Bleeding Crown (Red Queen 4 Fanfiction)

Chapter 9

My dear readers, I do hope you enjoy this chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it, especially a few certain paragraphs. As always comment on anything you'd like me to continue with or improve.

Enjoy! "It's our nature. We destroy. It's the constant of our kind. No matter the color of blood, man will always fall.

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Mare

We all sat staring at the monitor for several minutes. I imagine everyone at our table, as well as the whole country, was thinking of the consequences of her death. No one said it, but I doubt Iris died of "natural causes." Most likely poisoned, the news hadn't said anything about blood or gashes, perhaps a jealous silver girl angered she had prepared her whole life for the Queenstrial, all for nothing. I could assume the Lakeland VS Archeon War would now continue, I imagine it would only be hours before the war started again. The Lakelands would jump to the conclusion of murder, just as I had.

"Does anyone not realize the coincidence that Iris was murdered the night before Maven's ball? It's almost as if he can't have his wife distracting him there. I wonder what he's up to."

I immediately began to feel sick. Cal was right. Iris was murdered today for a reason. I already have my suspicions. For the rest of our sitting, no one spoke, meagerly picking at our food, digesting much more important matters. We quickly got up to leave, Harrick had sat he was beginning to feel lightheaded.

But when we got into the car, Cal quickly glanced around the perimeter, as if looking for someone. After a few seconds, he handed me a piece of paper, which I assumed was our dinner bill. At the bottom, it read "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE"

"Let's go, quickly," I said.

"Good idea," Cal murmured, stepping on the pedal, sending us off.

We swerved around streets, still, my face appearing several times a minute, and Cal's every few. I hadn't noticed it before, but while my sign said "wanted alive," his said, "wanted dead or alive." At this, I shivered. Yet again, I asked myself why. Why did he want me back at the palace? What big plans did King Maven have for me?

As we progressed towards our location, I began to see changes. The banks were bigger, the apartments were larger, the eateries were fancier, and the wanted signs were much larger.

If I hadn't been mistaken, we were nearing the heart of Archeon, near the bridge. Sure enough, there it was gleaming in the night, contrasting the night sky, deeply. But instead of going over the bridge, to get to Whitefire, Cal veered left, into another region of Archeon I had never seen before.

It seemed to be an area of business, with large buildings all over the place, as well as a few hotels. But the biggest by far was what I assumed was the Adroma's. The building, was clearly larger than the gigantic Archeon Palace, towering fifteen stories, stretching several hundred feet across.

"Why are we here?" I asked incredulously. By the looks of the immaculate structure, only High Silvers, and wealthy common silver would stay here. No doubt every last one would gleefully execute me for Maven personally.

Farley gave a chuckle before answering. "I know it's hard to believe, but by staying at this hotel we are outsmarting Maven. He expects us to stay low profile, most likely not even entering the city until tomorrow afternoon. I have no doubt he has guards stationed around the outer edge of Archeon. He most likely also has bounty hunters hiding out in the woods, ready to tail us, attempting to find out our plans."

"If this is true, how have we not been caught yet? Harrick, have you been keeping us invisible this whole time?"

Harrick looked like he was about to answer, but Farley budded in "Of course not. He would have passed out by now. He kept us invisible just past city limits. Once we were the city he brought the illusion up."