His Red Queen

Chapter Seventeen

"I'll think about it." His face is expressionless.

"Think about it?" I exclaim. "What is there to think about? I'm your wife, not your prisoner."

"Enough." Maven gets up and puts his navy blue silk robe on. "Get dressed. Let's go have breakfast and discuss this at another time.

We do not meet an agreement during breakfast but the bacon is good. Servants clear our plates. I leave the table first.

"I'm going to go train, if that's okay." Maven is busy reading over papers and only nods.

In the training room, there are guards stationed to make sure I do not pull a stunt like last time. I chuckle darkly as I send a bolt of lightning only ten feet away from them. One of them flinches. Good.

I stretch first, loosening up my muscles. My jog is light, an easy pace to get started before the main event. Maven has installed new systems of hurtles and targets for us to use at our leisure.

My jog turns into a sprint and my muscles start to burn but I press on. I just want to clear my mind. After a little while, I wipe the sweat from my brow and press the button to get the hurdles and targets up.

They spring up from the ground and walls and ceilings. Adrenaline pumps inside my body as purple lightning meets the first target, sparking and crackling. The noise turns a switch on in my brain, making me want more.

The hum of electricity vibrates through my bones. I leap over a hurtle and my feet hit the ground hard as I land. Another one pops up and I swerve around it, striking two targets at once.

As I pass the guards, they narrow their eyes on me. They're still afraid of me. But also afraid of what Maven will do to them if they mess with me. The Arvens who knocked me out when I tried to escape last time, are now dead. Maven shows no mercy. We all know that.

"I dare you," I spit as one of them raises a hand as if to silence my ability.

The other guard elbows her in the ribs and gives her a warning look.

I keep running.

This section of the track has no hurdles, but tons of targets. The first two are easy; I get them each with small bolts, barely even purple in color. The ones that follow take more energy. More lighting.

The third target is higher up and far wider than the first two. I jump, sending a bigger bolt up. It branches out, hitting the next few. The lightning looks like veins, full of blood and life.

More targets pop out at me, too quickly to hit even half of them. I barely dodge one as it springs out from the wall, hitting me in the side. If it hit any harder, I would have broken a rib or two.

My legs hurt, strained from the energy it takes to keep running while striking the targets. A few smaller targets line up in a row and I take each one down with only one blast of lightning that I move at an angle to hit them all at once.

The final target is gigantic. Suspended from the rafters, it is three times my size and incredibly thick. I breath deeply, preparing myself to take it down.

My anger that I have pushed away for so long comes to the front of my mind. I see Cal and Kilorn and Farley. Mom and Dad. My siblings. I wish I could have done better for them all. Wish it didn't have to be this way. I have betrayed them all by becoming what I swore to have hated.

I have become one of the oppressors that damned my family to the Stilts, and others to worse fates.

I can see Evangeline taunting me and Elara trying to control me. The sneers and comments from the Silvers who wished I were dead instead of their queen.

The horrible stench of First Friday when everyone is out, getting ready to see the display of Silver abilities. Kilorn cheering beside me, hungry for bloodshed.

Now, I am the one who wants to watch the Silvers at each other's throats more than anything.

Images of everyone who I have hurt and everyone who has betrayed me, hurt me, fills my head.

The balls of lighting in my hands grow massively, stretching out into tendrils as if reaching to grab something. The bright purple electricity seems to have a mind of its own but I  force myself to regain control. I channel all my anger and pain into releasing it directly at the target.

I scream at the top of my lungs, tears streaming down my face, as the lightning meets the dense material of the target.

The force sends me flying backwards. Suspended in the air, I try to brace for impact but instead, little spurts of lightning shoot from my hands.

I hit the ground, across the room with a thud. My wrist crunches under me. I yelp at the sharp pain that shoots through my arm.

"Well done."

When I turn around, I forget the pain in my wrist.

My eyes widen at the sight of who is in front of me.

Author's Note:
I can't believe I have over 1k reads!!!! Thank you, everyone, for all the love you give my story.