King's Cage [Completed]

Chapter Sixty-Five

Cal

We have about 30 soldiers. 30 men and women to take down Maven and his army of Silvers. 30 people who now have nothing to lose.

I am one of them. Without Mare, my life is nothing. I don't care about the crown, the riches, the fame. She showed me what life really is and now I can't go on without her.

So it's win or die. Our last battle. Together, I believe that we can outsmart my brother.

The team that is going inside the palace includes Cameron, Kilorn, Shade, Luka, Soren, and I. The rest of the group is distracting the majority of the guards. Setting fires, making noise, that's their job.

Our way to the palace is so quiet it's deafening. I remember all the times I was happy with Mare. All the stolen moments. The dancing. The running. The touching of skin. The kissing of lips. I'm doing this for her. To hold her again. To raise our child together. To fix our broken land.

The sun has just gone down when we arrive outside of Archeon. The sky is a blue that just keeps getting darker as the minutes tick by. The city is lit up but mostly quiet. You can still hear sounds of laughter coming from pubs or on occasional child's cry. We watch the guards switch twice before we decide that it's time to move.

"Shade." I hiss as we watch the others go off in pairs into the city. "We gotta go now!"

He still is in a crouching position, his reflexes are slow. "Cal, I don't think I can do this." He says, out of breath.

I wave the others forward and kneel beside him. "Shade, we're going to rescue her. Mare, your sister. She needs us right now. She needs us to finish this for her so she can live again and be with her family. Be with you." I tell him softly.

Shade's lips tremble. "If I couldn't save Diana, how could I save her?"

I grab him by the shoulder, no time for panicking. "You need to get yourself together, Shade. What happened to Farley... no one could have guessed that, okay. That was Maven. And Maven has Mare captive right now, forcing her to play a role she doesn't want. Now get up, we need to go."

I hate myself as I speak so harshly to him but he needs to snap out of it. There is a time for grief when this is all over, but it is not now.

He nods, flipping his hair out of his eyes, and stands up. Taking a few deep breaths, he starts stomping off, toward the tunnels.

"Let's go, prince." He calls out from over his shoulder.

I roll my eyes, jumping up to follow him.

♥

Mare

I sit in the room I share with Maven and write a letter, hoping that somehow, it will get to Cal when I'm dead. When Maven is dead. My dress gets a blot of ink on it as I carelessly throw a pen down on the table. Sealing up the envelope, I wipe a tear away hastily. I cannot cry. I will not get emotional today. My last day.

Not knowing where else to hide the letter, I shove it in between some of Maven's work papers, knowing that Cal will go through them once he is king. And with Maven gone... he will be king. He will get a queen one day and have little royal babies and be happy.

At least, that's what I hope he will do when I'm gone.... just not right away.

I rub my stomach, thinking of the baby that will never be born, all for the boy who calls himself king. It makes me sick to think how much I am giving up for one death, but this death will be the end of the war.

Maven bursts through the door, looking angry and worried at the same time. I stumble backward when he doesn't slow his pace as he grabs my wrist, twisting it at an odd angle.

"Maven!" I exclaim. "Your hurting me!" I shout as he pulls me from the room into the stone cold palace.

You would think I have gotten used to the walls that surround me, the patterned floors and the paintings, but no... this will never be home if I am to share it with him.

Maven is muttering to himself, which he only does when he is perfervid. His clothes are disheveled, his hair is going in all sorts of directions, his eyes are bloodshot. He looks... desperate. Desperate cannot even begin to describe what I see in his eyes. A wild passion that can only be experienced.

He tugs me down the hall, yelling at every guard we pass to fix this mess. We finally join Jon in a room I did not know existed before now, right behind his office. That's when he turns to me and snarls, an act, I think... but he growls at me.

"Your friends are back, Mare."

Sorry to end on such a cliffhanger, but I haaaad too. What did you think? Oh m y gosh! It's so close!!!!