I Wish Things Were Different

Part 5

Chapters 3 and 4 are currently unpublished and I'm hoping to finish them soon. I'll probably finish editing sooner than I thought because my school is online till the end of the school year so I have lots of time to write and edit.

Cal POV

Dane Davidson knows where Mare went. That much is clear. He has been skipping council meetings and leaving the ones that he did attend at strange times. And no one has seen him since we realized Mare was missing.

I want to kill him. I want to burn every inch of life from his body until he tells me where she is.

He helped her leave even though it risked our entire alliance and put his own country at risk.

Why? What could she have offered him?

Why was she so desperate to leave? I need to see her so I can get some answers from her.

She didn't even say goodbye.

He must have taken her to Montfort. It was his home country after all. The strange country where there was no division between red and silver.

I needed to go to Montfort. I just had to convince Nanabel.

Lucky there was a war council starting in around 20 minutes. I sat and waited for what felt like days until it began. The council was scheming about my brother and his nymph queen until Montfort came up.

I used that as my opportunity.

"I believe that we should visit this strange nation. We know next to nothing about it, and it is vital to this coalition that we know more about Premier Davidson's country." To my surprise, none other than Evangeline Samos comes to my aid. " I second King Tiberias's notion."

I wince at the use of my full name. She notices. I can only wonder what motives Evangeline has behind her support. I know that she hates me so she's not doing this for the sake of our future marriage.

"Well, then I believe with the help of Princess Evangeline and another envoy for Norta we will go to Montfort and bring back more knowledge on this Democracy." "Perhaps Lord Jacos?" "Yes," Julian whispered barely audible.

"There is still planning to do." "It's okay Nanabel we just need a jet and some provisions for the journey. I'm sure Premier Davidson will be rather accommodating." Nanabel pleads with her eyes for me not to go. I shake my head at her.

"When do we leave?" Evangeline's typically very good at hiding her feelings but I can hear the fury and sadness creeping into her words. "Tomorrow at dawn."

Nanabel dismisses them. "Nanabel could I talk to Uncle Julian?" "Yes, Cal."She sounds sad. I wish she could understand why I have to go. She doesn't understand my love for Mare. She never could.

"I assume you're not going to Montfort to learn about it. So why are you going there, Cal?" "Because that's where Mare is." "In Montfort?" He says in disbelief. "Her family's there, there's the fact that Premier Davidson wasn't there when she left, and he hasn't been to any of the council meetings lately." "Yes but that doesn't mean that Mares in Montfort." "Julian it's the most I've heard about Mare in weeks. You can't expect me to not look." I say almost begging now. "

"Please, Julian you know how much she means to me." "I do." "Then please help me." "Ok, Cal but don't get your hopes up to high. I don't want you to be disappointed if she's not there." "Thank you."

"Dawn then."

It felt like I had just shut my eyes for a second when it was time to leave.

As I boarded the carrier my thoughts drifted to her.

Love was not a word we used. But maybe we should have. I love you means I choose you above all else. It should mean I choose you. We both broke promises. We both should have been more open. I shouldn't have let her be captured. She shouldn't have killed all of those people in Corros. We both shouldn't have trusted Maven.

I understand that we can't be together but I have to say goodbye. I can't just never see her again.  Not after everything we've been through.

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Maven POV

The attack would begin in Piedmont while the other part of my army attacked the Rift. I want all the blood traitors of the Rift dead. Most of all my perfect brother. I want every other person who was supposed to love me to suffer. Mare, my grandmother, and my brother.

They might have loved me once.

But that was in another life.

A life with a King with a long shadow, a Queen of steel and knives, a forgotten Prince, and a Princess with a big secret. We all have awful paths but they are ones we chose for ourselves.

Cal wants to fight a war for a dead man and shoulder the burden of a crown. With a queen like a panther waiting to pounce. Surely she will kill him if I don't.

Both in love with another.

Mare is a merciless lightning girl who will spare any amount of blood for victory.

I am a boy king who does the same every single day. Yet I am the one they call a monster. My hands are no cleaner than Mares. We both have so much blood on our hands. Cal does too.

"But he is weak, and would make a weak king." I can't help but agree with mother. Cal can't make choices. Unless it involves choosing the crown.

He broke Mare's heart, the fool. At least I have Mother to blame. Who does Cal have?

I wonder who I would have been had it not been for Mare. Surely she would be dead. It hurts to imagine her obliterated in a trench, in the final gasps of the Lakelander War. I won't let her die. If she is with me she will be safe. I would kill everyone on that base to get her.

"Your majesty we've arrived."

"Good. Nornus, Blonos, Greco find the lightning girl's family and anyone else we can use as leverage against her."

As I wait for them to return I think over my scheme. Mare has to have an official use in the eyes of the nobles. I have a wonderful idea that will hurt my brother too. I will use her as leverage to draw him out if I don't capture him first.

I can also use the same principle with the Scarlet Guard, for who are they without their figurehead? A band of red rats with no faces to rally behind. Mare Barrow has a face as widely recognizable as my own.

For obvious reasons.

I can only imagine what the reds must think of her. I suppose they think her a hero. She is far from even being a good person but she has done many good things and is a beacon of hope for the underfoot and oppressed. And a thorn in my side.

"Your majesty they aren't here."

"What?" I erupt. "Get out of my sight." I went out of my dropjet and was met with only sentinels and no captures, unfortunately. "Get me someone who knows about the progress of the attack on the Rift." A soldier walked up to me sometime later. "Your majesty the Rift did not fall." I tried to keep my cool. "Any captures?"

"Yes, General Farley and Kilorn Warren." "And my brother?" "Alive."

"One more loss to your perfect brother." Mother whispers to me. It doesn't matter he will be dead soon. I am already starting on the broadcast that will draw Mare out. It goes out in two days' time.

Then I will once again have what was always meant to be mine.