I am so, sooo sorry I haven't posted anything in such a long time! Shame on me! I hope this chapter makes up a bit for that
On another note, who are you imagining in the roles of Maven and Mare? For me Maven is a mix between Styles and void Styles (huge Dylan o'Brien fan, as you can see.) If you guys don't know about Stiles, you better Google him up right now! Lol, and tell me what you think ;)
"Oh don't look so down," Maven says in a condescending tone, his slender fingers twisting around the crystal cup on the table as he takes it to his slips, barely hiding his smile. "You look lovely."
I look like a traitor.
After the burial ceremony, protocol dictates a day mourning, which means the close of the markets, shops and any business that was not of primary importance of the entire Kingdom, leaving every Red and Silver with no choice but to stay home and hang a black curtain over their houses' windows. I never knew a Mourning Day in my life, but my mom and dad did, with the death of King Kortet the II, Maven's grandfather. But neither my mom nor my father's family could afford fabric curtains back then and so we had panels of wood painted black, a luxury acquired by my mom's mother when she salvaged them from an abandoned Silver summer house. The paint was chipped and scratched after so many years and when my brothers left, the black wood was used to close their bedroom, so what little heat we had was not wasted in empty rooms.
One day they'll be back. I remember telling Gisa one afternoon after she stood crying in front of their room after Shade had left. We had both been so young and frightened, we felt like our family was being torn apart to never be put back together again. I had been just as scared as she was, but I had held her hand and promised her everything would be alright. One day the black would be gone.
Most people had to stay home, Silvers would indulge in alcohol-heavy gatherings where they would mourn the death of their King and Queen. Reds would stay in their homes, cold and frightened and praying to God no Silver thought of taking their pain and anger on them. Then there were the news reporters, they of course had to cover the events of the burial, and since Maven and I retrieved to a private dinner, I am left to watch the enormous screen showing the ceremony to the Kingdom.
And I get to see the time when Maven announces our wedding date.
Five days. In only five days we'll be married, if I get to live that long. As Maven dines his roasted beef and sips his cup of wine, I am left sitting at his side my gaze fixed on the moment our hands join and the crowd roars with excitement.
I look cold and composed, a true silver. The cameras can't capture the crippling fear I was suffering at that moment, the shame and worry. Was my family watching this? Was Cal? And Kilorn? The Guard? Of course they were, and I could already imagine what they were thinking of me. Traitor, coward, idiot.
It doesn't matter. I have to convince myself of that, it doesn't matter what they think of me, what names they are calling me in the dark. I have a plan, and I'll carry it through no matter what.
Still, regardless of my resolution I can't help but thinking what happens if I do make it through and live to the wedding day and past that. The bedding ceremony must happen on the wedding night, and my stomach turns and revolts at the idea of Maven touching me, I won't dare to think how it will be like that night. Will he taunt me? Surely. Beat me? Humiliate me? Will he get pleasure from seeing me hurt and scared? Probably, and that is why I can't show any fear, I won't give him that satisfaction.
I stare down at my plate, the white porcelain shimmering with golden tones as the sun sets behind us. The food looks delicious, there is chicken with orange sauce and stuffed with almond butter, flower salads adorn each corner of the table, its beautiful colors bringing up life into the otherwise dark and lonely room. There is mushroom and red wine risotto, pork so tender it falls apart when the forks touches it… and I can't stand the thought of eating any of it. Instead, the jar of wine looks much more tempting.
I reach to grab it but a tall servant beats me to it, lifting the jar swiftly and pouring red wine into my cup.
"My apologies, Your Grace." He says with his head down and for a moment I stay silent, trying to understand why he is apologizing for until I realize that I'm not supposed to reach for things, that they should be handed to me. The idea is so utterly stupid, I'm about to laugh until I see Maven's cold stare to the man and so I talk before anything can happen.
"That's alright, thank you."
I try my best effort at a comforting smile, but the man still bows his head down and leaves quickly.
"Oh, the savior of the poor reds." Maven comments disdainfully once the man is out of sight. "I'm starting to think keeping you here was not my brightest idea."
My body stiffens at the subtle threat, the idea that he doesn't want me here can mean only one thing, he can dispose of me without effort. But I won't let him intimidate me, he could have killed me and yet he didn't, whatever he wants me for, I'll be alive.
"You were never the bright brother," I say, my tone casual as I use the one thing I know it will hurt him the most, even though I know it's not true. "Cal was so much better at it all."
I lift my gaze and find his face stone cold, no anger or jealousy, only dead silence.
"Yet I'm here." He says draining his cup in one gulp, "and he is a rat running on the streets."
"Vicious creatures rats are, they'll bit you the second they can and they'll hit you when you least expect it."
His only answer was silence.
I kept working on my plate, only moving my food around since I didn't feel like doing anything else, until a thought came to mind.
