Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay, but the chapter took a little longer than expected to write. If you're ever looking for updates on why I haven't updated, and fun stuff relating to Red Queen, follow me on Wattpad Natthefantastic! If you're enjoying my story, like and comment! They make me feel good about my writing.

Enjoy! "The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain."

Mare

"Whatever it was, it doesn't matter. No one can save you," Maven spits. He eyes the faucet wearily, willing the note to materialize.

"You don't know that," I murmur, running my hands along the smooth countertop. "They've done it before, and each and every day they get stronger. They won't let me rot this time."My last words are weak, and reek of sobs escaping. Maybe it's because even I don't believe Farley's words. How could I possibly trust a girl back from the dead, who lied to me for weeks? This entire letter and Maven's reaction could merely be a big joke. Perhaps the lords and ladies of the court are laughing at my foolishness at this very moment.

Maven's ice-blue eyes say otherwise. He once told me I stared at him until he believed I could read his thoughts. Maybe I can. The boy king hides his emotions carefully but looking into his eyes, he's fearful. Maven worries I'll escape once again. And this time, I won't come back.

"So how did you handle Iris Cygnet being alive?" I walk into my bedchamber and flop down on the bed. I continue to attempt hiding my silent stone weakness from Maven and the cameras, however, the slabs of cement and blood have gotten to me. I'm always tired, feeling the crushing weight of silence and despair.

Maven gives me a look that's borderline pity. "She's not alive, Mare. She was murdered over a week ago by one of the Scarlet Guard members. That girl the Sentinel saw in the woods was only an illusion. Why are you still dragging this out?" Maven's lip twitches and his left eye squints, as though he was going to award a smirk and a wink. The cameras are watching, I understand now. That was his story. Queen Iris is dead, and that was only an imposter. If it was proven she was truly alive, all hell would break loose and questions would be raised.

"Ah. So that's the story you'll go with." Closing my eyes, I exhale deeply. "Why didn't you just kill her in the first place?"

"I didn't-"

"Just answer my question for once," I scream at Maven, rising to focus my gaze upon his lips. "You have lied to me since the day I met you. You've put me through hell and back. So I think the least you could do is answer the question."

I watch his lips, awaiting the answer that will never come. His words don't arrive, instead his lips. They crash upon mine before I can move, and when we touch I become paralyzed. Maven pulls away quickly, whispering into my ear. "Because she reminds me too much of you."

Maven leaves only a moment later, encompassing me in varying types of silence. The time gives me a chance to recount Farley's letter. I remember the night of the ball, so hastily killing Farley and not batting an eye. I was so angry with her I never provided her a chance to explain herself. I tried to kill a mother. Farley had only been doing what felt like her only choice to protect her daughter, and in her case, I would've done the same. She didn't wish for Norta's downfall and the Lakeland's rise to glory. She only wanted Clara's well being.

"I'm so sorry Farley," I whisper. "Maybe I'm the monster."

I wake with saggy bags under my eyes and more gray than usual in my hair. The silent stone is killing me. The entire silver court also wants to kill me.

I hear protest shouts through the thicks walls of my chambers. "She killed my son, she must die!" "My brother is gone because of that girl!" The yells continue on for hours, with an occasional Sentinel screaming for them to stop. The silvers will never stop until they get what they want.

This is it. These will be my final days, and my only company are these ugly walls and a mad king.

My only comfort in all of this is that I'm certain the newbloods made it. They delivered the vials and the Lakeland queen to the Scarlet Guard. If I die, it will be for a righteous cause.

I drag myself to the shower, desperate for heat. Cal and I will never meet again, and the closest sensation to his touch is the hots beads of water that splatter onto me.

Not the closest. I chastise myself. If you were that desperate for the touch of a burner, there is a second one. I cringe at the thought of Maven's touch, leaving my brand tingling. His ice-cold touch. His burning-hot touch. Both hurt just as much.

