The Twisted King

Chapter 1: Maven's Secret

Mare's POV

I kneel.

Maven looks at me, his hand clasping the chain to which my collar is attached.

"Mare, once I could have forgiven you. I loved you."

He stared at me.

"I still do. But you, you..."

he seemed at a loss for words.

"You killed my mother. And paraded her body around."

His eyes searched mine. Once again, I saw the boy I once believed Maven was. He seemed to be trying to search for something... help? Pity? Maybe even love? His dark eyes hardened and he smirked.

"So I'll return the favor."

He yanked on the chain and dragged me out of the room. The silvers suffocating my electricity followed a good distance behind us.

"Maven." I managed to say.

He turned around.

"Whatever your wicked little mind does, don't you dare harm Cal."

The name was out of my mouth before I could stop. Maven looked livid.

"CAL?! Not even your family, Mare. Not even your Scarlet Guard friends. The prince who betrayed you. The one person I hate most in this world. And you dare say his name in my presence?"

His voice was deathly quiet. But I held my head high. This boy, this boy with a twisted soul, could not scare me. His blue eyes bored into mine.

"I could have dressed you in silk and satin. You would have been a red queen to a twisted king. And, in our own way, we could have loved each other."

I collapsed to the floor, lost in what Maven had just said. I loved Cal. Didn't I? But somewhere, deep inside me, a longing began, to let go of everything I'd worked for and stood for. To lose myself ina never ending fantasy with my dark, twisted, mercurial king by my side, hiding all that was wrong with the world. In my heart, I knew Maven would do this for me in an instant.

"Mare. I am a man of my word. I will not, unfortunately, harm Cal in any way.", Maven sneered.

"You said nothing about my family or the Scarlet Guard." I pointed out.

"Did you say anything about them?" Maven asked.

I blushed furiously and cursed myself.

"N-n-no..." I said quietly.

If Mother, Father, Gisa, Tramy, Bree, Kilorn, Farley, even the Colonel was hurt by the little monster that stood before me, I would personally strangle him.

"Don't even TOUCH them, Maven." I spit out his name.

"Oh? And what can the little lightning girl do to stop me from 'touching' them?" Maven laughed.

My whole body started shaking. What had I gotten myself into? All I ever wanted was a job so I didn't have to be conscripted and enough money to live on comfortably. I felt something ball up inside of me. It slowly started to creep to the ends of my body and I calmed down more and more. I sighed and all of a sudden, felt the suffocating stop. I wildly looked around at the silencers. They showed no sign of change and still looked at me in immense concentration. Did I have my powers back? I closed my eyes and felt around for any sign of electricity. I felt a huge network of electricity and of course, there were cameras hidden in the hallway. Just to test, I tried to dim the lights by a tiny tiny fraction. It worked. I almost broke into a huge smile and stopped myself just as Maven glanced at me.

"So, Mare, what do you say? Be my red queen or kill your family?" Maven narrowed his eyes at me.

"You can't blackmail me, Maven ."

"Oh, can't I?" He snapped his fingers and to my horror, a hulking strongarm dragged Kilorn and Gisa into the hall.

"My lord, I found these two Reds lurking around outside." the huge Silver grunted.

"So, Mare, what will it be? The lives of these two useless reds, or our eternal marriage?" Maven smirked.

To be continued...