"What about my family?"
"They ran away with the rest of the filth."
I clutch my fork tighter, willing myself not to stab his hand with it. They are not filth.
"I mean Mareena's family, my parents were killed but House Titanos was large, and so was my mother's side, how come has no one tried to visit me, their kind and future Queen?"
It was a long shot he would answer that much, but I had always wondered what had happened to those people, I had assumed I was kept away so they wouldn't notice how different from my parents I was and raised suspicion on my heritage, but what excuses were it given to them? It had to be unusual to be kept away from my family, especially when my "parents" had been killed and I had been lost for so long only to reappear in such a public way.
"Who says they haven't?" Maven said, raising a brow and called another servant for more wine. His face was starting to flush white and there was a little slur to his words, the alcohol making effect. "But they can't see you, not unless you want this little charade to over too soon."
"But if they don't get to see me, don't you think they won't get suspicious?" I remembered my lessons, and ladys did not lose contact with their families once they were engaged, on the contrary. Silvers took great pride in their houses and the joining of them through marriage was a reason to celebrate.
"If they can't see me, they'll start talking and it won't take long before somebody starts digging up things they shouldn't."
Maven studies me from his seat, his eyes searching for something in my face but what that is, I do not know.
"Why do you want to see them? You never asked about them before. What are you planning?"
"I don't particularly want to see them," I say carefully, treading through my words as if one false step could be my death, which is not too far from the truth. "But I'm pretty keen on living, Maven, as you might have realized by now, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here with you, and if they don't get to see their lost Mareena, it won't take long until they find something about me, and then what will you do? Take down two houses just to keep it a secret? Ten? Twenty?"
His silence was answer enough and I let myself show a smile. The wine really was taking a toll in his mind.
"I didn't think so. Bring them here, let me talk to them and we can keep this contained before it goes too far." He remained silent still, and before he could think against it I added; "imagine what people would think if they discovered that you tried to pass off a Red as a Silver, and as their Queen, no less. Had I been your mistress they wouldn't have bated an eye about it," we all knew that Reds and Silvers didn't mix, and that Silvers consider us less to even think of bedding us, and yet those cases were not uncommon. Red servants and a lonely Lady or Lord, even in the war with the Silver generals and the Red foot soldiers sparks could fly. It was more common than one would like to think of. Nobody would say anything against Maven if he had a red mistress, and I'm sure his father had more than a few but actually marrying one… "If your people discover that you married a Red, well… who could stop that revolution?"
"Fine," he bit out, "but I'll be there during the meeting."
"Wouldn't that be too suspicious?" If Maven or Elara hadn't let Mareena's family to see her then it would be conveniently strange for Maven to be there, monitoring whatever it is we might say or do to each other.
"I will be there." He said more sternly. "And there is no discussion."
"Fine." I replied in his equally cold tone.
I retired to my chambers shortly after that as he continued to dwell on his food. He didn't kiss my hand or tried to approach me in any way, something I was incredibly glad of.
But that night I could not sleep, my skin was trembling with the electricity running through the walls of my room. I felt it, stronger now and prickling under me, waiting to be released and yet, when I tried to summon the spark there was something stopping me, a barrier between the energy in my body and the outer world.
The power was still there, tempting me, taunting me with its closeness and infuriating me. The more I concentrated, the more I could feel everything, the energy in me and the buzz in the walls, running, pulsing, screaming at me but I couldn't tap it.
I turned in my bed and groaned, annoyed. That was when there was a knock on the door.
I sat up straight in bed, sensing the electricity of two bodies beyond that door but with no clue on who they might be. Guards? Maven? What could he possibly want? I didn't let my mind wander too long in that thought, instead I covered myself up with the blankets and held tight a knife I had stolen from dinner.
"Who is it?" I forced my voice to remain strong, commanding but it sounded too loud in the silence, and I flinched.
"It's me." Maven's voice sounded through the door. I did not put the knife down. "Unlock the door, or I'll go through it anyways."
"What do you want?" I asked, not willing to open it just yet, though knowing full well he could open it if he wanted to, why he hadn't done it just yet it was a mystery.
"I want you to open the door."
I groaned in annoyance.
"What for?"
"… so that it gets opened."
"Uggghh." Maybe it was because I wanted to maintain a semblance of security, of control and having Maven destroying my bedroom door to get in would shatter what little confidence I had at the moment. Whatever the reason was, I yanked the door opened.
Beside him there was no guard, but rather a man in a medical attire. My heart began pounding against my chest at the sight, my mind immediately running with ideas of what this man might do to me.
"Wha-?"
"This is the healer in charge of you, Mare." Maven spoke evenly as the man in the uniform made a small bow and entered my chamber. I didn't miss how he used my real name, and not Mareena. "He'll be in charge of administrating the medicine you need."
