Shadow's Throne

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Evangeline

Everyone in the throne room freezes as we take in the boy who's walked into the room, Cal, Mare, and Cameron surrounding him.

Maven takes a step closer to us and I instantly pull shards of iron off the dress I'm wearing and turn it into a dagger that waits by my side.

Mare sees my action and steps in front of Maven and his now frowning face.

"Calm down everyone, Sam fixed him," she says.

I look to Cal who nods in agreement and I let the dagger form back into the iron beads that ran down the skirt of my dress.

Anabel takes a step closer to Maven, no emotion on her wrinkled face.

"Anabel," Maven says, the smile returning to his face. "My grandmother."

Anabel freezes at the words as she slowly takes them in. A smile breaks onto her face as tears spring to her eyes. She finishes the walk to Maven and pulls him into a tight hug which he returns.

I stand and watch, not believing what's actually happening. The evil boy king who threw this country into ruins is standing before us hugging his grandmother.

I look at Cal again who has a faint smile on his face as he watches his brother and his grandmother begin to talk.

I hear footsteps behind me and Mare's voice reaches my ears.

"I know what you're thinking. It's so weird to see him as the prince, the boy, he used to be," She says standing next to me.

"It's like Elara never happened," I say quietly, watching as Cal joins his grandmother and Maven.

"I know," She replies softly.

I look down at her and see that she's watching the three talk, smiles on their faces. But I notice her gaze is focused on Maven and that she has a faint smile on her own face.

"You never stopped loving him did you," I say causing her to look at me, fear briefly flashing in her eyes.

"I always thought I did. After what his mother did to him, I told myself that I didn't want anything to do with him anymore," She says before looking back towards Maven. "But when he woke up and told me he still loved with me with tears in his eyes and a little smile on his face, it all came rushing back. All the days we spent together, all of the moments I got to have with him before his mother. The boy came back. The boy I fell in love with. And once I realized he was back, I had no reason to hate him anymore," She turns back to look at me, tears glazing her eyes. "I really do love him."

I stand there and watch as she dries her eyes and walks off to go fill Farley and Davidson in on the situation.

If Mare is in love with Maven and he's normal again, then what's going to happen to all of this? The Lakelands and Norta? Who'll come into power where?

I hurry out of the throne room, not bothering to tell anyone where I'm going. I quickly walk to my bedroom and pull out a piece of paper and a pen.

If anyone will know what to do, it'll be Tolly.

I write him a quick letter, informing him on the situation and asking for his advice on what I should do and tell him to tell Elane that I love and miss her. I quickly seal it and call a servant to send it.

After she leaves, I lean back in my chair and closes my eyes, running my hands down my face.

Nothing is working out. Maven is better again, I'm still engaged to Cal, and I'm miles away from Elane.

I glance out my bedroom window which overlooks one of the lakes below.

The water is so peaceful and calm. It really is beautiful here.

I hope Cal doesn't tear it to pieces.

I turn back to my desk and begin writing a letter to my father explaining everything that's happened and asking what he wants me to do. When I'm finished, I call the servant back who hurries out with the envelope in her hand.

I get up and head over to my closet to get dressed for dinner and settle on a simple silver gown that I adorn with a silver flower belt and silver flowers flowing through the flowing skirt. I pick out a shiny pair of silver heels and put together some silver jewelry.

After checking my makeup, I head out of rooms and towards the dining hall. From just outside the doors, I can hear people laughing and I furrow my brows in confusion.

Ever since this war started, I don't think any of us have actually laughed.

I push open the still dark blue doors and head into the dining room. In the middle of the now silver, gold, red, and black room, sits a large table where Cal, Mare, Maven, Anabel, Farley, Davidson, and Cameron are sitting. I take my permanent seat beside Cal who's currently talking with Maven, Mare, and his grandmother.

I ignore their conversation and start to heap some of the amazing smelling food onto my plate. As I'm doing so, I notice that Mare and Maven are sitting particularly close. I pretend to drop my fork and lean down under the table to act like I'm picking it up and I look over to where Mare and Maven are sitting.

I quickly sit back up in my chair and look over at the two who don't seem to care that Maven's brother and Mare's ex-boyfriend are sitting right next to them while they're holding hands.

Cal doesn't seem bothered, but maybe he hasn't noticed.

I turn back to my food and continue eating for the rest of dinner. No one says anything to me, and they instead continue having conversations with their friends.

So I sit there, not wanting to draw attention to myself for the first time in forever, and instead I think.

After all, I still need to figure out a way to get out of this marriage.

So there's a pretty short and pretty bad chapter. But hey, at least I updated! And I haven't written in Evangeline's pov in a long time so you've got to cut me some slack. Also, I'm very sorry about my terrible updating schedule. At this point, I'm pretty much just updating whenever I get the chance, but I have to warn you guys that finals are coming up soon so the next update may be closer to Christmas. Anyway, hope you somewhat and enjoyed and stay tuned!