His Red Queen

Chapter Seventeen

I wake up with Maven's arms wrapped around me. Holding me close, he is still asleep. His heart beats against my back. So steady and calm. I've never known him to be this relaxed and unburdened. Or that gentle and...loving.

This feels to good to be true.

I roll over, putting a pillow where I was laying. He clutches the pillow and groans as I get up. Taking his shirt from the bottom of the bed, I throw it on and am about to open the door and go to the closet to get dressed when he stops me.

"Come back," Maven whines. He rubs his eyes and yawns. Putting his arms out, he beckons me back to him.

I sit on the edge of the bed, facing him. "Morning." A smile tugs at the corners of my lips.

Maven pulls my face to his, kissing me slowly, the way he did last night before we fell asleep. When he pulls away, he looks me up and down and smirks.

I blush. "What?"

"I like that shirt on you better than me," is all he says.

I cross my arms over my chest. The shirt is practically see through on me, the front still loosened.

"We should get ready for the day." My stomach growls, protesting any plans before breakfast. "Maybe some breakfast first."

Maven's hands rest on my hips as he frowns. "I'd rather stay here all day." I hit him with a pillow, laughing devilishly, before getting up again.

"We have stuff to attend to."

"Like what?" He sighs and wraps the blankets tighter around himself.

The fall air has made its way into the palace, an unwanted reminder of how soon my birthday is. I should have been conscripted. Instead, I am in the king's bed.

I get back under the covers laying my head on Maven's chest.

"I don't know. Lakeland stuff. There's still a war going on." My voice trails off and look up at the ceiling.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"It's almost my birthday," I sigh.

Up until the day I wound up working in this palace—before the lie I lived, parading as Mareena Titanos—I thought that when I turned eighteen, I'd be dragged away to the battlefront. That I would not make it to nineteen and would leave my family without even a few stolen items that I could have acquired to make things just a bit easier.

Well, at least they'd have Gisa, still. They still have Gisa now. The golden child. The talented one. The girl who creates art instead of stealing from the pockets of strangers.

I shouldn't be bitter. I am queen now. Maven and I have both risen higher than our siblings that we used to be the shadows of. That's what drew me to Maven in the beginning.

"We should celebrate." Maven sits up. "A grand ball. All the high houses." He pauses. "Well, the ones who are still here."

"The ones who don't want you dead or are too afraid of you to leave," I deadpan.

"Wait what? That took a turn." He knits his eyebrows. "Are you okay?"

I grin and kiss him on the cheek. "Just fine. But I think I'd rather see my family than have a ball."

Maven purses his lips. "There must be a ball. I want you to have nothing but the best. We need the footage for the country. Show all the Reds how your status has risen. Everyone needs to see us having a good time."

Showing the other Reds how I am now queen but not doing more to help them, is the highest level of hypocrisy I have ever beheld.

"Fine. But then, can I please go see my family the next day or before? I miss them." Sadness eats at me but I do not let myself cry. I've been through worse than not seeing my family for a few months. It still stings, though.