My Red Queen |Red Queen fanfic|

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~Maven~

I did my best to row us back, it's even harder now with two people in the boat.  I'm sweating profusely, my arms are burning . My muscles are sore , this is utterly humiliating.

Mare giggles at me.

Splash

     Water rains down on me . I whip my head around to look towards the source of the noise. Mares gone, she dove into the water.  She pops her head up on the opposite side of the boat. She draws my attention by splashing me.
   "Mare!" I shout, she only laughs at me.  She's swimming around the boat, floating around without a care in the world.  "Come on, don't be such a baby", she jokes, " join me, Maven. Put down your worries, let go of your stress and swim with me" she cheers.

I've never seen this side of her before. She's cheery, smiling and even laughing. How is it that she can find the strength to release herself- how does she have joy when there's no joy to be found?

      I take in the view before me. She's twirling around, kicking her feet as if she were a mermaid.  " I can't", I looked down at the water.  " Why not?".  I play with my shirt collar nervously.  " I can't swim" I admit.

She's so quiet.  My eyes travel to her's, searching for some kind of reaction.

" Let me teach you" she replied.

"No thank you, I'm not dressed for the occasion".

She splashes more water in my face, some of it goes up my nose.

" Mare" I whine, wiping droplets off my face.

" I thought the king wasn't afraid of anything", she pulls my chain, " silly me thinking our leader was fearless".

I may not be able to swim but I am fearless. Strong, admired. People should fear me, tremble at my greatness. I am Maven Calore, I do not fear nonsense, especially something as inferior as water.
" Watch it Mare " I hiss. She splashes me again, this time drawing back before scooping the water. My clothes are soaked, my hair is glued to my face .
" Prove me wrong, jump in and swim " she challenged me. " Show me that you're not afraid".

Damn you pride

Leaping into the sea, feet first, fully clothed. This is probably a terrible idea but I have to do it. Now I'm submerged. I open my eyes, the salt water burns. There's fish swimming around me, all shapes and colors. Something grazes my leg, its slimy and it latched onto me.
I exploded to the surface. Gasping for air, I look for Mare. She's missing again, now I'm getting nervous. " Where'd you go?" I call out. I start searching for her, yelling out her name, trying to look under the water.
" Over here" she calls back. I see here off in the distance, she's far ahead of me. " Why are you so far away?". She lifts up her hand, motioning for me to come to her. " Swim to me ". I don't know how. She knows this but she's asking me to do it anyway.
" Mare please" I beg. " Help me, I don't know how". She comes back, effortlessly back stroking my way. " Give me your hands" she holds out her hands. I take them, my body is now hovering. "Kick, little baby kicks like shuffling your feet ", she demonstrates for me. I try it but all I'm doing is creating giant waves. "That's a good start, a little less force this time" she instructs.
I'm doing it, I'm kicking. She lets go of my hands, backing away from me. Her hands were warm, inviting. I've gotten used to the feeling of her warmth. Even now, when we're soaking wet, I still feel her heat.
" Swim to me," she says. I kick my legs, I try to mirror the arm stroke she'd done earlier. I look foolish, no doubt about it but I do my best. She continued to swim away, which only made me try harder to stay close to her.
" Good job baby! you're doing fine" she screams happily. Baby? Nobody has ever called me that before. Not even my mother. "Why do you keep leaving me", I half joke. She swims further ahead of me. " To make you work for what you want. If you want me , Maven, come get me" she teases.

I like this side of her. She's flirtatious, fun loving. She makes me want to let go. Makes me want to embrace a life of no crown, no mother and no guard. I love her, this is true, but even I know I can't part with my kingdom.

" You're going to owe me big time when I catch you," I say playfully.

Giving her a mischievous smirk.

Now I put some hustle into my movement. Forcing myself to swim as if my life was on the line. Swim like there's no tomorrow.

She stops swimming around, she lays in wait. Now I've caught her, cradling her in my arms. She doesn't try to break free, she lets me pull her close. " I've got you" I gloat.
Mare brushes her lips on my ear, " Step one is complete".

What does that mean? I have no clue.

Test or no test, I've won my prize.