The Letter ~A Red Queen Love Story~

I Probably Shouldn't Write To You Anymore...

Cal knew.

The letter was empty.

But it was open.

Immediately, I ran to Cal's room, demanding an explanation. Why was the letter opened? Where was the letter? Did he take it again? So many questions ran through Maven's mind as he ran to his brother's room. When he finally reached it, Cal was on his bed drying his hair.

"What is this? Where's the letter?" Maven asked.

"Look inside the envelope," Cal said, not looking at his brother.

I'm sorry, I can't. I probably shouldn't write to you anymore. Goodbye, Maven.

His heart dropped. He blinked back the tears, trying to hold in the pain that was welling up inside. He could hear his breath going unsteady and his legs going weak as he ripped the envelope into shreds and let the pieces all fall to the ground. Was this because he asked him to Queenstrial? He knew it was ridiculous, but one could have hope, right? He just never expected Thomas to stop writing to him because of it. Was what he did really that messed up? He couldn't believe it.

"How long have you known?" Maven asked.

"About a week. I found out when the instructor saw me holding the envelope and opened it. He saw your letter and asked me about it. I didn't know what he meant and unconsciously read it. Of course, I didn't understand either, but I knew if you read it. You would get hurt. I figured I would try to drag it as long as possible, but seeing how much you wanted to get the letter back. I figured you should know now even though that means during Queenstrial you're probably going to feel pretty crushed." Cal frowned, looking up at his brother and noticed a single tear fell down his face.

"I should head to bed... Goodnight..." Maven's voice cracked as he lied and walked back to his own room.

The next couple of days were dreadful. He continued with his normal routine, but the times when he wasn't doing anything. He would sit at his desk and stare at the previous letters. He felt numb down to his core, wanting nothing but to wallow in his own self-pity. He should've known it was stupid to ask such a thing. Of course, Thomas was going to refuse, why wouldn't he?

"Let's go for a walk," Cal said, dragging Maven by his ankle.

"Cal, I don't want to go for a walk. Go ask one of the maid or butlers to go with you. I just want to lay here and do nothing." Maven muttered.

"They'll just keep referring to me as your majesty after every sentence. I'd rather not, besides you need to get out of the castle. Come on, I have to leave in a couple of hours and I'd rather not leave knowing you're going to wallow in your sorrow." Cal sighed, letting go of his brother's ankle and sat beside him on his bed.

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's hopeless. Everything in this world is fake. Nothing matters anymore. Life sucks. Love isn't real. You don't need love, it'll only end in heartbreak."

Cal rolled his eyes.

"While you go on that walk, can you also burn these? I don't want to see them anymore, but I don't have the heart to burn it myself." Maven asked, pointing at the stack of letters.

Cal picked one up and read the content of it, noticing something as he pointed it out to Maven.

"He's on the frontlines?" Cal asked.

"He works as an apprentice there, why?" Maven looked at his brother with puffy eyes.

Cal gave a long hard stare, waiting for his brother to pick up.

"Where do you think I'm going in a couple of hours?"

"The— Oh." Maven realized.

"What if you came and we tried to find him? Get an explanation as to why he suddenly stopped writing to you?" Cal nudged him.

"He doesn't want to talk to me. Why should I go bother him? That sounds quite rude. Besides, I don't know what he looks like. I wouldn't know where to start." Maven admitted.

"We'll figure it out. Come on, I'll ask a maid or two to come to help you pack. You're coming on this trip. We're going to get to the bottom of this." Cal cheered.

"Ugh, fine."

Author's Note: Everything, but the story belongs to Victoria Aveyard.