry me to a corpse or kiss me, I couldn't decide which. So before either of those happened, I swiftly walked back to my bedroom and locked the door behind me.
It seemed very likely he would torch the door to get inside here, so I climbed out the window to go running. However, when I got back, the door was in perfect shape, no tampering whatsoever. I slowly crept over to the door, worried he could hear my footsteps. When examining the door and it's lock, as far as I could see he hadn't even touched the door.
I stared at the door, as a single tear slipped from my eye. Thinking of every memory I had with him flashing before my eyes. The effect I felt nearly felt the same as when Samson had dug through my mind. Every memory of him, came flooding back, the first time meeting him outside the bar, giving me not one crown, but two. Our first kiss, the night he had given me a dancing lesson. Our time at the Bowl of Bones, he had said he would protect me as long as possible, and silly promise really, but he did anyway. All the nights spent next to him at the Notch. The last time I saw him before my time with the king, and the first time I had seen him in my six months with the king.
I sunk to the floor, leaning against the door. I wept. I wept for everyone in this cruel world who had experienced pain of some sort. I cried for myself, Kilorn, my family, and even Maven. Perhaps he wouldn't be this way if it wasn't for his mother. If it wasn't for his mother, maybe I'd be princess now. In hindsight, the life of Mareena Titanos was not nearly as bad as my life was now. I mentally slap myself when saying this, but today I'd rather be back in my cage at Archeon, throwing water at walls and doing my pathetic stretching.
I'm still in a cage right now. Although I'm not chained to manacles, or confined to a single room, I'm still in a cage, just a very, very different one.
It's a mental cage. Some say it's worse than a regular cage, including me. Every step I take in life, I contemplate. Who will it effect? Will it kill people? My choices are often not my own. I didn't decide if I wanted to become a princess, and I never decided I wanted to become the symbol of the Scarlet Guard.
After a few minutes, I manage to collect myself. At this, I feel radiating heat coming from the other side of my door. I close my eyes and slowly shake my head. I did not order for a fireplace and I probably would've heard Maven's army if he was standing right outside of the door.
"Cal" I whisper so softly, I myself can barely hear my voice. I know he's on the other side of the door, I even look under the crack to be sure. No response, only the grinding of his flame-maker bracelets.
"Cal," I say a little louder. "How long have you been sitting there?" I continue to hear the scuff of his bracelets, he finally speaks.
"Since you left." He mumbled.
"You've been sitting here for over half an hour, didn't anyone ask questions?"
"No one's been in this wing of the palace for over twenty-five minutes, You caused a small power outage, and almost everybody thought it would be a good idea to stay away, didn't want to get electrocuted." At his response, I look up to see the light is off and try the light switch. As expected, it doesn't turn on. If I wanted to, I could turn the power back on that instant but thought better of it. I wanted to see where this conversation would lead.
"If it was such a danger to be in this wing of the estate, why are you here?" I struggled out, as I fought the tears welling up in my eyes.
More grinding of the bracelets. After ten seconds, I heard him stand up and footsteps began to echo through the hallway.
He was gone. And he took my heart with him.