WAR STORM (Red Queen 4// Alternate Version)

Chapter 40

Ah! I cannot believe it has slipped my mind to update this! I've been so preoccupied with finals and History Day (anyone done History Day before?) I haven't had the time!

Thanks for sticking with my fanfiction! The end is near... as always, like and comment!

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~In the dark~

But what spited him the most was that the Whisper knew it. General Diana Farley knew about this place that existed in his head, this wretched, forgotten tundra of emotion.

He had screamed at Mare and Maven when he found them here, pleaded on his knees for them to listen, to snap out of their bickering. To think, that the two believed this place was the boy king's head. Both Jon and Diana knew that Maven Calore's head looked nothing like this damned-

Evangeline

Winter bleeds into spring, and I nearly vomit on the last morning of March.

Elane holds back my hair while I sit in front of my toilet, daring it to bite me.

"It's going to be fine, Eve," Elane says into my ear, stroking my hair with her free hand. "Tomorrow afternoon, while Cal's waiting for you at the altar, we'll be halfway across the country."

I shake my head, but that act alone dizzies me more. "We're leaving behind everything we've ever known, Elane. And so many things could go wrong. If my father discovers that we're trying to leave... or if we do indeed succeed, where are we going to go?"

On trembling knees, I grunt as I stand up, the nausea passing over me. For now.

"Your father won't have a drip of power tomorrow, mid-afternoon," she whispers, crossing her arms as we walk out of my bathroom and into the main rooms.

Elane isn't wrong. "I know he won't," I whisper back.

I've kept the Scarlet Guard's secret for more than three months.

I haven't told a soul besides for Elane of what I learned that evening in Albanus, or the Stilts, as the filthy wretches call it. In a carriage with Maven, bored and tormented out of my mind, I decided to slip past security and explore the town before the Sentinels made sure the arena was a safe place for the new king to travel to.

There was nothing worth seeing in the river city. The houses were certainly no phenomenon and the markets were closed by the time I reached them. So much for the chocolate I promised myself I'd get Elane.

But I wasn't the only one who was feeling bored, apparently.

From the shadows cast off by one of the bigger buildings in the Stilts, I watched Mare and her futile attempts to reason with the crowds. They didn't listen or even like her. And that surprised me a great deal. She's never fit in with us Silvers... and I supposed... yet that must be the curse of being a Newblood. Not good enough for either side.

I stalked her as she weaved through streets, and I watched her fists, angry little fists they are, clench while she brooded.

Had there been any other opportunity at all, I wouldn't have followed her to her old house. In hindsight, I'm not sure why I did it at all. Surely I could've gone and begged a slew of guards to play cards with me and scrape them dry of their coin. Oddly, though, I suppose I was just a tad intrigued.

The home of Mare Barrow was a completely insignificant sight to see. It was plain and dull, and if anything, perhaps smaller than the other ramshackle homes further into the city. One of Mother's rings easily cost ten times as their entire home, and my chambers at Whitefire-which are not my largest-are easily larger than the puny house.