Lover's Curse (Red Queen Awards Winner)

Chapter Forty Three - New Beginnings

Mare

I did all I could.

If he won't seek help, that's his problem. He had a choice between happiness and misery, and misery proved more comfortable and alluring. A healer cannot mend a limb which refuses their touch.

It's not my fault.

Feels like it.

I trudge underground, train awaiting. I've no idea how to operate it, but I'm a reckless learner. Chancing death has become mundane.

The doors slide open with ease, sparks twitching as I step into darkness. Lights flicker, steadying to illuminate severe walls and bare seats. The train responds to my touch, but I can sense another's.

Magnetron.

"Evangeline, I know you're there."

She peers from the front of the train, hand lingering on steel. "You here to stop me, Barrow? Because I'll ensure they never find your body."

"Where are you going?"

"None of your business."

"How unsuspicious." I lean against the door. "Where's Ptolemus? King or not, I have a few words to say to him."

"He's not here." Evangeline can't meet my eyes. "Neither are my parents."

Is that guilt? "Out with it. What's wrong?"

"I don't need to justify myself to you."

I snort. "Let an unstable magnetron steal a train unquestioned. Brilliant."

"Save it."

"You'd feel better if you talked about it."

"Isn't that convenient."

"Evangeline, either open up or I'm kicking you off this train." I step forward, sparks crackling from my palm. "Think I can't?"

"I--" She hangs her head. "Father is dead."

"Oh."

"I watched. I did nothing." Is she crying? "And now I'm running away like a coward."

"Evangeline."

"I don't want your pity."

"I pity no one. And stop acting like I'm going to yell at you." I extend a hand, and she eyes it suspiciously. "Trust me, I have no business judging anyone."

She folds her arms around herself. "I've had enough. If I have one life, I want to spend it with the people I love. Not pleasing parents who love their titles more than their children."

The train jostles, sending me careening against the wall. My cheek scrapes against a nearby seat, and I clutch the edge for balance. Fuck. I didn't prepare for this. My lightning will not save me.

It doesn't need to.

Maven steps inside, pale as a jutting rib. His medals are gone, shirt grey, eyes vacant and wavering as he shuffles forward. He holds no weapons. He makes no threats.

A shard of steel tears from the wall and rests against his neck. "Stay back."

He closes his eyes. "Go ahead."

Evangeline wavers. "Why are you here?"

"I abdicated." Maven stares past her to me. "It took a few hours of paperwork, but it's done. I'm not king anymore." He wobbles. "As far as anyone else is concerned, I might as well be dead."

I meet his gaze. "You changed your mind."

"Don't make me regret this."

"I can't make you do anything." I gesture to the seat across from me. "This was your choice. I'm proud of you."

"Save it."

Evangeline stares at us. "Am I missing something . . . ?"

"Yes," Maven snaps. "I'm not explaining myself."

I tell her the basics, skimming over the details. She doesn't need to know about the choking miscommunication. "As for what's next, I don't know."

"Wherever you're staying," he mumbles.

Evangeline huffs. "That's a terrible idea. You'll relapse within an hour. You're coming with me."

"What?" Maven stills. "Where are you going?"

"Montfort. Premier Davidson invited me to stay, so long as I gave up my title. He might accept you too."

"That's different." He retreats into his seat. "You're not a monster. They'll forgive you."

She laughs. "Yes. And the Barrows will welcome you with open arms."

Maven doesn't respond. Minutes tick by, thick with tension. He might bolt if I looked away. I take his hand, pressing. "You're not coming with me. You're going to follow Evangeline and you will remain with her. Is that clear?"

He nods.

The mask is gone. In its place is twitching hands and trembling shoulders, arms drawn tight to his chest. Fingers creep against his wrist again, squeezing the scabbed flesh close to breakage.

I tug up my sleeve, revealing my own marks. With unsteady steps, I sit beside him. One hand hooks around his waist, the other tearing his unruly fingers away. "No." I stare him in the eye. "We're not doing this anymore. Either of us."

Something breaks. He buries his head in my shoulder, and I can't will away the tears that drip down my cheeks onto his hair. "We're starting anew, and nothing will stop us. Not fear. Not guilt. Not shame."

"Anew." Maven emerges from my shoulder, eyes to the window. "You promise she isn't a whisper?"

"If she was, I wouldn't be joining you."

His fists clench. "I--" He chokes on the next word. "I. I. I. I-I. I--" Maven rasps, clutching his chest. "I want--I-I-I. I wa-I w--I want--" He grits his teeth. "I want to be happy."

Silence.

"I want to be happy." He stares at his hands. "I've sacrificed so much to get that throne, and all it's done is make me miserable. And I don't want to be miserable anymore."

"To new beginnings." I usher Evangeline, who watches us awkwardly from the other side of the train car. "And new mistakes."

She snorts. "I've never made a mistake in my life."

Maven leans against the window. "What about that time when you were eight and you tried to skewer me, but I ran in a circle so you stabbed yourself in the eye instead?"

"Living with you will be a joy." Evangeline's voice is dry.

I wink. "Did I mention he's allergic to shellfish?"

"Hey!"

Evangeline cackles.

The two of them muffle to background noise as I close my eyes, exhaustion seeping from my skin to the floor. It's over.

I'd spent so long waiting for it all to end, I'd never considered what might come after. What my future might look like.

A tear slips down my face, then another. Future.

I can have a future.