*hides in shame and sorrow* OH MY GOD! Has it really been a year since I last updated this fic? God I'm so embarrassed! Life got in the way, plus I kind of lost inspiration… but I'm just a terrible person. I'm so sorry!
I want to thank all of you who reviewed, favorited and followed in hopes that this story would be updated! And special thanks to DeltaBlairLines for your encouraging messages!
In case there's anybody out there who still wants to read this, here's a short chapter from Maven's POV!
The words resonated on the crystal throne room.
I clenched my fists, trying to will the rage at bay so I could focus on the task at hand, but the flames came to me regardless illuminated the darkness with a crimson glow.
"When did he arrive?" My voice was calmed and composed, but I heard the guard behind me suck in a breath. He knew well enough that I wasn't trying to reassure him, that I was barely containing the rage inside me. Bad things happened to those who delivered bad news to me, that much was known.
When the guard took too long to answer I snapped, and in a motion to fast for him to notice I turned around and threw my flames at his feet.
The soldier's face was young, barely a few years older than myself, and when it had been first covered in shadows my flames light up his whole features, showing me how he went from fear to pain.
He let out an inhuman cry when the heat churned his boots and got to his bones. He kept screaming as he fell, limbs flailing while trying to put out the fire that was burning him alive.
"I said," my voice rose higher so the remaining three guards in the room could hear me beyond the screaming of their peer. "WHEN DID HE ARRIVE?"
"Just two days ago, your Majesty." One of them bowed as he answered, his words stumbling one over the other so as not to suffer from the same fate as the man now squirming on the ground.
I looked at each soldier face. It was still night, even though dawn was fast approaching, and the enormous throne room's only light now came from the man screaming, and my fists aflame. Content with the fear I saw in their expression, I suffocated the fire. The soldier on the ground started weeping. I ignored him.
"So you are telling me, that my brother and that filthy band of Red rebels got to Lakelander territory, our enemy's territory, two days ago and I'm hearing of this just now?"
The soldier who had answered now gulped, clearly disturbed by my response. But what could he expect? A pat on the back for telling me two days later that Cal had gone over to our enemies in search for a truce? All to take me away from the throne that was rightfully mine.
"Sir," another soldier came forward. His name was Mallery, Mal for short. I remembered him well, he had been a soldier in the castle since I was fifteen and had always been dedicated to his job. He was more experienced too, unlike the other members of his squad. "We had been investigating the movements of the so called Scarlet Guard as you requested. A week ago we captured a member and interrogated him for the intel of the group's location. When we discovered where your… the traitor was, we came directly here since you'd ordered us to discuss this kind of information in private and avoid any means of communication in case of foul play. But with the attack in the south, the railway road was cut off, we had no other choice but to come through other, slower means of transport."
I remembered the attack. A bomb planted by lakelander forces that had gotten in during the chaos of the Scarlet Guard's plan to take over the monarchy. A risk Elara and I knew could happen. But that didn't make up for the fact that Cal was now working for our country's enemy and I had learned about it two days later.
"Go back, gather more intel but don't engage just yet. I want them alive, for now." I took one last glance at the young soldier who was still whimpering on the floor. "And for the love of God, take this man away from me. Pathetic."
The three soldiers rushed to obey, and soon I was left alone to my own thoughts.
My eyes wandered back to the throne, and I saw my mother again as she had been in her last moments. The shock, the realization and the rage. Never fear, she was beyond that. But the rage when she realized that her own son had betrayed her. She hadn't said a word, but I could see it plainly in her eyes; the disappointment that I wasn't strong enough.
But she was wrong. I was strong, I was worthy. I had proved it to Cal, who always thought I had been nothing but a simpering shadow, I had proved it to my Father who never saw my betrayal coming. I had proved it to Mare… even if I still felt like I had something to prove to her. And I had proved it to my mother.
I was worthy. I was royalty. I was the King of Norta.