My King of Darkness (Maven x OC)

Chapter 2

Lydia

The living quarters were all but deserted the next afternoon. All the residents were off to lunch. Once I found an empty corridor, I transformed into Elara and strode towards her bedroom. The room was dark and silent. I could get used to a place like this, I thought. Plush, mahogany furnishing, giant bed, giant marble fireplace.
I stepped up to the vanity, morphing back into myself. A diamond necklace would shut Jacob up.
I chose one, transformed back into Elara, tucking it into the brassiere of the blue frock I last saw her sporting, and slipped back into the empty hall.
Boom, who's the bitch now, Jacob.

"Whoa," Jacob breathed, the glittering diamonds reflecting in his eyes. He flattened out on the table, arms stretched out, "I pledge myself to the power of Lady Lydia!"
I laughed at the joke, "Lady Lydia. I like the sound of that." I clasped the necklace around my neck, "Bow."
My friends laughed as I removed the necklace.
"What should we do with it?"
"Destroy it. That thing has some fucking curse on it,"
"Are you kidding? We have to sell it. We'll be rich,"
"We?" Ben echoed, "You mean Lydia's rich."

For the next twelve hours, my life was perfect. I had my friends back and I had pulled off one of the most dangerous heists imaginable without breaking a sweat.
And then everything fell apart.
"There has to be some mistake?" My hands froze over my typewriter.
"No mistake," the attendant said, repeating, "His Majesty wants you in his study."
Trembling, I forced myself to stand. My legs felt numb, like I was walking on air. I followed the attendant to the other end of the hall, only imagining what could await me. I was toast.
Quite literally probably.
Or he had some more creative way of killing me, a strong arm to tear me apart, a whisper to make me commit suicide, maybe Elara herself will do the honor.
But when I reached the study, King Maven was alone. The attendant even left shutting the door behind me. A private viewing of my death I see.
When we were alone, the king stood up from his desk and circled it to come stand beside me, saying, "You're a conspiracy theorist. What do you make of my ex-betrothed, Mare Barrow?"
"The theories vary," I said, calmly, "Most think she's a fluke, a mutant. A lot think she's half Silver, half Red by genetics, but..."
"But...?"
He was going to pry it out of me. Here goes breaking one of my rules. "Some think it's a change in DNA. We're evolving so to speak into something new. Why do you ask?"
He directed my attention to the screen on his desk, turning it to face us, "We picked up something on the security cameras in my mother's room yesterday I thought you might find interesting."
"C—Cameras?"
Shit.
I watched the footage with horror. It was me, morphing back and forth between Elara and myself, rifling through her vanity and stealing the necklace. Maven watched my eyes as if the screen wasn't there. He stayed silent as it finished playing the thrilling prologue to my demise.
"Ho. Ly. Shit." I breathed.
I looked up into the kings eyes which was a mistake as my legs threatened to give out at the look on his face. "You're one of them," what I thought should be a threatening tone was a thoughtful murmur, "You're a newblood and you don't even know?"
"Er..."
The air around us was heating up and I realized it was Maven. I backed up instinctively as he advanced on me, "You listen, and you listen good. That footage does not exist. I am never going to see you use your ability ever again. As far as I'm concerned you don't have one. And you are not going to step another toe out of line again. Understand?"
At this point he was shouting, I was backed up against the wall with his face inches from mine, and the heat boiling off him was suffocating. I nodded emphatically.
He turned away abruptly, snapping, "Dismissed."
I shot out of that room, and back to my own broom closet of an office, resisting the urge to full on sprint. It wasn't until I was safely back and had caught my breath that my mind processed what I had just been told:
That was a second chance.
No.
That was a warning.