Silver Shadow (Maven x Mare)

Chapter 5: MARE

I stumbled, trying to move backward. Maven walks slowly, alone, his army frozen behind me. I can see Evangeline considering to kill me on the spot now that I am at lost, but she does not dare interrupt their King. She cast a dagger to the ground. Hearing the metal, as if reading her thoughts and anyone in the army thinking the same thing, Maven looked back and growled.

"Don't be foolish. Do you think your King can't handle this girl?" His voice is like a cutting edge to the silence he commanded, and flames erupted from his hands. "I can see the doubts in your eyes," he stopped for a moment, staring the Silvers down. Ptolemus tried to blink. If these people were told days ago that the second prince would be their ruler, they would just shrug the thought away. Maven was never meant for the crown, yet here he is, like the king he was never born to be.

As he turned his back on them again, I see his cold eyes soften, and he threw the fire to the ground surrounding the two of us, separating him from the army and me from escape.

My hands feel exhausted, my brain scattered. The world around me seems to stop, and Maven's every step were the only ones that echo the place. I try to stand up, my instincts were telling me to run no matter what, but my legs gave me out. I looked up as Maven kneels to face me, and for a moment I think about him as the prince who understood me.

No. I tell myself. Those were lies. He is a lie.

Maven studies my face, the fire around us getting higher. His eyes scanned my body, and his mouth twitch in seeing my scars. I imagined him thinking that it satisfied him.

"No, Mare. It doesn't,"

My eyes widen. I tried to remind myself that Maven is a burner and a burner alone, he must have interpreted what my scowl meant. He knows me enough to know my expressions.

"Look at me, Mare," he held my chin, his hands so warm and familiar.

I felt tears run down my cheeks, remembering the pain I had to suffer after knowing that he betrayed me. I shivered at the thought of him so near me, but not because of fear. It was the feeling I had with him before he betrayed me. Maven wipes those tears away, and I saw that he was stopping himself from doing the same.

"Mare, you have to trust me,"

How many times have I heard that phrase? How many times have I fallen over? How many times have I given in? How many times have they failed me?

I shook my head. I cannot let myself fall into this scheme again. For all I know, this was a trap. He had his men around me, and anytime I know he would capture Cal and the others and finish killing them. I glared at him, and spat blood out on the nearest ground, just a few inches away from his feet. Maven didn't seem to mind.

"If you think I'm making a play of you again, look around," I did as I was told, and saw that his fire was now surrounding us like high walls, away from the sight of the Silvers. I doubt that they could hear us above the sound of the fierce fire that could have burned and suffocated me, if not for Maven creating a thin wall of shield in which I was in. "They can't hear us, Mare. You have to pretend I'm torturing you. If they find out, I am in no match for all these Silvers, you know that."

"You let Cal kill your father. You let me get killed," I choke, finally finding my voice. "I don't know you anymore." And I guess I never did.

He smiled, looking like himself again, the Maven of my memories. "You do, Mare. I had to go on with what my mother wants. But I can end this now, I just need you to trust me. I won't let them hurt you, Mare. Never in my power."

He held me closer, until his cold lips reach mine. I remembered our first kiss at the docks, the desperate one where he promised me that he would always save me. I find myself returning the kiss, and this time I could feel that Maven meant every second of it. He seem to assure me through the kiss, and I guess it was the kingship that changed him. Now that he has power, he seem to be more assured of himself.

"I have to hurt you. I'm sorry, Mare. You have to strike lightning at me, too. Make it seem like we've fought," he whispered. "Run to Cal. I will find you again. I will always save you."

With that he strucks a blow at me, strong but not deadly. I try to avoid it, but my left shoulder got it. I screamed in pain, and tried to summon the strength I have left. Thunder growled in the dark sky, and lightning struck me, sending great volts through me until I was the force of lightning itself. I focus on him, determined to make him feel pain like he made me feel, determined to kill him like he made the Silvers kill me.

His eyes were smiling, and he didn't dare move. I knew that he could have fought back, but he didn't. His strength was of Cal's too, and he could have challenged me.

I struck it near him, but directed the lightning to where Ptolemus was standing instead. His armour, made of metal, was a good electricity conductor, and his body shook. Evangeline shouted. "Get her! Get her!"

This time Maven did not stop them, and he mouthed one last warning at me before joining Evangeline to direct his army after me.

I run.

I ignore the bullets that were coming after me, gliding with the flexibility I could manage at my situation. I spot the river nearby, off the edge of a cliff. A huge debris of metal flung to me, and I could've been struck if not for the flames that blocked it.

Strong, bruising hands wrench me to my feet, and blond hair glints in the firelight. I can just make out her face through the biting windstorm. Farley. Her gun is gone, her clothes torn, and her muscles quiver, but she keeps holding me up. Behind her, a tall, familiar figure cuts a black silhouette against the explosion. He holds it back with a single, outstretched hand. His shackles are gone, melted or cast away. When he turns, the flames grow, licking at the sky and the destroyed street, but never us.

Cal drives the firestorm away, to the direction of the approaching Silvers. I want to help him, but Farley grabs my hands before I could manage to summon lightning again. She knows I'm too weak for this.

"Let's go!" She shouts over to Cal, dragging me away. Cal nods and run, looking back to burn anyone who might be near us.

We come to the edge of the river, and I realized what Farley wants us to do. "She wants us to jump!" Cal voices out for her. I had no strength to argue, and Cal knows that we have nowhere to turn. He holds my wrist, his touch hot against my skin, and we jump.