•°~His crumbling throne~°•

•*~Chapter 2~*•

I've spent months trying to learn how to become a proper lady of the court, so when it's the time for me to put on a cold facade, I know damn well how to wear it.

I forbid myself to look into his mysterious blue eyes. The same blue eyes that hold far too many secrets. The same blue eyes that I had fallen in love with before.

Too bad people learn from mistakes.

I bare my teeth like an animal, gritting them hard enough for him to hear. "What do you want, Maven? Where are we?"

He tilts his head towards the side, studying me carefully. He grins an awful smile. "I'm pretty confident you know already where you are, my dear. What I want, however, is a question in itself entirely."

"So answer the damned thing," Cal retorts, his glare burning with a million fiery flames.

I feel embarrassed to be seeing his bruised self for the very first time since Maven has made an appearance. I take in his messed-up ebony hair and wounded skin, even though the look in his eyes remains to have the glow of an authoritative king.

Maven seems to see him for the first time too, as if forgetting he was in the cell to begin with. "I don't answer to people who kill their own family."

I growl, jumping into their conversation. "You're such a hypocrite. You know damn well none of this is Cal's fault to begin with"-

"Besides, if you want to point fingers at the family-killer, then it certainly should not be me getting all of the spotlight," Cal interrupted, shaking his head in utter rage. "He did everything for you, and look what you did in return-"

"I'm not talking about our father."

The thick silence greets us once again, and I'm very tempted in spitting in Maven's face. He's the only reason Cal and I have ended up in this he'll hole to begin with. And the reason this silence ever broke out.

I fold my arms, protesting to not lash out. "I know well for a fact you didn't pull us into a cell just to send us your sympathy for your own dead mother." I smirk, angling my head to study Maven more carefully. "I'll make sure to send her your condolences once you've killed me."

If I were a fool, I wouldn't have believed people if they told me Maven's cold facade was threatening to break.

Too bad I don't go under that title.

He looks away, whether it be of my statement of his mother or something else entirely, I don't know.

His words are more quieter than what I'd thought them be. "I'm not going to kill you, Mare."

Now it's my turn to look confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Simply what is said; I am not going to kill you, Mare Barrow," he repeats, turning to pin his face dangerously close to the entrance of the cell, not to mention dangerously close to my face.

He risks sliding his pale palm through the metal bars, and I hate admiring him for it. I hear Cal moving uncomfortably in the corner, lowly growling, "don't you dare touch her".

But his words are Maven's undoing, and he surprisingly does it anyway. He grabs for my chin and harshly tilts it so I thoroughly stare in his eyes. Somehow, they appear more colder than the last time I saw them.

He smirks in my face, completely ignoring Cal's protests in the process.

"To answer your question," Maven's smile glimmers wickedly. "I am not going to kill you, Mare, because you are far too precious to be wasted on death."

I growl in his face. "Then what am I to be wasted on? Certainly you didn't just bring me here to waste my time."

He chuckles darkly, nothing like the ghost of the boy I had once fallen in love with. "That, indeed. But you misunderstand me, my darling." He gently removes his grip on my jaw. "I don't want you to be wasted on absolutely anything."

It takes everything in my effort to not gawk at him, let alone obtain from striking him across his beautiful face. I snarl instead, starting to lose it. "You better hurry up and tell me what you want then, Maven. The Scarlett Guard isn't fond of being patient for missing recruits."

Again, he lets out a laugh that sends chills down my spine. "Isn't it obvious of what I want?"

I watch as his eyes soften, his smile fading alongside the now-relaxed muscles in his face, and suddenly, I see the Maven I had wanted to spend my life with. The Maven I never wanted leaving my side.

His sheepish grin comes back into view. "I want you."

Sorry it's a little short, I promise to make them a little longer 🥲
Anyways, how'd you guys like the chapter? (Sorry I took a little long 😓)
Hopefully I can install you guys with more chapters in the upcoming week!
Have a great day/ night!

-Eva