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.
"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.