Shattered Heart (Red Queen)

Chapter One: Alone

*** Disclaimer: I do not own any of Victoria Aveyard's characters***

•Mare POV•
Let him kill me. Please. That's all I ask. I've been here for who knows how long and I thought Cal would have come for me by now.
Cal. The last time I saw him he was mad at me. He though I was going crazy. God knows I am now. This place is making me mad. The Silent Stone is killing me, draining me. I have no energy. In the beginning, I had hope that Cal would save me from his brother. I have given up hope now.
Maven comes every once in a while. I don't speak to him so he ends up getting frustrated and always leaves. He's the only company I get, besides the guards posted outside my cell. I can see the hatred in his eyes every time he looks at me. If looks could kill, he would burn me alive.
He enjoys seeing my pain, though. Even when I'm not being tortured I am in pain. He's letting me destroy myself. I'm trapped in my own mind and he smiles and stares right through me. I'm surrounded by darkness and the only fire in the room is poisoned by darkness as well.
"You call out to him in your sleep, you know," Maven tells me one day.
He's must be talking about Cal. The way he said it makes me think he's jealous. I know he's not though. He can't be. If he loved me then he would not have betrayed me. But I can't forget what Julian told me: anyone can betray anyone.
"Are you ever going to speak to me?" he asks. He sounds sad. If I didn't know any better, I would think he cares.
"Mare, please," he says, almost begging.
     I give him a curious look and finally reply, "Why do you care? You have never cared about me before."
     He grins satisfactorily and steps up to the bars of my cell. He wraps his hand around the metal and I take a small step forward.
     "You don't know me, Mare," he says. "Maybe I did love you. But you destroyed everything when you kissed Cal. You thought I didn't see but I did. I saw everything."
     "Maven, you're the one that betrayed me," I argue.
     "NO!" he roars. The metal under his hands turns red but cools when he regains his composure. "No," he repeats calmly, "you betrayed me many nights ago and I just returned the favor."
     "And look where we are now," I say softly.
     He smiles a cruel smile and says, "You're right where I want you. You're mine now. I control you."
     "You don't control anything. You're a false king. You murdered your father. You betrayed you brother. You betrayed me. And I killed your mother in return," I sneer.
     He hits the bars when I speak about his mother's death. In this moment, I am thankful for the cell that separates us.
     "You've changed, Mare," he says with a disgusted tone.
     "You haven't. You have always been corrupt, I was just too blind to see it," I reply and shake my head.
     "So you were," he says quickly and turns around to leave. He stops beside one of the guards and tells him, "I think it's time to teach our little prisoner a lesson."
     I watch him leave and the guard approaches my cell. He unlocks the door and drags me away to my torture.