I scream at the top of my lungs, willing the silvers to feel my pain. Silver nobles have never felt the pain I have. They've spent their days accompanied with full stomachs, never worrying if they'd survive the winter. In the Stilts, common reds were always too hot or too cold. We didn't have air-conditioning for blazing hot summer days, and in the winter you'd choose between a sickly warm fire or the biting bitter cold worming its way into our tiny house. I spent my days wearing threadbare clothing, under no circumstances clean. The individuals who resided in the court, of the most powerful families most likely never wore a dress twice.

"Miss?" A young girl stands before me, staring strangely at me. "I've been ordered to escort you to the king's chambers." The servant girl wears red, marking her as a palace servant. Her expression is worried, with creased eyebrows and lips parted.

"Why not just an Arven or Sentinel?" The answer comes to me before she explains. Bad news. But I wouldn't fight a red girl like I would an Arven.

"Please just come. Please."

We walk at a brisk pace, climbing flights of stairs and passing dimmed diamond glass walls. The servant girl leaves me in front of doubles doors, stamped with the Burning Crown seal. With a shaking hand, I raise my hand to the door to knock. However, before I have the chance, the king himself jerks open the door.

Maven's eyes have white rims around them, and his curly black hair disheveled. "You stupid girl," he mutters, clenching his teeth. "I could've covered up those Sentinel's deaths, but you had to leave a survivor to tell everything. There is no proof Iris is alive, but it's impossible to chalk up those deaths to an accident when you left a single alive."

"He was so young. He was only following your orders, and he saved my friend's life. I'm not saying it was moral to kill those Sentinels, and I didn't mean to. But the power, it was just too much." Why I explain myself to Maven, I don't know. He questions my decisions, yet he once killed a baby.

"That boy you didn't kill saw everything. He stared when you sent that electric pulse through every last one of them. And now all of Earth knows."

"So now I'll be killed." Maven says nothing, staring at the corridor wall; tears slip down from his eyes. "How could you possibly cry? You have betrayed me time and time again, and have done nothing but laugh at my misery. You tell yourself that you love me, but of course, you don't. You have no idea what love even means. It's not love. It's an obsession."

"My mother took most feelings away from me long ago," Maven snaps. "No matter what you've done to me and no matter what I've done to you, I will always care for you."

"The truth is what I make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain," I quote his words, said a thousand years ago. "You said you would save me. But yet you can't save me this time." I push past him into his chambers. Papers are scattered across the floor, and his bed sheets haven't been made. A bulletproof window stretches across one wall, overlooking the Archeon bridge.

"You can't save everything. I learned that the hard way." Maven silently speaks of Thomas, the red boy he befriended at the war front. According to Maven, Thomas was the first real friend he ever had. Maven could survive fire, but Thomas couldn't. Silence envelopes us, and I turn to the window. A panoramic view of the city can be seen from this vantage point. The theater I once attended can be seen from a distance, as well as the Bowl of Bones. But the bridge takes up a greater part of my sight, spanning across the waterway to connect the city.

"Do you remember that time we blew up the bridge?" I ask. That fateful day when everything went wrong. Cal chose his country, Maven betrayed me, and I nearly died.

"How could I forget? That day will be branded into my memory for the rest of my life."

"It was a terrible day. For both of us," I add, smirking to myself.

"You could've been my red queen," Maven whispers, joining me at the far side of the room. "But you chose Cal."

"I chose myself," I say, spitting my words. "If you hadn't stopped your mother, we could've had a life together. Cal would've been king, I would've been a princess and you a prince."

"Stop lying. You didn't want that life. You've never wanted that. You would've hated it even more as long as you were with me. I've seen the camera footage, everyone has. You kissed him, and you didn't stop. I thought you were different, someone who would choose the shadow over the flame. I was wrong."

I slowly blink, realizing he's partially correct. "I loved both of you. But after everything, it's unrealistic now."

"Goodbye Mare," Maven whispers, sweeping a tendril of wet hair out of my face.

"Goodbye Maven."