All Is Fair In Love and War (Red Queen Fanfiction)

Part 1 Chapter 10

Mare

   I sigh as the maids place the silver crown on my head as I get ready for another lesson with Elara. Whenever it's on my head, I get a feeling of wrongness. Sadly I am going to have to wear one for the rest of my life. Maven suddenly flashes before my eyes, and my grim face softens a little. Maven is the only good part about any of this. Most girls would give up everything to be a princess let alone queen, but I just wanted to be with my family. "That's good, thank you," I say to the 3 maids getting me ready. As they shuffle out, Lucas pops his head inside my room.
   My lady, we best be going," he says to me before gesturing for me to hurry. We walk in silence until we get to the large wooden doors of the throne room as Lucas breaks the silence. "My lady, are you alright? You seem awfully quiet."
   "Yes, it's just that everything seems really sudden, and I don't know if I am ready for all this," I whisper, on the verge of tears. Lucas's face dropped at my words.
   "I think you will do just fine, you won't be alone," he states with a wink. I blush at Lucas's comment about me and Maven as I walk through the large, grand doors into the throne room. As I enter I see Queen Elara standing there with a bunch different outfits and accessories lined on a table with a few maids standing by a mirror and chair.
   "Ah Mareena you have finally decided to join us. Tardiness of any sort will not be accepted. Now we dont have all day, I want you to sit down in that chair. Your style is hardly fit for future princess, must less a queen," Elara states coldly as I walk slowly towards her. As I sit down in the seat the maid don't hesitate and get to work. Just being worked on seems to exhaust me, and my muscles ache to run around and move. I hope that Elara will allow me to start training again so I can use my lightning again. As the maids continue to make me look perfect, the queen drills appropriate wardrobe to me.
   "Whe have been have allowed you to dress simple while at The Hall of The Sun but now that you shall be crowned queen in 3 weeks, you need to dress more elegant and power looking, or in other words more like me." I almost shudder at those words. I already hate Elara enough, and now I have dress like her. An image of me looking like a younger version of the queen almost makes me fall out of my chair. As the maids finish with the makeup and move onto my hair, they take the silver tiara off and set it nicely on a stand as they take my hair out of the simple bun. After me hair is down, they start putting it back into a more complex and elegant bun and slowly I start to recognize myself less and less. After what feels like hours they finally motion me into a curtained off corner of the room and put me into a light elegant purple dress that goes to the floor and spans out backwards. I hate it. I only hate it more when they zip it up and I realize how tight it is. I find it hard to breath as I am quickly ushered out of the curtain and back into my seat as they finally get to the final touches. After a few minutes of putting on bracelets and finding a necklace, they take my silver crown and place it back onto my head, the weight already sending a chill down my spine. Elara gives an approving nod and next thing I know I am being escorted down to dinner.

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   As we approached the dinner hall, I started having trouble breathing knowing that in 3 short weeks I would become queen and be confined to this life for the rest of my life. I can't imagine what my family would think of me then. When we get to the two daunting doors to the dining hall, my escorts now and swiftly march down the hall. I open the doors slowly and walk as gracefully as I muster down the newly polished floor to the table were only Maven so far sat. When his eyes landed on me, his jaw dropped a little which almost made getting dressed up like this worth it. Almost. He quickly stood up and pulled my chair out for me as I approached. Without a word between us, I sat down in my chair beside him and quietly waited for his mother to arrive. Maven breaks the silence by saying, "You look radiant tonight Mare." I couldn't help but notice the smirk that quickly formed over his plastered, monotonous expression
   "Thank you, your highness," I quickly stated, my nerves showing slightly. He struggles to contain the grin that starts to form on his lips.
   "It's just Maven to you my dear," he states obvious trying, and failing matter of factly, to flirt. I can't contain the soft giggles that almost burst out of my when he moves his eye brows.
   "I certainly hope you are better at running a kingdom than you are at flirting," I replied poorly through my giggles.
   "And I hope you are better at running a kingdom than you are at acting ladylike," Maven replies, his stony expression wiped off his face. I immeadiatly freeze and the troubled breathing comes back in a rush. Maven sees this and is quick to comfort me. "Hey, sorry I forgot that it's a touchy subject. I know it's a lot to take in, but I can help you." His comforting gaze is suddenly replaced with a hopeful and wanting expression. "If you want I can take you outside, so you can stretch your legs maybe have a picnic and watch the sunset," he says in almost a whisper. I hastily nod my head. Being outside would make this a whole lot more tolerable. His relieved and happy expression almost made my heart burst. As I turned to Maven, a grin almost splitting my head in two, Elara comes in and gives us some news that almost knocks the wind out of me. I start to see stars, but they soon fade as darkness l, consuming the world around me.