Queen's Scars

Chapter 12: Mare

Hey! So, an extra long one to make up for my short ones. Enjoy this. I have some OCs in this now. Yippee! 😈

Three weeks pass before I am myself once again. I remember what happened with fury. He proposed to me. And I. SAID. YES. Wren comes daily to heal me, because of silent stone. Today when she heals me she blanches. She shouts at my Arvens.
"You, get the king. He needs to know this. Go!" As she says this I throw up on the floor. She comforts me through this, shockingly kind. "It's ok. You'll get through it." Then Maven comes in. I can't stand, so I ignore him. She whispers to him, his eyes widened, then he dismisses her.

"Well Mare," he says, "looks like I have an heir. Or should I say four." I stare at him in shock. "Now Mare, Wren says I can't have things presaude your mind or it will effect the pregnancy, so I'll go physical. Any minor disobedience will be taken out on you, but anything worse your niece gets it. Understand?" I nod at him glaring. I say this with next sentence with hatred of the worst kind.

"Boys or girls?" He looks at me with a smile.

"Two of each." He bends down to kiss me. I try to move but he says, "Your niece." I relent. He kisses me, but I refuse to do anything else. Finally he stops. "Tomorrow we will be married. And if you want your niece to live, you won't refuse anything." My skin crawls under his touch. When he leaves it's all I can do not to cry. I'll go through it. For my children. Not Maven's, not now. Not ever. I'll save them, just as I tried have saved others so many times. Only this time, I'll succeed.

The next morning, I dutifully put on the red and white dress. The puffy white dress with the sparkling red overlay mocks me. The sparkling white veil is topped with a crown. Elara's crown. It only serves to remind me of my shrinking cage. I walk down the aisle with an air of being at funeral. When I kiss Maven I feel like a corpse. He guides me back. Whatever is left of the Scarlet Guard saw that. Not that they are really around now. Last I heard they traveled to Montfort. That makes me sick. But the worst is that I am so trapped. With millions and millons of miles between me and freedom.

The next day Maven decides that we'll visit Julian. I don't know who it's to torture, Julian or me, but it doesn't matter. He drags me down in a comfortable yet elegant gown. As usually red, red, red, RED. It is a loose outfit, made to make me feel comfortable during pregnancy. I just look down at my hands. I can't bring myself to look at Julian, especially since he knows how much I love Cal. But I know they are looking at me.

"Julian," Maven says "As you may or may not have heard, my dear Mare is with children."

"We obviously didn't, your bloody highness. You make a point not to give US any news unless it suits YOU," I hear a voice say. Cameron. Maven lets the comment glance off.

"So Julian, when they reach the age of five,"

"They?" I hear Julian mutter to himself.

"Oh, did I mention? Mare's having two boys and two girls. Quadruplets." Julian looks disgusted. "But they will need training. And they need to learn proper lessons. I don't believe Mare darling can assist them." I bristle. He knows Reda are not educated properly and he always wants to control my lightning. He wants me caged and leashed. "So, when it is time, you will have a story to follow. They will never know what happened before." Julian gasps and I lift my gaze to glare at Maven.

He reacts faster than me. I feel my jaw stinging in pain. Cameron lets out a string of curses that would make my brothers proud. When I glance at her in shock, I think I hear her mutter something about Cal. I look away. (What did she say about Cal?)

Julian clenches his jaw and Sara spits. I'm shocked to see she's as good as me. I guess living without a tongue teaches you to be creative with insults. I can't believe Maven hit me. I guess this is punishment for giving him a dirty look. But then I guess I'm supposed to appear as his loving, obedient wife, in front of everyone. Julian is horrified and disgusted.

"I am shocked that you would decide to harm the woman giving birth to your children. My nephew would never do that to her." The heat in the room rises as Mavens fury grows. Maven despises Cal. That was a very risky move that he did. He could die. But he remains calm. Or at least on the outside. He drags me back to my room. I wallow in pity and boredom for months. One day I collapse. I let out a bloodcurdling scream. I beg for someone to help me. My kids are coming.

————————Time Skip——————————————

I'm glad it's over. I hope I never have to go through this again. Wren came in the last couple minutes of pain and agony. The first was a boy, two minutes later, a sister, four minutes after that another boy, then six minutes later a girl. I hold them all with so much love. I never thought I'd feel this way again. I don't even feel replused by ice blue eyes and the beginnings of black hair. I'm glad Wren kept Maven out as long as possible. I needed it. When he finally barges in, he sees them, as he takes my oldest into his arms I smile.

"Maven," I say, "I have a good name for that one. Want to hear?" He barely grunts. I know I won't get choice in the matter anyway. "I was thinking about Cal." He looks up at me, almost dropping my child. He growls at me.

"If you think you had any choice in this, you were wrong."

"Oh, I knew. I just thought you could use a suggestion." He ignores me.

"I think his name will be... Samson. A worthy name for my heir. The next, Elara, for my mother. Third, Zeus. A proper name for a prince. And for the youngest, Hestia." He summons Wren in after this. I know why she's here. To take my children. But I can't. I went through so much just to lose them? Not to see them again? But I relinquish them, knowing I now have even more leverage against me. Maven sits beside me and I recoil.

He comes close anyway, holding me tight in a mix between possessive and loving. He gently strokes my hair. He sighs, "Oh Mare. Don't worry. I'll make everything easier. Starting with what really happened. First, my mother died in a tragic accident. You fell in love with me. You are weak and tired so you refuse to use your powers. You stay in your room because you want to. Cal is a traitor. The scarlet guard is evil and forced you to lead them. You have no niece. Your family died in the same accident as my mother, and you were not involved in that in any shape or form. You listen to me because I am right and never argue. Oh, and Cameron and Sara died. And don't forget that, and this is for you only, that if you disobey in any way the children or your niece will suffer. I get to pick who. Any questions?"

I'm livid. Is this going to be my life forever? Lying to my own children? About everything? I want to kill him. But I'm way too weak. The silent stone made everything harder.

"None," I growl. He smiles and turns my face towards his, kissing my unresponsive lips for the longest and shortest of moments. Then he walks out. A bit later, the Arvens now bring me news, Maven's orders, I suspect. So I know what goes on in the world but never a true part of it. Not the way I want to be anyway. The headline says "Queen gives birth to quadruplets." A photo shows my smiling face holding my kids. Do I get any privacy anymore? Do those security officers have any shame? I snort at the word queen. I'm just a puppet. I have no more rights than any other Red in the country.