My King of Darkness (Maven x OC)

Chapter 19

Maven

            I was sent back to my cell a little while later. They must have been debating what to do with me and having trouble agreeing (nothing surprising there) because I was left alone for hours again. I slid down in my seat, resting the back of my neck again the chair back, staring up at the ceiling. I grinned at the sound of my mother's voice in my head, "Stop slouching!"
            Impeccable manners. That's what they always said, that's what I was taught to have. After the impatient squirming of a little boy faded, I really didn't mind it. I liked acting properly and not just because my mother made it so. People respected you when you acted right and it was the Silver way to be polished. And I didn't mind learning our history and about all the High Houses. I was proud of my heritage, more than Cal ever was, and of course, I valued the leverage knowledge gave you.
             But I never understood why I studied and trained so hard. Most second borns wouldn't need all this. It wasn't until after I returned from the front that my mother told me her plan:
              I would be king.
              Of course I wanted it. I always thought I would rule better than Cal. He wasn't a diplomat or a scholar, he had no ambition. But he was a better fighter, a warrior, and that's what mattered, especially to our father. And I hated being ignored.
              I heard the thick clanking of the cell door unlocking and then opening. I didn't bother moving to see who it was as I tracked the sound of their footsteps coming towards me. "Okay, Maven, ready to talk more?" Mare's voice came.
               I didn't answer, just sighed dramatically at the ceiling.
               "Perhaps you need some persuading," she mused.
               I finally sat up to see her stepping—No, strutting—around the table. She proceeded to climb into my lap and kiss me, roughly, forcing her tongue into my mouth.
                When she broke the kiss, a mischievous grin spread on my face, "I take it you're not Mare."
                 Lydia winked, "What makes you say that?"
                 She jumped off me, breaking character, "Come on, let's get out of here. I've got the keys to your cuffs—Unless you want to stay here and finish up with Mare." She gestured to herself.
                   "What's that supposed to mean?"
                   "I just don't know if you appreciate what you have here," Lydia was smirking seductively, but there was hurt in her eyes, "He bagged a woman who could change her body to whatever he's craving that moment, I believe that's how Shade put it."
                   I grasped her hands in my cuffed ones, "Lydia, my love, I only want you. I don't want Mare anymore. Besides, it wouldn't be real. What we have is real. Now, let's get out of here, please."
                    She nodded, swallowing, "Okay, pretend I'm taking you to Farley."
                    Lydia strode down the hallway ahead of me, taking a roundabout way to the boiler room where I would take over. No one gave us a second look. We were almost to freedom, when we ran into Cal, and he stumbled to a stop in front of us. "Mare," he looked back and forth between the two of us, "What are you doing?"
                   "Farley wanted to speak with him,"
                   "I see," he said, awkwardly, "I'll go with you."
                   "No," Lydia said, a little too quickly. I looked away, pretending to be bored, but my heart was pounding.
                   "It's just..." Lydia started, "He upsets you so much."
                   "Mare, I'm not a child. I can control myself,"
                   "Farley doesn't think so. She doesn't want you doing anything rash. I know, I hate him too, but you'll have your chance," she grasped his face as she said the last sentence and to my horror, kissed Cal deeply.
                    I whirled around, clenching my fists. My blood boiled, and the silent stone cuffs stifled the flame painfully. My chest heaved with the effort of slowing my breath and heart rate. Finally I felt a hand grab my shoulder roughly as Lydia pulled me along, "Come on."