Through the Lies

Chapter 2

“Take Lady Mareena to her chambers and let her rest. She’s had a long day.”

When Maven starts pulling away to leave, I find myself clutching his arm and not letting go.

“You’ll be okay, I’ll come to get you in a few hours when I’m done dealing with the city,” he reassures me.

I reluctantly ease my grip and he turns down the corridor out of sight. I realize then how vulnerable I am without Maven. He’s the only thing standing in between me and a dozen different deaths.  

The servant girl starts down the hallway, keeping her eyes down, silent.
When I get to my room, my servants are there waiting. They clean me of my white makeup and put me in night clothing.

When they leave me lying in bed, my blood pulses in my ears. Adrenaline pumps through me and I jump at every sound.

Cal, Farley, Kilorn. I destroyed them.
Elara, Evangeline, even Maven. They could destroy me.

My family. My life. My people. My blood.

I left all of it behind for-

“Mare?”

Maven.

I sit up, seeing him leaning in the doorway was enough to calm my racing heart. The bags under his eyes show he's as tired as I feel. I hadn’t gotten an ounce of sleep from the hours I had been laying there. 

I smile at him as he approaches my bed.
“Did you get any rest?” he asks when he’s standing over me.

I roll my eyes, “No.”

He chuckles and extends his hand, “Let’s go.”

Maven leads me through the halls, and because he was now king, dodging around guards and hiding from cameras was over.

When a guard opens the door to Maven’s chambers, a manservant is waiting to attend to him. The servant’s eyes widen when he sees me and I feel my face grow warm. I can only imagine how this must look.

Maven just waves him away and the servant scurries out the door.

“Give me a moment,” he says as he steps into the large closet.

I glance around his room, noticing how clean it was compared to Cal’s at the Hall of Sun. Bookshelves line the right wall and a desk was pushed next to the bed, everything on it organized.

I hear a door open and Maven emerges in his nightclothes. When we are in bed, I immediately curl up next to him, his warmth soothing me.

“I’m certain that if I wasn’t her son, mother would have killed me when I told her about you,” he laughs as he puts an arm around me, “I’ve never seen her so white.”

His joke though, only makes me more scared.

Maven notices and holds me tighter, “I won’t let anyone harm you."

It sounds like an oath.

He plants a kiss on my forehead and we both drift off to sleep.

I wake up cold. Maven is gone from my side and a sliver of moonlight shines through the curtains into his chambers.
The hairs on my neck prickle at the feeling of not being alone.

“Maven?” My voice sounds small and scared.

Rustling by the curtains.

“Maven, is that you?” I ask quieter.

I get out of the bed, stepping away from the window. Horror fills my chest when my foot touches something warm and wet. I smell it before I see it, the metallic stench of blood.