I turned around, not quite giving my back to Maven, just in case, and saw how the man took a bag with dark red liquid inside, the same color of the one that had been dripping into my arm when I woke up after the blast. That was the thing that took my lighting away, what kept me from being a problem to Maven.
His little science project.
"How have you been feeling, Mare?" The dark man asked. "I know this treatment is… unconventional but The King has made us make sure it is completely safe." His fingers trembled as he fumbled with the syringe and the needle, and he glanced anxiously at Maven. It seemed I wasn't the only one here against my will but, could I use it to my advantage?
"Besides having no powers? Perfectly." I say sarcastically.
"So you are not capable of producing any lightening? How about manipulating electronic devices, can you do that?"
"No," I say through gritted teeth, hating to be confessing this weakness in front of Maven, especially since he is the one who caused it. "It is just like when before falling in the field." I keep to myself the fact that, even though I can't produce electricity I can still feel it inside me, in his beating wrist clock, the cameras in the walls watching me even when I'm asleep. The less they know the better.
"That's great." He says cheerfully, ignorant of my mood. Probably his life depends on his success. "We believe you are ready to receive a smaller dose, in a month or two we will see the results and see whether you are ready to switch to something even lighter."
I only nodded as the man tied a piece of rubber on my upper arm and started searching for a vein.
"Will this happen every night?"
"Yes," to my surprise, Maven was the one to reply. He had stepped closer, now watching the doctor's work by the night stand, only a few feet from me. "The dose has to be delivered daily for it to work."
"And we wouldn't want that, of course."
"You wouldn't want it either." He says and when I lift my eyebrow he clarifies. "The serum is experimental, so not every aspect and side effect could be corrected properly. If you leave or stop receiving this doses your body will feel it badly."
"How badly?" I ask, not entirely believing him. He could be saying it just as another way to keep me in check, to make me afraid of stop taking this medication that keep my powers at bay. And yet… it was a pretty ingenious idea. Stuffing me with something that stripped me down of my powers, making me weak while at the same time making it impossible for me to quit it. He could have just put it in the formula on purpose.
"Very. There is also the chance that, if your powers are free again you won't be able to control them, they will be too strong you to stop it."
"Well," I say nonchalantly as if I didn't care, as if I didn't suffer from what he said. "Then it's a good thing I have you to keep me safe."
The healer connects the bag into the needle and I see the liquid entering my arm, slow but certain, stripping me away of my lightening with every drop.
It's alright. I have to know that, I don't need powers to beat him.
I draw my eyes away from the needle stuck in my arm and to Maven again, who is now looking at some spot in the wall before him deliberately ignoring me.
I can't help but compare him to the boy I knew, the one who had been my only ally when I first came here. Who had shown me kindness when all I had done was sneer in his face. I had hated him, hated his power, his birth rank and everything he represented, the silver power. But I had underestimated how much I had come to rely on him as a friend. I didn't know how much I relied on him until he was gone.
No, he had never been there to begin with. He had lied and deceived. The Maven I had known was not the one standing near me now.
Maven had been shy, the shadow to Cal's flame, he had been slim where Cal was buffed, soft when Cal was loud, he had been practically a boy, so young and happy and out of place with all that silvers should be.
The real maven was nothing of the sort, he stood proud and confident, all traces of insecurity replaced by tactical knowledge. He had always been attractive, all silvers were, but now it was different, there was a different edge on him, a cruel beauty of sorts that made him incredibly attractive and fearsome at the same time.
I had kissed him once and a small, insane part of me wondered what it would feel like to kiss him now.
The healer finished after a few minutes and both left with the reassurance that they would be back the night to follow, and the next, and the next. Apparently it would be too suspicious to go back to actual infirmary each day, and so they'll come to my room.
I slept restlessly that night, when finally sleep came my dreams were plagued with a cave, its walls coming closer and closer until they crushed me, but they weren't made of stone, instead I drowned in a dark red serum.
It was during the night, one of those times when I wake up only to fall into nightmares soon after that I felt the paper in my hand. Remembering the cameras watching, I turned to make it seem that I was still asleep and unfolded the note under the sheets.
With the moonlight streaming from the window I could see, barely, but clear as day those five words that I knew so well.
Rise, red as the dawn.
So, what did you think, loved it? Hated it? Kind of boring?
Also the cover for Glass Sword came out recently, what did you guys think about it? I personally loved it! Just a few more months until it's out!
I had been meaning to ask you, you have all read and loved Red Queen (I'm assuming, since otherwise we would be here reading and writing fanfiction!) but what other books have you read and loved? Do you like to write fanfics too? I would love to get to know you guys, if you would like!
I am currently reading A Court of Thorns and Roses, The Wrath and the Dawn, Shatter Me and The Kiss of Deception. Yeah, I'm one of those horrible people who reads a million books at a time :P