Through the Lies

Chapter 5

My nightmares get worse every night. To the point where I'm afraid to sleep, trying to brace myself for finding Maven dead in a new, more gruesome way. Every night since the Bowl of Bones has been the same routine. Sleep for a few hours. Wake up in the middle of the night. Cry. Pretend to go back to sleep for Maven. Wait till morning. Repeat.

Each day I find it harder to stay awake during Elara's lessons on being queen. I genuinely want to learn, but with each night getting less and less sleep, I eventually pass out on the desk in the middle of a lesson.

"Mare."

My eyes snap open and I sit up, face to face with familiar blue eyes. 

"Oh, sorry, can you say that last thing again?" I ask, pretending like I had just dozed off.

Elara smiles from her seat across the desk, amused, "You were sleeping for forty five minutes, Lady Mareena."

What am I supposed to say to that?

Her ever present smile is troubling and I look away, glancing at the small room's plain stone walls.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I finally ask.

She laughs again, mocking me, "It looked like you needed it. And I needed to get a few things done anyway."

My mind wanders to what she could've been doing, but I stop once I feel the headache.

Rage surges through me.

How dare she.

I smile back, "The King won't be happy once I've told him."

She chuckles, "Oh Mare, do you think I'm afraid of my own son? I was just making sure you could be fully trusted, considering your past alliances."

I shake my head, not believing a word the snake was saying.

"Stay out of our heads Elara. Not just mine, but Maven's too. This isn't a request. It's a warning."

Elara raises a mocking brow.

"The last thing Maven's mind needs right now is more meddling from you."

She narrows her eyes, and I feel my head throb, "You forget your place, Red girl. You are an abomination who happened to catch the eye of someone special. You did nothing to earn what you have been given and you almost threw it all away. You should be in a trench somewhere, dying. So I would watch my tongue if I were you."

I glare back with a hand holding my throbbing head and say through gritted teeth, "Regardless of the circumstances, I am going to be queen in 10 days and I swear to my colors if you don't let me go right now, I will shock you."

Elara's smile grows wider, but I feel her grip on my mind subside.

I stand up and leave the room. I know there were probably 2 hours left but being in the presence of that woman makes me sick.

I begin wandering the halls again and open a random door into an abandoned study. Dust covers the desk and the books on the shelves. It smells strangely familiar though, and when I open one of the books, I realize why.

Julian's handwriting fills the margin of the page and it hits me how much I miss my old mentor. If he was here, he would be able to help me in so many ways. I would have another person I could fully trust. He said he was going to Delphi, maybe he could come back...
As I think about it more though, I realize how disappointed he would be in me if he could see me now. He hates Maven. Cal, his nephew, the last bit of Coriane left, is dead because of him and I chose him.

Maybe, he'll understand.

I did it to survive? But that's a lie and he would know it.

I sigh and close his old book. Adding another to my mental list of betrayed friends and family.